The American Spectator

p> INSIDER GAMES br> According to Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) staff, Sen. Chuck Schumer was receiving inside information via what they term “back channel” communications from a senior Department of Justice official, who perhaps was hoping to keep his job at the Department in the wake of his involvement in the firing of eight Republican U.S. Attorneys. /p>

“The Senator early on had a pretty good handle on what to expect coming out of the Justice Department as far as documents and the timeline of the firings,” says a DSCC source. “Someone was reaching out to him in hopes that he wouldn’t get tarred too badly by the scandal. He knew we were going to make a big deal of it.”

Given the number of career Democrat attorneys inside DOJ, as well as political appointees looking to protect their reputation in Washington, the candidates for such leakers are many. But several names continue to pop up when the discussions inside the DSCC turn to the firings scandal. One name often rumored is Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, a well-known Republican from Virginia, who served as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia before being tapped to replace his close friend, former DAG James Comey. Comey, though out of the Bush Administration, is also thought to be the potential source.

Comey is close to current U.S. Attorney and special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, who has taken heat for what most reasonable people in Washington consider to be an unfair prosecution of Scooter Libby, former chief of staff of Vice President Dick Cheney. According to DSCC sources, Schumer reached out to Comey, who served as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, more than a month ago to discuss the U.S. Attorney firings. Recently released e-mails from the Justice Department revealed that Comey was actually consulted about the firings.

McNulty, along with his chief of staff, Michael Elston, was intimately involved in the planning and coordination of the firings of the eight U.S. Attorneys. Recent e-mail releases from DOJ revealed both were more involved in the scandal than either had previously discussed. Both attended a meeting on November 27th with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to brief him on the firings.

Yet McNulty, despite undergoing tough testimony before Congress about the firings, has not taken as much heat from Democrats as Gonzales or his senior advisers, most of whom have either resigned or taken a leave of absence.

p> A SITE FOR SORE EYES br> An independent website of evangelicals that supports former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney