Posted on 05/23/2012 2:36:34 PM PDT by STARWISE
U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald — who toppled two Illinois governors and a top aide to the former vice president, and also went after the Chicago mob, a notorious police commander accused of torture and even international terrorists — is stepping down.
The corruption-busting prosecutor said he will leave the post June 30 after serving nearly 11 years in the post, longer than anyone else in Illinois history.
In a written statement, Fitzgerald said he told the White House, Attorney General Eric Holder, and U.S. Sens. Richard Durbin and Mark Kirk about his decision Wednesday morning.
“When I was selected for this position in 2001, I said that it was one of the greatest opportunities that one could ever hope for, and I believe that even more now after having the privilege of working alongside hundreds of dedicated prosecutors and agents,” he said in the statement. “I have tried not to get in their way. I extend my deepest appreciation to the attorneys and staff for their determined commitment to public service. This was a great office when I arrived, and I have no doubt that it will continue to be a great office.”
*snip*
Fitzgerald, 51, the father of two children, said he has no job lined up at this point and “will take time off this summer before considering career options.”
Durbin said Wednesday that Fitzgerald “kept his word” when he pledged not to show any political favoritism before taking the post on Sept. 1, 2001.
“His aggressive prosecution of wrongdoing — including politicians in both parties — has given fair warning that no one is above the law,” Durbin said in a statement. “Our nation is fortunate to have public servants of Patrick Fitzgerald’s caliber and integrity.”
Durbin will most likely follow a version of a cooperative arrangement he has used with Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) in selecting federal judges in recommending a nominee to replace Fitzgerald.
Good riddance!!
Gotta replace him now, just in case Mitt wins and replaces him later with a Republican. Have to make sure one of Barry’s friends remains in that post, lest someone less friendly take the post later on.
chice = choice
.. Ping!
Makes ya wonder how ‘persuadable’ he is.
US Attorneys serve at the pleasure of the president. If Mitt wins, he can fire all the US Attorneys and replace them with his own appointees.
That’s right! (duh ... Clintons )
Just looked over the CHI-Crime thread last week. So much material that has not been prosecuted. Hopefully many arrest before he steps down. Have been waiting for the BIG one for years.
If for some reason Holder were to step down at DOJ (unlikely), that douchebag Fitzgerald would be on the short list to take over, believe it.
With any luck Holder will have to step down in January of 2013, and then President Romney can appoint Fitzgerald to replace him.
Bye, Bye AG Fitzgerald; if only we could have said that nine years ago!!!
Gerald Fitzpatrick?
If memory serves, GW Bush allowed most/all Clinton-appointed US attorneys to stay. He probably should have cleaned house. This may have cost him in certain cases such as the housing/loan/investment melt-down among others. I fear Mitt will keep Barry's people in place in a similar manner. If I were to bet, I would think Mitt will NOT replace Barry's appointees.
Swishing off into the sunset with his gay lover Gerald Fitzpatrick?
Yeah, since Clinton replaced every single US attorney in the country.
Ad then the Left had the absolute gall to scream when Bush wanted to replace ANY of them - and Bush backed down!
Bah.
Yeah, W tried that. Look where it got him.
Good riddance. Fitzgerald deserves to do time ....his persecution of Scooter Libby was disgusting.
Fitzpatrick KNEW who inadvertently leaked Valarie Plame’s name before he started the investigation ....and when there was a fairly trivial difference between Libby’s recollection and a newsman’s recollection, he claimed it was perjury and sought big fines and big time. Absolutely horrible actions by an extremely UNETHICAL JERK!!! I would love to see him suffer in a manner like Libby suffered!!
True ... he’s very quirky, eccentric and stubbornly willful once HIS perception of the crime takes hold in his brain, regardless of any other information. He’s undeterrable. I’d be surprised if he suffers professionally. The rest: in God’s hands.
God bless Scooter and his family. They got it handed to them in spades and shamefully. I’ll never be convinced otherwise. Armitage and Powell should rot somewhere very hot.
