Schlozman’s Not Done

In my rush to leave town on Thursday, I missed this letter Pat Leahy sent to Brad Schlozman about his missing homework:

Dear Mr. Schlozman:

According to news reports, you have confirmed that you resigned last week from the Department of Justice. Yet, the Judiciary Committee is still waiting for your responses to written questions from Committee Members following your June 5 testimony at the Committee’s hearing on "Preserving Prosecutorial Independence: Is the Department of Justice Politicizing the Hiring and Firing of U.S. Attorneys?-Part V." These responses were due June 28, nearly two months ago.

In addition, during your appearance before the Committee, you testified about your preparation for the hearing, the unprecedented U.S. attorney replacements, the use of partisan considerations in career hiring, and your role as the interim U.S, Attorney and while at the Civil Rights Division in pressing certain cases in connection with recent elections. Your answers to questions made clear the importance of certain emails and other documents the Committee has still not received from the Department of Justice.

Your answers and these documents are especially important after you appeared to mislead the Committee and the public about your decision to file an election eve lawsuit in direct conflict with longstanding Justice Department policy. Despite testifying at least nine times at the hearing that you were directed to file this suit by the Public Integrity section, you sent a letter a week after the hearing that you were not, in fact, directed to do so, I asked you repeatedly about this case at the hearing because of concerns that it was done to use law enforcement power improperly to affect the outcome of the election, which is the reason the Department instituted the policy as a safeguard against such manipulation.

The Committee has authorized subpoenas, which I have not issued, for the information you have failed to provide. Please send your written responses to the Committee, including any and all requested documents, no later than August 28, to avoid any further action to compel them. [my emphasis]

That new due date would be (checks calendar) today. Otherwise we get new subpoenas for emails and questions from DOJ–and it’ll be hard for Schlozman to invoke privilege when he has already answered many of these questions.

And given the language Leahy is using, referring to using prosecutions to affect elections, it’s clear he’s thinking of criminal Hatch Act violations.