Law prof asks if US attorney's ouster is new 'Saturday Night Massacre' setup; senator wants answers
Dana Boente/Wikipedia.
The resignation of U.S. Attorney Dana Boente of the Eastern District of Virginia has led to speculation by a Harvard law professor and a demand by Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., for answers.
Coons tells Reuters he is concerned about the abrupt departure of the career prosecutor.
Boente was reportedly asked to resign in late October, shortly before President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and one of his business associates, Rick Gates, were charged with alleged money laundering in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian influence into the 2016 election. Another Trump adviser, George Papadopoulos, pleaded guilty and is cooperating, according to information disclosed on Oct. 30—the same day the indictment was revealed.
Boente was also serving as acting assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s national security division. He previously was the acting attorney general after the firing of Sally Yates in January.
Coons tells Reuters there are “a lot of circumstances that connect the ongoing Mueller investigation to the Eastern District.” Coons says he is writing to the U.S. attorney general’s office to ask whether Boente’s departure was “normal or justified.”
Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe, meanwhile, suggests another possible reason for Boente’s departure.
In a Wednesday morning tweet, Tribe writes that Boente’s “forced resignation” should be investigated, LawNewz reports. Boente was fourth in line as acting attorney general “to supervise and potentially fire Robert Mueller” in the event that current attorney general Jeff Sessions is fired, Tribe said.
“May be setting up a Saturday Night Massacre,” Tribe tweeted.
He was referring to President Richard Nixon’s orders in 1973 to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox, leading to the resignation of the attorney general and the deputy attorney general. Solicitor general Robert Bork ended up firing Cox.
Trump set up a line of succession in the Justice Department by executive order that puts the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia in line to act as attorney general in the event the attorney general, the deputy attorney general and the associate attorney general die, resign or unable to perform the duties of office. Trump could also engineer Mueller’s ouster in other succession scenarios.
Tribe has previously called for an impeachment investigation of Trump in a May Washington Post column.
Dana Boente’s forced resignation needs to be investigated: he was ~ 4th in line as Acting AG to supervise and potentially fire Robert Mueller if Trump gets rid of (recused AG) Sessions. May be setting up a Saturday Night Massacre.
— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) November 8, 2017