And Blago? I’ll always believe the investigation was stopped just short of the really big fish being revealed for their complicity with the Blago arrest.
You’re correct but recall when Clinton fired them all, there was nary a peep out of the press. When George W. Bush fired only 6 or 7 of Clinton’s appointees, there was a screaming hissy fit about politicizing the U.S. Attorney’s posts.
Fitzgerald is just another corrupt .gov thug.
Clinton needed to get rid of the Arkansas AUSA who was looking into Whitewater. To camouflage this move Clinton fired about 80 others.
Soooo, Fitzy promised Dickie that he would prosecute Republicans.....
AMEN!!!
I suppose it's ironic how a corrupt scumbag like Durbin is probably the only person on earth who can keep a straight face when making the above statement about another corrupt scumbag.
That's not an issue. Romney, if elected, will likely follow precedent (since Clinton began the practice) and fire all US Attorneys, then reappoint and replace whoever he wants. Of course, liberal Democrat Romney could end up keeping the rats anyway.
I don't think so -- the essence of Mitten's campaign is, the other guy is an amateur who has appointed amateurs, so let's put an adult back in the office. You got to clean house from there.
Which is a reminder of another GWB failure - he failed to clean house.
Fizzy persecuted Scooter because he couldn't get to Rove, so he went for a neo-con from Cheney's cadre. Scooter copped the charge because (a) he had lousy lawyers and (b) he wanted the Judith Miller affair out of the news.
On August 28, 2006, Christopher Hitchens asserted that Richard Armitage was the primary source of the Valerie Plame leak and that Fitzgerald knew this at the beginning of his investigation.[131] This was supported a month later by Armitage himself, who stated that Fitzgerald had instructed him not to go public with this information.[132] Investor's Business Daily questioned Fitzgerald's truthfulness in an editorial, stating "From top to bottom, this has been one of the most disgraceful abuses of prosecutorial power in this country's history...The Plame case proves [Fitzgerald] can bend the truth with the proficiency of the slickest of pols."[133]
I don't think so -- the essence of Mitten's campaign is,the other guy is an amateur who has appointed amateurs,so let's put an adult back in the office. You got to clean house from there.
Has the Romney Campaign been asked this very question?
I thought he was great. Didn’t Bush appoint him? Why are we bashing a good Republican? Didn’t he get rid of a lot of corrupted people of both parties. I say God Bless him.
AG Fitzgerald went after Scooter, as the only scapegoat he could snare in a he-said-she-said perjury trap on the erroneous legal premise that the WH “went after” (sought to harm/damage) an individual - the husband of a CIA employee, by “intentionally revealing” the CIA employment aspect of his wife, in order to “cause harm” to an individual whose speech they sought to “suppress”. Nonsense.
The legal premise Fitz employed was wrong and erroneous on a number of counts.
(1) The nature of Ms Plame’s work was not first disclosed by the WH.
(2) What disclosures concerning her identity that did reach the public did not breach any Federal law, given the context of her work and previous disclosures of who she was.
(3) The WH did not “target”, did not “go after”, did not seek to “damage” or “harm” Ms Plame or her husband. The WH “went after” the erroneous story Ms Plame’s husband was telling about an investigation the CIA and State department had sent him on, the “evidence” that investigation produced and the government’s analysis of what was learned by that so-called “investigation”. The interpretation of all these points by Ms Plame’s husband were refuted and contradicted in Congressional testimony by the others in government actually involved in the affair. Ms Plame’s husband’s story was false and the WH had an obligation and responsibility to “go after” that story and refute it. In the process the CIA identity of Ms Plame’s employment was incidental, non-lethal, not illegal, collateral information made public first NOT by the WH or Scooter.
AG Fitz proved himself to be a self-aggrandizing thug seeking a name for himself in history. We can only hope history makes it a name of shame.
So is Obama going to appoint him to a federal judgeship before the end of the year?
My money is on “yes”
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