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In the latest stage of a long-standing Bush administration scandal, Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey appointed a special prosecutor on Monday, to investigate whether criminal charges should be brought against former Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and other officials in connection with the firings of nine United States attorneys in 2006.
The New York Times says the move came as the Justice Department released a report by its inspector general severely criticizing the process that led to the firings.
The inspector general is working to determine who in the Bush administration ordered the firings, whether the dismissals were intended to thwart investigations, and whether anyone had broken the law in carrying out the firings or in testifying about them.
Critics have said the firings were politically motivated.
The 392-page report released on Monday was blistering in its assessment.
“The report makes plain that, at a minimum, the process by which nine U.S. attorneys were removed in 2006 was haphazard, arbitrary and unprofessional, and the way in which the Justice Department handled those removals and the resulting public controversy was profoundly lacking,” Mr. Mukasey said in a statement.
The report called for further investigation to determine whether prosecutable offenses were committed either in the firings or in subsequent testimony about them.
The report found that primary blame for the “serious failures” in the firing process lay with Attorney General Gonzalez and his deputy, Paul McNulty, “who abdicated their responsibility to adequately oversee the process and ensure that the reasons for removal of each U.S. Attorney were supportable and not improper.”
The White House has refused to provide documents related to the firings.
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