Judiciary Committee Approves Subpoena for James Comey

The Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law has just approved a subpoena for James B. Comey, a former deputy attorney general, in the continuing investigation into the firings of US Attorneys. As Subcommittee Chairwoman Linda T. Sánchez explains, Mr. Comey has agreed to comply with the subpoena and will appear before the committee on May 3, 2007.

Subcommittee Chairwoman Linda T. Sánchez: "New information has come to out attention that we believe warrants our authorization of an issuance of a subpoena for Mr. Comey. We are undertaking this endeavor to aid our ongoing investigation of the scheme to purge US Attorneys."

Behind the Scenes of the U.S. Attorney Firings

Chitra Ragavan, U.S. News - March 13, 2007

But in the interest of the "betterment of the organization," Sampson agreed to begin an informal evaluation of U.S. attorneys. Indeed, over the next year, Sampson began to "consult" with senior officials in an attempt to identify the 10 worst U.S. attorneys who could conceivably be replaced. Current and former Justice officials say Sampson consulted with, among others, Michael Battle, head of the Executive Office of U.S. Attorneys--who has now resigned--and his predecessor, Mary Beth Buchanan, as well as then Deputy Attorney General James Comey, who's now senior vice president and general counsel of Lockheed Martin. Comey would confirm to U.S. News only that he provided Sampson with a list of weak U.S. attorneys.

But a former Justice official says that Comey's list bore little resemblance to the list of those fired last year. The only prosecutor on the fired list who also was on Comey's list was Kevin Ryan, in San Francisco, who, the Washington Post reported Tuesday, had "widespread management and morale problems in his office." In fact, Ryan wound up on Sampson's list among the higher-ranked prosecutors.