Difi suffers from memory loss. Update to this previous story.
The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee decried President Trump’s decision to dismiss all 46 hold-over U.S. attorneys from the Obama administration, saying the decision could compromise the independence of future prosecutors and potentially disrupt important cases.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said late Friday afternoon she was surprised that the attorneys were “abruptly fired” earlier in the day and argued that it couldn’t come at a worse time after Attorney General Jeff Sessions had recused himself in any probe involving Russian ties to the Trump campaign and administration.
“At a time when Attorney General Sessions has recused himself from major investigations into the Trump campaign, the independence of federal prosecutors could not be more important,” she said in a statement. “That’s why many of us have called for the appointment of a special prosecutor.”[…]
The White House and Feinstein also offered polar opposite views on the precedent for mass U.S. attorney firings at the beginning of administrations.
Sessions’ spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores in a statement said both the George W. Bush and Clinton administrations made similar requests at the beginning of their administrations. Feinstein said the usual practice under previous administrations is to allow U.S. attorneys to leave gradually as their replacements are chosen.