U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, was one of the key players in the push to get former U.S. Attorney Carol Lam out of office. And, for a time, he was a major defender of the Justice Department’s handling of the U.S. attorneys that were pushed out.
He has changed his mind, though, according to a story today in The Hill newspaper.
From the story:
Issa testified on March 6 before a House Judiciary subcommittee that he believed the dismissal of Carol Lam, the former U.S. Attorney in San Diego, was performance-related. But his vehement defense of Justice’s decision to dismiss Lam has changed, and he is now criticizing the department’s handling of the firings.
Issa still believes Lam was not prosecuting enough human trafficking cases at the border, but after viewing some of the freshly released documents, he continues to question why Justice initially told Congress that all the decisions about the dismissals occurred late last year — even though e-mails and memos released last week show that the plans for their firings began much earlier.
Issa has not specifically mentioned Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. But he has said that anyone who played a role in misleading Congress by claiming that plans for the dismissals started in October 2006 should resign.