US Attorney Mysteriously Recuses Himself From James O’Keefe Case

Expect this to turn into a much bigger story very quickly. Yesterday, a U.S. Attorney Jim Letten (a holdover from the Bush administration, according to Rachel Maddow) recused himself from the James O’Keefe case for “various relevant factors” that have yet to be disclosed in detail (though not for long one imagines!). O’Keefe, you probably know, was arrested last week with three others for allegedly tampering with the phones in U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu’s New Orleans office. Last night he appeared on Hannity to declare the entire thing was a “‘a huge misunderstanding” though he refused to detail why.

Here’s where it might get interesting. It’s possible that Letten’s recusal has something to do with the fact one of the men who was arrested along side O’Keefe was Robert Flanagan who is the son of William Flanagan, who is the acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana. It’s also very tenuously possible it may have the slightest of connections to the Obama administration: Apparently, there is also other action surrounding Letten that, as far as anyone knows has nothing to do with this case. Rachel Maddow reports that LA Senator David Vitter had placed a hold on Obama’s nominees for the position until he go assurances that Letten would retain his, which he received yesterday. The plot thickens! More from Maddow below (MSNBC is perhaps overly interested in all thing O’Keefe!).

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