Attorney General Sessions Appoints 17 Current and Former Federal Prosecutors as Interim United States Attorneys. But Why?

izze 2018-01-07T03:20:53

most of the last names check out. Did some prelim digging most of the attorneys have profiles taking on drugs and gangs. Was hoping to see human trafficking in the folios.... Also found another articles about this appointments, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/04/nyregion/united-states-attorney-new-york.html

https://stjohnsource.com/2018/01/05/feds-appoint-gretchen-shappert-interim-u-s-attorney-for-usvi/

http://www.khq.com/story/37191610/harrington-becomes-interim-us-attorney-for-ewashington

http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2018/01/duane_evans_reappointed_as_int.html

Here they are. Shawn Anderson – Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands

Geoffrey Berman – Southern District of New York

Gregory Brooker – District of Minnesota

Craig Carpenito – District of New Jersey

Stephen Dambruch – District of Rhode Island

Richard Donoghue – Eastern District of New York

Dayle Elieson – District of Nevada

Duane Evans – Eastern District of Louisiana

Timothy Garrison – Western District of Missouri

Nick Hanna – Central District of California

Joseph Harrington – Eastern District of Washington

Grant Jaquith – Northern District of New York

Maria Chapa Lopez – Middle District of Florida

Kenji Price – District of Hawaii

Matthew Schneider – Eastern District of Michigan

Gretchen Shappert – District of the Virgin Islands

Alexander Van Hook – Western District of Louisiana

spez: did some more digging

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ArtificalDuality 2018-01-06T16:30:59

OFCOURSE he had to assign exactly 17 attorneys. Not 15, 19 or 21.

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2impendingdoom 2018-01-06T14:38:54

if the interim appointments aren't filled permanently within a specific timeframe, the chief judge of the district fills the spot, which imo would be really bad.

http://www.providencejournal.com/news/20180103/us-ag-sessions-names-dambruch-interim-us-attorney-in-ri

"Dambruch was one of 17 interim U.S. Attorneys Sessions named Wednesday. Dambruch had been serving as Acting U.S. Attorney, but there is a 300-day limit to that post that was due to expire this week. Trump now has 120 days to name a U.S. Attorney for the District of Rhode Island, or the appointing authority will be left to the federal bench, in this case U.S. District Court Chief Judge William E. Smith."

Smith is Georgetown Law who has been corrupt in cases including children and other public corruption, so this wouldn't be good, or hopefully one of the indictments is for HIM!

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ESOTERICshade 2018-01-06T14:36:11

stop slide posting. you have the whole front page cluttered with bullshit

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GeorgeT 2018-01-06T13:10:38

I am going to give Sessions 6 more months, or being very kind till Jan 2019! But if by then Skippy is still giving speeches at Georgetown instead of being in Lavensworth I say we are done with it and then it is onto the 'Star Chamber' Justice (1983 movie starring Michael Douglas). Public can form its own sectet societies and then it's good night for the creepoes in charge.

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edblings 2018-01-06T17:01:01

Do you know how long a criminal trial can take? If it's all kept under wraps, we'd never know and it could go on for years man. "Right to a fair and speedy trial" is usually waived in favor of the 'fair' part.

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GeorgeT 2018-01-07T02:20:34

I know all about it that is why I said I will give him one more year. Operation Dark Room (that incidentally broke on Dec.2016) took 1 year to crack it. In Jan 2019 it will be over two years - plenty of time to file charges and present evidence.

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Blacksmith21 2018-01-06T12:36:27

Would be nice if our resident attorney (I can't remember his handle pizzalawyer or lawyer4justice?) could shine some light on this.

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lawyer4justice 2018-01-06T14:03:10

The positions filled were already existing positions where the US Attorney formerly in that position had left for some reason or another (like term limits).

The positions are similar to District Attorneys at the state level. They basically took a Deputy and made them the DA.

So they didn't really add more lawyers per re, just new people.

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Blacksmith21 2018-01-06T21:42:15

Thank you @lawyer4justice ! I had a feeling that there may have been some backfilling. That being said, the timing is interesting, as usual.

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Are_we__sure 2018-01-06T18:45:58

where the US Attorney formerly in that position had left for some reason or another (like term limits).

These positions are still unfilled from when Trump fired all the US Attorneys. He fired all of them to cover up that he mainly wanted to fire the US Attorney from NY. He is now filling that post with a law partner of Rudy Giuliani. Trump needs someone favorable in this position.

