The unraveling of the prosecutor purge

And at the heart of it?

A senior aide to Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA) has been implicated in the controversial firing of eight U.S. attorneys by the Bush administration, which Democrats believe may have been politically motivated, The Hill reports.

Senate Democrats, having launched a probe into the matter, heard testimony before the Judiciary Committee in which former US Attorney John McKay "said that Ed Cassidy, then-chief of staff to Hastings, called him in 2004 to ask whether he was investigating allegations of voter fraud after a Democrat won the Washington state governor's race in a third recount," Susan Crabtree writes for The Hill.

At the time, Crabtree indicates, McKay was serving as Seattle's chief federal law enforcement officer.

McKay, who was fired along with seven others in early December, told the committee that he considered Cassidy's line of questioning inappropriate and ended the exchange abruptly.