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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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March 30th,
2007 - Feinstein Challenges Criticism Against Lam |
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Feinstein Challenges
Criticism Against Lam By Finlay Lewis Copley News Service March 30, 2007 Washington – Sen. Dianne
Feinstein yesterday challenged assertions by a former top Justice Department
official that Carol Lam was fired from her job as U.S. attorney in San Diego
because of a mediocre record in prosecuting immigration cases. During a hearing of the
Senate Judiciary Committee, the California Democrat produced a recent letter
from a top federal immigration official in San Diego praising Lam's record in
combating immigrant smuggling. The three-page letter, dated
Feb. 15, casts doubt, Feinstein said, on testimony by Kyle Sampson, who
resigned this month as chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
amid a growing controversy over the dismissals of Lam and seven other U.S.
attorneys. “It is a real surprise to me
that you would say here that the reason for her dismissal was immigration
cases,” Feinstein told Sampson during the hearing. The letter, by Adele Fasano,
director of field operations for the San Diego office of U.S. Customs and
Border Protection, said that Lam's efforts last year contributed “to the
reduction by at least 50 percent (in) the number of smuggled aliens
encountered at the San Diego ports of entry.” In an interview, the senator
added, “I don't think the director of field operations would write a letter
commending (Lam) unless she really believed this woman was doing an excellent
job.” Fasano was unavailable for
comment about the letter. In his testimony, he
insisted that her sacking had nothing to do with her office's successful
prosecution of former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, R-Rancho Santa Fe, and
the grand jury indictments of Kyle “Dusty” Foggo, the former third-ranking
official in the CIA, and defense contractor Brent Wilkes of Poway. The
indictments came two days before Lam left office Feb. 15, though she had
announced weeks earlier that she would be leaving. “There was never any
connection in my mind between asking Carol Lam to resign and the public
corruption case that her office was working on,” Sampson said. According to e-mails and
other documents recently released by the department, Lam notified her
superiors May 10 of her intention to issue search warrants in connection with
her investigation of Foggo and Wilkes. The next day, Sampson e-mailed a White
House official about “a real problem” with Lam and arguing that she should be
replaced at the expiration of her term Nov. 18. Earlier on the day of the
Sampson e-mail, the Los Angeles Times reported that the U.S. attorney in Los
Angeles had opened an investigation of Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands, that was
connected to the Cunningham case. Asked about that e-mail by
Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., Sampson said that the problem with Lam, in his
mind, was “immigration enforcement.” Later, in response to
questions from Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, Sampson described Lam as “a good
person and a very skilled lawyer.” But he said her name was
initially included on a list of U.S. attorneys earmarked for dismissal “due
to her office's failure to embrace the president's anti-gun violence
initiative, Project Safe Neighborhoods.” In the e-mails, Justice
Department officials criticized Lam for not enough immigration prosecutions. That echoed concerns from
Republican congressmen, including Rep. Darrell Issa of Vista. Feinstein at
one point last year inquired about the immigration prosecutions, but later
said she was satisfied after hearing from Justice Department officials who
defended Lam on the issue. After her dismissal, Lam
said she was never told about concern within the department about her
immigration record. She also said her practice was to focus on fewer, bigger
cases that produced longer prison sentences. External link: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20070330-9999-1n30lam.html |