Reply #4: "legal analysis explaining why Fitzgerald cannot "legally" be fired by [View All]

[understandinglife]

... Bush or anybody in the DOJ as the "Special Prosecutor" for Treasongate offenses.

<clip>

As Special Prosecutor he cannot be fired. Why? Read my August 8th, 2005 article for the detailed answer including extensive links.

The short version goes something like this:

Fitzgerald's plenary authority was delegated to him by acting Attorney General James Comey. Two official DOJ letters were used by Comey to establish Fitzgerald as the "Acting US Attoney General" in this matter. That means he is effectively the Attorney General for this case and he doesn't have to answer to anybody.

OK, but even the Attorney General can be fired by the President. This is true. So why can't Bush fire Fitzgerald even if Fitz is the Acting Attorney General with plenary authority?

That's where the Government Accountability Office (GAO) comes in. The DOJ made a very extensive argument to the GAO that Fitzgerald has all of the power of an Independent Counsel (like Ken Starr when he was investigating Clinton). Even though the Indepenent Counsel law has expired, DOJ argued that under this set of facts and this unique delegation of power from Comey to Fitzgerald, the GAO should recognize Fitzgerald as having all the power of an Independent Counsel so that unlimited funds could be released to Fitzgerald so this investigation could be properly conducted.

The GAO bought this argument and granted the funds on this basis.

<clip>

Much more at the links:

http://citizenspook.blogspot.com/2005/10/treasongate-comey-clarifies.html

http://citizenspook.blogspot.com/2005/08/treasongate-us-attorney-generals.html

May be a good time to read this analysis. I encourage everyone to do so and to distribute, widely.


Peace.