William Moschella

William Emil Moschella (born April 17, 1968), a United States lawyer and political appointee as Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General in the administration of President George W. Bush.

Career

Moschella received a bachelor's degree from the University of Virginia in 1990. Following graduation, he spent seven years in a variety of positions in the office of Congressman Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.), while attending George Mason University Law School in the evenings. [cite web | url=http://www.netcaucus.org/events/2005/patriot/bio-moschella.shtml | title=Patriot Act 2005, Panelist Biographis] From 1997 to 2003, he held a number of positions on Capitol Hill, including serving as Counsel to the House Committee on Government Reform, General Counsel to the House Committee on Rules, Chief Investigative Counsel to the House Committee on the Judiciary from 1999 to 2001, and Chief Legislative Counsel and Parliamentarian to the House Committee on the Judiciary. [cite web | url=http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2006/October/06_odag_666.html | title=Justice Department Announces William E. Moschella as New Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General |date=October 2, 2006] In 2003, he was nominated by President Bush to serve as Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs, and he was approved by the Senate on May 9, 2003. [cite web | url=http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/nominations/992.html | title=Presidential Nominations]

On October 2, 2006, Moschella was named Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General succeeding William Mercer, who was nominated in early September to serve as Associate Attorney General. [cite web | url=http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2006/October/06_odag_666.html | title=Justice Department Announces William E. Moschella as New Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General |date=October 2, 2006]

Controversies

Moschella was directly involved in making changes to the Patriot Act that allowed interim US Attorneys to serve indefinitely.cite news | url=http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/nation/16964237.htm?source=rss&channel=krwashington_nation | title=Documents highlight Gonzales' role in the firings | date=March 23, 2007 | publisher=McClatchy Newspapers | author=Ron Hutcheson | coauthors=Marisa Taylor and Margaret Talev]

On March 6, 2007, Moschella testified to the House Judiciary Committee that all the US attorneys were fired for performance-related reasons, although he acknowledged that none of the attorneys were originally told why they had been fired. He also testified that the White House had no involvement in the firings of US Attorneys, testimony that was later shown to be incorrect by emails that were subsequently released. [cite news | url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17664172/site/newsweek/page/3/ | title=Disorder in King George's Court | author=Michael Isikoff | coauthors=Richard Wolffe And Evan Thomas | date=March 26, 2007 | publisher=Newsweek]

References