The attorneys who were serving in these positions would have had to be replaced if Session didn't make this move, because there's a 300 day limit. The fact that a Senate approved candidates were not in these positions shows that Trump fired everyone without a plan to replace, again because he had to replace the NY Attorney who would have jurisdiction over any crimes that took place in Manhattan where the Trump campaign was located. And in fact, he was pursuing a case against a client of Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian lawyer who met with the Trump campaign in Trump Tower. Shortly after the NY Attorney was fired the case unexepectedly settled for half of what the government was previously seeking.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/sessions-uses-executive-authority-appoint-interim-u-s-attorneys-n834446

http://www.businessinsider.com/us-v-prevezon-case-settlement-russia-money-laundering-2017-5

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SoberSecondThought 2018-01-07T14:49:10

Your stuff is usually good, but I take exception here. It's routine for an incoming President to fire all the US attorneys, has been for decades. It doesn't mean anything, good or bad. Delays in Senate approval reflect on the Senate more than on Trump. Preet Bharara, the NY US Attorney, has been praised for going after corporate crooks, and also accused of being soft on them. I don't know what the truth is, since it would take detailed knowledge of his cases. But Trump initially asked him to stay on, then changed his mind and asked him to step down. I'd like to know what made Trump change his mind, but we're not likely to.

In short, there's not a lot of smoke here, and no fire that I can see. I'm open to being persuaded that something is shady in the Bharara story, but so far I'm not seeing it.

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Are_we__sure 2018-01-07T20:28:50

Your stuff is usually good, but I take exception here. It's routine for an incoming President to fire all the US attorneys, has been for decades.

It's routine for them to replace all the US attorneys, but you don't do that all at once without a plan to replace them In 2009 Obama replaced the US attorneys in batches as did Bush in 2001. Mary Jo White in the Southern Disrict of New York served until Jan 2002.

Delays in Senate approval reflect on the Senate more than on Trump.

That's absolutely not the case here. A month after this firing ALL 93 US attorney positions remained empty. That is disruptive.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/03/nyregion/us-attorneys-brooklyn-manhattan.html

Typically, the White House acts in the first months of an administration to fill many of the country’s 93 United States attorney’s offices. But President Trump has waited so long in making his choices for several districts, including those based in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Newark, that their acting leaders were running against a legal limit of 300 days in office.

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SoberSecondThought 2018-01-07T22:51:51

Well, yes. Trump's entry into office was more disruptive. Good comeback! But then I can think of at least two good explanations for his more disruptive behavior.

1) Trump is a bull in a china shop. Given a choice, he creates drama and chaos because he thrives in that environment. It might not be the best tactic -- hell, it might be stupid and counterproductive -- but it's not a sign that Trump is up to something shady. Think of Reagan firing all the air traffic controllers.

2) There's an exceptional circumstance here in that there is massive corruption to be rooted out. Trump had trouble getting senior staff confirmed (Sessions took a week or two longer than an AG normally does, and then he had to get Rosenstein through, which also took longer), and he would have been wary of just taking whoever the Obama holdovers at DOJ recommended.

So while you're right on both counts, it still doesn't amount to evidence of Trump having a corrupt purpose. He's still just Trump being Trump, as far as I can see.

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Are_we__sure 2018-01-07T23:46:01

Well, yes. Trump's entry into office was more disruptive.

This is a decision that was taken after Trump was in office. He and his people didn't have their candidates lined up. This is because Trump is a terrible manager as we learning again this past week.

There's an exceptional circumstance here in that there is massive corruption to be rooted out.

Nonsense.

it still doesn't amount to evidence of Trump having a corrupt purpose. He's still just Trump being Trump, as far as I can see.

Trump being Trump? I see Trump as a conman an fundamentally corrupt and using his office to enrich himself, but we probably differ on that point.

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SoberSecondThought 2018-01-08T04:26:00

Nonsense.

Well, I'm at a loss for how to respond to that. I mean, if the ridiculous farce of the Hillary email investigation doesn't establish that the Obama DOJ was deeply corrupt ... Loretta Lynch on the tarmac? Eric Holder? I don't worship Trump, or get all mystical about his election being the hand of God. I do see at least the potential for reform with him in office. The potential for reform under Obama, the Clintons, or the Bushes would be absolutely zero.

