The Captain Is The Last To Jump Ship

In bullimic fashion, the purging at DOJ goes on. A senior Justice Department official who helped carry out the dismissals of federal prosecutors announced today that he is resigning. Mike Elston, chief of staff to Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, is the fifth Justice official to leave after being linked to the dismissals of the prosecutors.

Elston has been accused of threatening several of the eight fired U.S. attorneys to keep quiet about their ousters. In a statement Friday, the Justice Department said Elston was leaving voluntarily to take a job with an unnamed Washington-area law firm.

Senator Schumer seemed to size up the situation quite approprately: "Alberto Gonzales appears to be the last man standing but he should have been the first to go."

Update: The president finally signed the "Preserving United States Attorney Independence Act of 2007", which finally revokes that part of the Patriot Act which allowed DOJ to appoint U.S. Attorneys without Sentate oversight. See Red Wing's blog on the Daily Kos for a good timeline and breakdown of the issue.