Didn't Billy Bob Clinton force resignations from every federal prosecuter shortly after he took office? That's a little tougher than a freaking phone call from a Republican Senator, isn't it?
True enough. But then again, the proximate cause of this scandal is Republicans acting unethically. If they didn't act unethically, there would be no scandal. The fact that the democrats are worse and get away with more doesn't mean that the GOP didn't bring this on itself.
Yes he did. Not much news there though.
It is SOP for all AGs to resign upon a change of administrations.
Since when is it the job of a senator (of either party) to call up a fed prosecutor? Something smells pretty bad here. If the senator has questions and wants the prosecutor to address a committee...then fine...but in this context...I'd say we need to bring the senator in and ask some pretty stupid questions. Scotter Libby got convicted mostly for being forgetful and stupid...it would appear that a number of Republicans might want to ensure they aren't next in line.
"Didn't Billy Bob Clinton force resignations from every federal prosecuter shortly after he took office? That's a little tougher than a freaking phone call from a Republican Senator, isn't it?"
It's extremely common for a new president to replace numerous federal prosecutors, particularly the heads of offices. Bush replaced the appointed Democrat in my area with what virtually everybody here agrees is a pretty mediocre prosecutor. Frankly, the Democrat was much better. But he was a Democrat and that's the way the game goes.
It's pretty rare -- almost unheard of -- for a sitting president to replace prosecutors in mid-term (so to speak), absent any evidence of serious wrongdoing. It's most definitely not illegal, however. Federal prosecutors serve at the pleasure of the president and can be fired for no reason at all.
A phone call from a Republican senator to check on the possible indictment of a Democrat right before an election also might not be illegal (I don't know), but it sure as heck isn't ethical, IMO. Senators and representatives simply do NOT call prosecutors about the status of cases. Bad, bad form.