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US Attorneys Fired for Being Soft on Porn

(Newser Summary) – Several of the U.S. attorneys axed by Alberto Gonzales may have been forced out because they failed to crack down on pornography, Salon reveals. Gonzales and his staff pressured attorneys to pursue adult obscenity cases, even if it meant yanking prosecutors away from, say, terrorism. Some who resisted got a pink slip.

Suggestions linger that politics motivated the firings—porn may have been nothing more than another pretext. But, Salon notes, Gonzales did make dirty videos a priority early on, surrounding himself with a cadre of porn-haters, including a number of his most important appointees. Gonzales will defend the firings at a Judiciary Committee hearing later today.
Source: Salon

More about:  politics • scandal • pornography • Alberto Gonzales • law • US attorneys scandal

U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales conducts a...
U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales conducts a round table discussion with law enforcement officials about his Project Safe Childhood initiative in Boston, Friday afternoon, March 30, 2007. (AP...   (Associated Press)
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