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Schumer wants answers about Charlton’s firing |
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By Susan Crabtree
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Posted: 04/25/07 03:55 PM [ET] |
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) in a letter Wednesday called on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to disclose by Friday all contacts between the office of Rep. Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.), the Justice Department and the White House related to his department’s probe of the lawmaker.
Schumer sent the letter after the Associated Press reported that just weeks before the November 2006 midterm elections, Renzi’s then-chief of staff called former U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton’s office to discuss media reports of a pending indictment related to Renzi’s role in a 2005 land deal.
In addition, Schumer is concerned about a report in the Wall Street Journal that the Justice Department failed to approve Charlton’s key requests, in effect preventing the U.S. attorney from moving forward in the Renzi corruption probe until after the election. One month later, Charlton was asked to resign his post.
“Taken together, today’s reports raise new and serious questions about whether improper political motivations were involved in your decision to force Mr. Charlton to resign just a few weeks after the election,” Schumer wrote. “To date, there has not been a compelling case made that Mr. Charlton deserved to be dismissed based on his performance as the chief federal prosecutor in Arizona.”
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