MinnLawyer Blog

It was like the local U.S. Attorney’s Office hit the daily double in Duluth today. First, U.S. Attorney Rachel Paulose announced in a Duluth press conference that 29 people from the area have been indicted for cocaine trafficking. Twenty five of those people have already been apprehended. (The move demonstrates that drug traffickers can’t evade [...]

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From the Associated Press: U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar wants the Senate Judiciary Committee to ask more in-depth questions about why former U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Tom Heffelfinger may have been targeted for removal. A story in today’s Los Angeles Times says Heffelfinger was targeted because he worked to protect the voting rights of American Indians [...]

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While the L.A. Times keeps spilling ink on former Minnesota U.S. Attorney Tom Heffelfinger, federal prosecutors in Wisconsin have had their hands full with Milwaukee Alderman Michael McGee. According to a story in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, McGee and two other men were arrested this week on suspicion of plotting to kill a man whom [...]

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It’s Monica Goodling day at the House Judiciary Committee, and so far the former Justice Department liaison to the White House has come out swinging, the Washington Post’s Capitol Briefing blog reports. “In her opening statement, Goodling attacked outgoing Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, accusing McNulty of not being ‘fully candid’ in his remarks to [...]

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The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced at a press conference today that 25 people arrested over the weekend have been charged in federal court for crimes related to the operation of a major prostitution ring in the Twin Cities. The charges include conspiracy, transporting a person to engage in prostitution and enticement of another to travel [...]

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The Hennepin County Bar Association’s annual meeting next Thursday promises to be a memorable one. The keynote speaker will be none other than former U.S. Attorney Tom Heffelfinger, who has lately been the reluctant subject of media inquiries about the wave of U.S. Attorney departures during the past two years. In his address, “The Independence [...]

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An update on the U.S. attorney’s story. In an article now posted on the Star Tribune’s website, “Klobuchar asks for Heffelfinger explanation,”U.S. Attorney Tom Heffelfinger said again that he had no idea when he resigned that he had been targeted for dismissal. “As late as early fall of ’05, I had a private meeting with [...]

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As one of the comments points out in another post, a lengthy story on the U.S. attorney controversy dated yesterday out of McClatchy’s Washington Bureau contained the following paragraph near the end: “A U.S. attorney in Minnesota, who disagreed with the Justice Department on a case involving voting rolls, was asked to resign early last [...]

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Today’s Star Tribune features an article discussing statements made by U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to Rep. Keith Ellison, D. Minn., yesterday during a House Judiciary Committee hearing. According to Gonzales, the Department of Justice is working with Minnesota U.S. Attorney Rachel Paulose to improve her performance and that if improvement isn’t seen, the Department [...]

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The Justice Department will not try to prevent Congress from granting immunity to a former department official to testify about the firing of eight federal prosecutors, the Pioneer Press reports on its website. In a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., officials from two Justice Department offices investigating whether the department played [...]

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