We've Already Established..

Your profession...now we're just negotiating the price....to paraphrase someone or other.

I think the interesting and yet to be determined aspect of the USA's Purgastory (tm) is what the "Bushies" were trying for. We KNOW they are dirty at the top of this...and this is a fish story from the beginning. But, what was the nefarious intent? Install friendlies as a matter of smart politics or head off damaging investigations?

If the latter is the case....is it because they love their party or because the trail of tears may lead to 1600? So many delicious scenarios come to mind and TPM has some to consider...

It is not at all uncommon for US Attorneys to leave their posts for private practice, very often for lucrative work as criminal defense attorneys. And a complex corruption investigation of a powerful political figure like Lewis can drag on for some time. So in isolation nothing would appear out of the ordinary or improper when a US Attorney like Yang resigned her post while her office was conducting such a high profile probe.

But of course it's not in isolation.

It came right in the midst of the summary firings of several US Attorneys who were either investigating Republicans or failing to investigate Democrats. Yang left the US Attorneys office for a job at Gibson Dunn, the firm which happens to be the one representing Lewis. (Most lawyers would, I think, caution that this isn't necessarily as questionable as it might seem on first blush. Gibson Dunn is a major national law firm based in LA. It's a logical place for someone like Yang to go.) Yang is now one of three co-chairs of the firm's Crisis Management Group, along with New York Partner Randy Mastro and GOP power player Theodore Olson.

And one other issue that might come into play here. If you look at the corruption investigations over the last two years, there's an odd pattern of pivotal investigators and prosecutors getting fortuitous promotions or offers of employment in the private sector at key moments. Take a look at the DOJ's Public Integrity section.

The Yang case is very different from the cases of the fired prosecutors, at least based on the evidence now on offer. To the best of my knowledge Yang has said that her departure was her decision. She wasn't pushed. And no evidence has yet surfaced from within the DOJ that suggests otherwise. It may well just be coincidence that the two Southern California US Attorneys covering the expanding Cunningham-Lewis investigation left their posts within six weeks of each other. But this story so far has been unkind to those inclined to accept coincidences at face value.