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Are_we__sure 2018-01-08T15:18:23

if the ridiculous farce of the Hillary email investigation doesn't establish that the Obama DOJ was deeply corrupt .

It absolutely did not. It was apparent months before Comey spoke that what Clinton did not rise to the level of a crime. You can mishandle classified infor without it being criminal. And if it was a crime, dozens of others would need to be indicted for it because any one who emailed her these emails would be guilty because they were all using nonsecure email addresses.

No classified documents were mishandled. The issue was what they call "spillage." Spillage of classified info onto nonclassified servers. This common through the US government and never prosecuted. The senders of such emails have greater legal liability than recipients because the recipient doesn't know how you learned your information. (did you get in a classified briefing or did you read it in a newspaper.) Most of the emails in question were sent to her. Though she also forwarded some. Because no classifed documents were involved, this was far less clear cut than people believe. For example, the sample of emails used by the IG showed 4 classified emails they said. The experts doing the security review made mistakes on three of these.

Loretta Lynch recused herself from any decision in this case.

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SoberSecondThought 2018-01-09T02:45:41

No classified documents were mishandled. The issue was what they call "spillage."

You know, for the first time in our acquaintance I'm wondering about your agenda. Because it wasn't "spillage". She set up a private server that wasn't secure and piled thousands of classified documents on it. She did all her Secretary of State correspondence on that server. The early draft of Comey's statement actually used the phrase "gross negligence," which is the standard here for prosecution. All four of her staff who were interviewed about the emails were granted immunity, something any prosecutor or FBI agent would acknowledge makes no sense whatever. I could go on, but I feel like it would be pointless. You're too smart and way too skeptical and wary to just buy the "spillage" argument. You'd bludgeon anyone else who tried it -- I've seen you bludgeon people for far less. So what are you after here?

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Are_we__sure 2018-01-09T18:29:44

What I am after? An accurate representation of the facts and the law. Something that from the very first NY Times article on this was in very short supply.

The private server is not a legal issue whatsoever with regards to mishandling classified information.

Why? This is because the issue is secure vs insecure systems not government vs private email address. If she chose to use state department email, she would have a had a @state .gov account. The same legal issue regarding classified information would be present if she used a [email protected] email account. BECAUSE @state .gov accounts are not secure and classified info should not be transmitted on them. We know that the emails with classified into were sent to her from the CIA, career diplomats at state, the White house and the NSC. All of the following government domain are not secure.

WH.GOV

WHITEHOUSE.GOV

CIA.GOV

STATE.GOV

In government they call this the High Side and the Low side. The High Side is SIPRNET, this is the secure system used to transmit classified information. You can't email someone at a state.gov email from SIPRNET the network is not connected to nonsecure networks.

and piled thousands of classified documents on it.

Thousands of documents were classified prior to FOIA release. They were not classified at time of sending. The FBI found Clinton received or sent 110 emails from 52 email chains that contained information determined to be classified. The "thousands" were classified prior to FOIA release, but were not classified at the time of sending/recieved. This is a standard process that the State Depratment goes through before releasing FOIA documents and Comey testified the FBI did not consider these emails

The early draft of Comey's statement actually used the phrase "gross negligence,"

Yes, it did. But the overall thrust of the statement was that they didn't have any reason to file charges so in these instance they couldn't use gross negligence colloquially and they changed it. Comey also testified that there is not a clear legal definition of gross negligence, some courts require it be willful. The idea that an early draft has any legal weight is grasping at straws. The main point of the draft is to get your ideas on paper and work through them so that you organize your thoughts for yourself.

You're too smart and way too skeptical and wary to just buy the "spillage" argument. You'd bludgeon anyone else who tried it -- I've seen you bludgeon people for far less. So what are you after here?

Nope. The problem was spillage. You have to understand that the spillage occurred well before it reached Hillary Clinton's private email. All these emails originated on NONSECURE email systems. Even if they were government email systems like @whitehouse .gov or @state .gov. The spillage already occurred. These would all be violations of classified info policy even if they were not crimes. You really need to understand how classified information is supposed to be sent to understand the issue with Clinton. She did not originate any of these emails. The worst thing she did was forward some (creating a new instance of spillage.) But the originators of the emails were the most culpable. You also need to understand that zero of the emails were actual classified documents which require extensive markings including a prominent header explaining this was classified. She basically dealt with these in paper copies that someone would print out for her. She never expected to open her email and get classified info.

