1994—2001: Bill Mercer serves as an assistant U.S. attorney from Billings, Montana.

Mercer began his term as U.S. Attorney for the district of Montana on April 20th, 2001-- recommended for the position by now former Senator Conrad Burns (R-MT), [Source: United States Senate] and on September 4th, 2001, four and a half months after he began his tenure, arguably close to within what, pre-Patriot Act Reauthorization, was the 120-day term for interim appointments, President George W. Bush sent his nomination to the Senate. He was confirmed by the Senate on November 6, 2001, and sworn in as US Attorney on December 4, 2001, nearly seven months after his actual appointment.

May 12, 2001: Moreover, records show that Mercer’s chief ally, then-Senator Burns, had already accepted more than $12,000 in May 2001 from lobbyist Jack Abramoff whose illegal donations ultimately ended Burns’ career.

Mercer’s connection to Senator Burns, then only one of four federal lawmakers under heavy investigation, was not lost on the incoming unconfirmed Acting Assistant Attorney General or Montana’s political community.

May 9, 2005: Deputy Attorney General James B. Comey announces the dual appointment of William W. Mercer as Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General, while he continues to serve as United States Attorney for the District of Montana. Mercer will begin service in the Office of the Deputy Attorney General in June. The Senate never confirmed Mercer.

In taking on his dual roles as US Attorney and his newly appointed, though not confirmed, position, Mercer received valid questions by the Montana Democratic Party:

July 12, 2005: "On May 11th, 2005, it was reported that you would be taking on new responsibilities at the Justice Department. Specifically, that you have been promoted to a new role as a top official at Justice in a position of influence over the departments investigating and possibly prosecuting the Burns-Abramoff connections. Mr. Mercer, is it appropriate under these circumstances for you to recuse yourself from an investigation with which you have a very obvious conflict of interest? I would like to hear back from you as soon as possible about this issue."

Mercer never responded.

October 20, 2005: Meanwhile Montana U.S. District Chief Judge Donald W. Molloy wrote a letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in October 2005 demanding that Mercer be replaced. Molloy wrote that Mercer’s absence had led to "a lack of leadership" in the Montana office and created "untoward difficulties for the court" and for career prosecutors. The judge also questioned whether Mercer complied with residency requirements.

Gonzales wrote back the next month that Mercer was handling both jobs admirably, and suggested that Mercer’s absence would be short-lived. Relations between Mercer and Molloy have not improved since. Molloy berated Mercer during a court hearing last year, accusing him of bringing weak cases to court to pump up statistics and telling him: "You have no credibility — none." "Your lawyers are not getting their briefs in on time," Molloy said. "You’re in Washington, D.C., and you ought to be here in Montana doing your work. Your office is a mess." [Source: Billings Gazette, May 17, 2006]

Yet the Molloy incident had little effect on Mercer who was now moving to henchman inside the Gonzales circle.

March 2, 2006: The Senate passes The USA Patriot Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005.

March 9, 2006: Bush signs the USA Patriot Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005.

June 5, 2006: In an email Sampson asks Mercer, "Has ODAG ever called Carol Lam and woodshedded her re: immigration enforcement? Has Anyone?"

June 20, 2006: Mercer writes Paul McNulty to discuss publicity around the immigration prosecution records for Southern California. Of the four options, three recommend getting rid of Lam.

July 8, 2006: Mercer derides Lam to Michael Elston. Mercer jokes that Elston will be sad because, "Carol Lam can't meet a deadline or that you'll need to interact with her in the coming weeks or that she won't just say, 'O.K. You got me. You're right, I've ignored national priorities and obvious local needs. Shoot, my production is more hideous than I realized.'"

August 2006: Justice officials suggest bypassing the two Democratic senators in Arkansas, who normally would have had input into the appointment. The way to bypass them, of course, would be to use the provision in the Patriot Act provision.

September 2006: Sampson put together another list of candidates, totaling nine. Cummins, he said, was "in the process of being pushed out." Six of those nine, including Cummins, were among the eight ultimately fired in December. Additionally Sampson writes to Miers, "I am only in favor of executing on a plan to push some USAs out if we really are ready and willing to put in the time necessary to select candidates and get them appointed." He urged using the Patriot Act provision in order to get their "preferred person" appointed.

