American lawyer

Harry Earnest *mins, III, known as Bud *mins (born August 6, 1959), is an American attorney, businessman and politician. He served as United States Attorney with five years of service from 2001 to 2006 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas.

Contents

• 1 Career
• 2 Controversy over dismissal
• 3 Role in Trump-Ukraine scandal
• 4 References
• 5 External links

Career

*mins was born in Enid, Oklahoma. He graduated from the University of Arkansas and eventually moved to Little Rock, Arkansas. In 1989, he obtained a J.D. degree from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law. Subsequently, he served as a law clerk for United States Magistrate Judge John F. Forster, and later was clerk to chief United States District Judge Stephen M. Reasoner. After his federal clerkships, he set up a private law practice.

In 1996, he ran as a Republican candidate for Arkansas' second district in the House of Representatives. He lost roughly 52 percent to 48 percent to Democrat Vic Snyder. He later served as Governor Mike Huckabee's chief legal counsel. In 2000, he was an elector representing Arkansas' second electoral district at the Electoral College and cast his vote for Texas Governor George W. Bush. In 2001, shortly after becoming President of the United States, Bush nominated *mins to be the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, a position that he held until 2006. During his tenure as U.S. Attorney, his office successfully investigated and prosecuted several high-profile cases including the conviction of a group responsible for the largest theft of electronic personal iden*y data up to that time.

After leaving the U.S. Attorney's Office, *mins re-entered private practice, specializing in white-collar criminal matters, complex multi-party litigation, and compliance. His firm provides compliance services to state regulated cannabis cultivation and dispensary companies.

In 2017, *mins joined Avenue Strategies, a consulting, advocacy, public affairs and management group in Washington, D.C.

*mins now practices as both a lawyer and a lobbyist, also represents DOJ white collar targets in the U.S. or international clients targeted by DOJ or the Treasury Department.

In 2015, *mins re-entered the political arena when he agreed to serve as the Arkansas chairman for the presidential campaign of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. *mins and Christie served together as U.S. Attorneys during the George W. Bush administration. After Christie withdrew from the 2016 presidential primary race, *mins subsequently agreed to serve as Arkansas chairman of Donald Trump's presidential campaign.

*mins served as a Trump whip at the Republican National Convention, held in Cleveland in July 2016. In September 2016, *mins temporarily relocated to Washington, D.C. to serve on the Trump presidential transition team.

Controversy over dismissal

Main article: Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy

*mins received national attention when he was dismissed by United States Attorney General Alberto Gonzales despite having received positive job reviews.

*mins was informed in June 2006 that his resignation would be desired, and as part of the transition, his replacement, Tim Griffin, had worked for *mins' office as a special *istant United States attorney since September 2006 onward.*mins resigned effective December 20, 2006. He was called "one of the most distinguished lawyers in Arkansas".

Early in the congressional investigations of the firings, Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty testified that *mins was removed for no reason except to install a former aide to Karl Rove: 37-year-old Tim Griffin, a former opposition research director for the Republican National Committee.*mins, apparently, "was ousted after Harriet E. Miers, the former White House counsel, intervened on behalf of Griffin." In fact, White House emails uncovered during investigations showed that Griffin laid the groundwork for the dismissal of *mins, telling staff members in the White House that *mins was widely seen by members of the Arkansas bar as "lazy" and "ineffective." Sara Taylor and Scott Jennings later testified that they believed *mins to be a sub-par attorney based solely on statements made by his intra-party rival, Tim Griffin. *mins told the Senate Judiciary Committee "that Mike Elston, the deputy attorney general's top aide, threatened him with retaliation in a phone call if he went public." Emails show that *mins p*ed on the warning to some of the other Attorneys who were fired.

Reportedly Monica Goodling, who formerly worked for Tim Griffin at the Republican National Committee, "took a leading role in making sure that Griffin replaced *mins. Do*ents released to Congress include communications between Goodling and Scott Jennings, Rove's deputy."

*mins answered a House Judiciary Committee interrogatory about the experience:

*mins had been investigating the administration of Republican Missouri Governor Matt Blunt regarding allegations that certain individuals who worked for Blunt had violated the law in the awarding of fee offices. On October 4, 2006, *mins himself announced that the investigation had concluded and that no charges were filed against anyone. "*mins' statement at the time included a specific reference to Blunt, which he acknowledged was unusual, but was consistent with department policies and justified in light of leaks and erroneous reporting. The statement made clear that 'at no time was Governor Blunt a target, subject, or witness in the investigation, nor was he implicated in any allegation being investigated. Any allegations or inferences to the contrary are uninformed and erroneous.'" *mins has said multiple times that he does not believe the Missouri investigation had anything to do with his dismissal.

Role in Trump-Ukraine scandal

On November 24, 2019, *mins' name came to light in relation to the Trump–Ukraine scandal. In response to inquiries from reporters with TPM and ABC News, *mins confirmed that as early as October 2018 he had acted "as an intermediary between certain Ukrainian interests and federal law enforcement." This role came up in a letter sent by Rudy Giuliani to Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina on the previous day (November 23, 2019), and although Giuliani did not name him, *mins confirmed that he was the intermediary referred to in Giuliani's letter. *mins noted to the reporters that he had not vetted the Ukrainian interests who contacted him, who he declined to name. He further noted that, in his communication to Geoffrey Berman, the Manhattan-based United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, he *erted that he couldn't vouch for the veracity of the Ukrainian information, but was p*ing it along as a matter he considered appropriate for further investigation by an appropriate Federal law enforcement agency. *mins noted that he took no further actions in this matter once Giuliani's role became public.

Portals:OklahomaUnited StatesLawPoliticsConservatism

References

External links

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