Not only was using a private email account not illegal at the time, but the State Department manual explained what you needed to do if you did use private email and it had to the the National Archives* not with classification (Why?) because classified info shouldn't have been in your government email account either. She went beyond this and used private email exclusively with was against policy, but not against the law.

The most sensitive emails were about folks who knew they were on the LOW SIDE and sent very vague messages that didn't mention what they were talking about. You can read about them here.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/hillary-clinton-emailed-on-cia-drone-strikes-in-pakistan/news-story/efde9067d7fb60434e94f5b9300ada5d

Fun Fact, had she used her government email address, that still would not have complied with government archiving laws because the State Department's tech was out of date. This is why she had to print all the pages of her email to be turned over the National Archives.

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SoberSecondThought 2018-01-10T06:09:26

Well, at least I now can guess why other people get so mad at you!

I'm guessing that you would have equally lengthy comebacks for, say, the cattle futures scandal of 1992, or the Marc Rich pardon, or the Patrick Knowlton appendix to the Starr report, or the charges made by Charles Ortel against the Clinton Foundation, or any of the other countless examples of Clinton corruption. But let's not bother, okay? I can get all this from CNN.

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Are_we__sure 2018-01-10T10:19:27

They get made at me because I have my facts straight and they have no comeback. If I got my facts wrong, they would get less mad at me because they would get the rush of corrected me. I deny them that rush and it frustrates them, so they usually resort to calling me a kid******.

Ortel has absolutely no idea what he is talking about which is why noone takes him seriously. He speculates and then assumes the scenario that is the worst under his speculation.

Look up what the FBI said were the legal issues. Look up SIPRNET and how that works. What is classified is often not a cut and dried issue and State and the Intel Communities have been fighting for years about it. State lost. Did you read the link on the most sensitive emails? The most sensitive emails vague emails with no names, no countries no details discussed concerning the drone program. Even though there were no details these are considered above top secret because the drone program is still considered SAP, even though everyone knows about it. You can't attach a NY Times article on the drone program to a state.gov email. That's a violation even though the information is public.

Clinton's use of a private email account, had implications for arching government records and FOIA, but not for classified info and this evidence was available months before the FBI cleared her. I was not surprised when they did. This is from MARCH 2016.

There was not an explicit, categorical prohibition against federal employees using personal emails when Clinton was in office, said Daniel Metcalfe, former director of the Department of Justice’s Office of Information Policy, where he administered implementation of the Freedom of Information Act.

....

In Clinton’s defense, we should note that it was only after Clinton left the State Department, that the National Archives issued a recommendation that government employees should avoid conducting official business on personal emails (though they noted there might be extenuating circumstances such as an emergency that require it). Additionally, in 2014, President Barack Obama signed changes to the Federal Records Act that explicitly said federal officials can only use personal email addresses if they also copy or send the emails to their official account.

**Because these rules weren’t in effect when Clinton was in office, "she was in compliance with the laws and regulations at the time," said Gary Bass, **founder and former director of OMB Watch, a government accountability organization.

***"Unless she violated a rule dealing with the handling of classified or sensitive but unclassified information, I don’t see how she violated any law or regulation," ***said Bass, who is now executive director of the Bauman Foundation. "There may be a stronger argument about violating the spirit of the law, but that is a very vague area."

Even this article gets a fact wrong about archiving, the Secretary's office did not have electronic archiving in place.

This march article was proven true when the FBI reports were released. Check out page 11 https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/3039030/Hillary-Clinton-FBI-Investigation.pdf

While State policy during Clinton’s tenure required that “day-to-day operations [at State] be conducted on [an authorized information system],” according to the ________ the Bureau of Information Security Management, ________

there was no restriction on the use of personal e-mail accounts for official business.

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SoberSecondThought 2018-01-10T14:30:42

Yeah, sorry, we've moved on to a different topic now. You were a bit of a mystery back when all I saw you do was post short questions. Seeing you post long answers has given me a completely different perspective.

You're clearly a lawyer, and the question is, who is paying you to write this stuff? There's a limited number of players to choose from. I don't think it's any of David Brock's various enterprises, or John Podesta, or the CIA. You just don't fit their agendas, or their style. Off the top of my head I'd guess the Clinton Foundation.