September 2006: President Bush nominates Mercer as Associate Attorney General. Among others, duties would include protection of Civil Rights, Antitrust oversight of the offices of Justice Programs, Community Oriented Policing Services, Tribal Justice, Dispute Resolution, Information and Privacy, Community Relations Service, and Violence Against Women.

October 2006: New Mexico's Iglesias was added to the list, "based in part on complaints from Sen. Pete V. Domenici and other New Mexico Republicans that he was not prosecuting enough voter-fraud cases." Also in October, President Bush mentions complaints about voter-fraud investigations to Gonzales in a conversation in October 2006. "Gonzales does not recall the conversation, Justice Department officials said."

November 15, 2006: Sampson prepares USA replacement plan.

December 2006: Sampson emails "the White House with a copy to Ms. Miers outlining plans to carry out the firings":

"We would like to execute this on Thursday, Dec. 7," Sampson wrote. Because some United States attorneys were still in Washington attending a conference, he planned to postpone telling them they were being fired.

He writes to Mercer, "We want to wait until they are back home and dispersed to reduce chatter."

Within one week, calls go out.

Sampson then suggests that Gonzales use the Patriot Act provision to put Karl Rove's former aide Timothy Griffin in place until the end of Bush's term. "[I]f we don't ever exercise it then what's the point of having it?" he wrote to a White House aide.

January 18, 2007: Alberto Gonzales testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee. In response to questioning by Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA), Gonzales does not deny that his office has asked U.S. Attorneys to resign in the last year. He also testifies: "I would never, ever make a change in a United States attorney for political reasons or if it would in any way jeopardize an ongoing serious investigation. I just would not do it."

March 25, 2007: Former Las Vegas Attorney General recounts phone call with Mercer in interview with Las Vegas Sun: "He says, ‘The administration has a short two-year window of opportunity where they can get candidates out to your positions, where they can get the résumé together, they can have the experience of the U.S. attorney in their background that would make them a more viable candidate for future judgeships, for political office.’"

April 12, 2007: William Mercer testifies before a closed session of the Senate Judiciary Committee on the firings of the 8 US Attorney Generals.

The Patriot Act of December 9, 2001: United States Attorneys are required to reside in the district for which they are appointed as a general rule, 28 U.S.C. 545. Sec.501.

Beginning in June 2005, Mercer assumed his dual position thereby serving nearly a full year since the Act was amended. Was he in violation of the law and it begs a larger question? Under the reauthorized version, why is such an obscure ruling changed?

(From the Molloy/Gonzales chain)

Oct. 20, 2005: Montana U.S. District Chief Judge Donald Molloy claims in a letter to Gonzales that Mercer was violating federal law because he "no longer resides in Montana" and was living with his family in the Washington area.

Nov. 10, 2005: Gonzales responded to Molloy that Mercer "is in compliance with the residency requirement" under federal law (28 U.S.C. 545. Sec. 501) because he "is domiciled there, returns there on a regular basis and will live there full-time as soon as his temporary assignment is completed."

So did Gonzales lie in this letter?

December 2005:  The Administration, via Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter's (R-PA) chief counsel, slipped a provision into the Patriot Act reauthorization bill that made it possible to replace U.S. Attorneys permanently without Senate confirmation.

So who was responsible for pushing the Patriot amendment? Clearly it had to be somebody at Justice who could get to Specter's Chief Counsel, Brett Tolman. Perhaps it may have been Mercer.

William E. Moschella is the Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General and has been investigated by House and Senate staff in March 2007. It is unknown whether he was asked about the residency issue. However, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) singled Gonzales out on the subject during recent testimony before the Committee.

April 19, 2007: Leahy: "I'm talking about an office that the Judge himself says is in disarray in Montana, and Mr. Mercer has testified that he's in Montana just three days a month -- three days a month -- while he's acting as your Associate Attorney General. I just mentioned that because if we're talking about absentee landlords, sometimes the absentee landlords are created by your own office.

(Note: that Gonzales tries to misdirect line of questioning to U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald. Leahy in fact puts it right back, "I'm not talking about Mr. Fitzgerald.")

April 12, 2007: Mercer was interviewed in a closed door session. This is where the three days a month figure came out as Leahy discloses.