Dismissed U.S. Attorneys Summary - Carol Lam

Carol Lam

The best known of the dismissed U.S. attorneys was Carol Lam, who had successfully prosecuted then Republican Congressman Duke Cunningham for corruption. On May 11, 2006, the Los Angeles Times reported that her investigation had expanded to investigate Jerry Lewis, then chair of the House Appropriations Committee. On May 10, 2006, Lam had also notified the Justice Department that she intended to execute search warrants on a high-ranking CIA official. On May 11, Kyle Sampson urged the White House counsel's office to call him regarding "the real problem we have right now with Carol Lam." She continued to work as the events unfolded and ordered her staff to finish with the indictments they were working on before her last day in office. In February 2007, two days before her last, her office indicted Dusty Foggo, the former Executive Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and a major campaign contributor Brent R. Wilkes (who was previously named on Cunningham's guilty plea).

Kyle Sampson responded to the accusation that his statement that the "real problem" with Lam dealt with the Cunningham investigation. In his testimony before the Congress, Sampson stated that "There was never any connection in my mind between asking Carol Lam to resign and the public corruption case that her office was working on...The real problem ... was her office's prosecution of immigration cases." Sampson went on to say in his testimony that he was not aware of the connection between Lam and the Cunningham investigation. Sampson said, "I don't remember ever hearing about those searches, and I certainly didn't associate in my mind the idea of asking Carol Lam to resign with the fact that her office was doing an investigation of Mr. Foggo and Mr. Wilkes...That office's investigation and prosecution of Duke Cunningham was a good thing."

North County Times has quoted Republican Congressman Darrell Issa stating that he takes "maybe one-twentieth" of the responsibility for Lam's firing. On March 6, 2007, Issa made a statement at the United States House Committee on the Judiciary hearing. Justice Department officials told Senator Charles Schumer that Lam and others were terminated because of "performance-related" issues. However, Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty later "called on the phone and said, 'I am sorry that I didn't tell you the truth.'"