RALEIGH - Four years ago in Asheville, a lawyer filed a document containing a scandalous accusation: The U.S. attorney general had intervened in a local bank fraud case and prevented investigators from questioning one of Congress' most powerful members, then-U.S. Rep. Charles Taylor.

As Washington swirls with allegations that the Justice Department and White House intervened in federal prosecutions across the country, a review shows that U.S. attorneys in North Carolina have gone after a lot of Democrats, and a few Republicans too, during the Bush administration.

But many in the west recall a particular case handled quietly in the North Carolina mountains a few years back, when a pair of lawyers thought Taylor ought to be questioned over a loan fraud case involving the bank he owns.

"Essentially the question is, 'Why was he not interrogated? Why was he not interviewed?' " asked Forrest A. Ferrell, the Hickory lawyer who leveled the charges in 2003. "He knew about it all and should've at least been interrogated about it."

Ferrell said he still thinks that then-Attorney General John Ashcroft or other top officials prevented the interrogation of Taylor. But he wouldn't go into further details last week.

The scandal in Washington reflects the reality about U.S. attorneys. They are political appointments, but once in office they are supposed to conduct independent investigations into wrongdoing. New revelations illustrate the pressures some U.S. attorneys have faced.

The Justice Department fired eight U.S. attorneys late last year. The agency initially said the attorneys had poor performance reviews, but interviews and testimony before Congress show some of them felt pushed to step up investigations into Democrats or go lightly on Republican targets.

"What's most troubling is the pressure to bring prosecutions or not bring prosecutions," said Erwin Chemerinsky, a Duke University professor of law and political science. "When they're on the job, they're not supposed to act as political officials."

The brouhaha has touched North Carolina. E-mail messages disclosed last week show that U.S. Attorney Gretchen C.F. Shappert of Charlotte was among those on the list to be fired. She was later removed and said last week she had no idea why she was targeted.

The bank case

In the case involving Taylor, Ferrell was representing a local lawyer caught up in a bank fraud scandal earlier in the decade.

The man, Thomas Jones, was convicted of trying to defraud the Blue Ridge Savings Bank of Asheville with bad loans. Taylor, then the Republican congressman for the region -- he lost re-election in November -- owned the bank.

Testimony in the trial, along with interviews by the FBI that were introduced as evidence, raised questions about Taylor as well. Jones and other defendants testified that Taylor knew about and even encouraged the fraudulent loans.

At the time, Taylor held one of the most powerful posts in Congress, serving as chairman of an Appropriations subcommittee. Although his subcommittee didn't have jurisdiction over the Justice Department, he held powerful sway in funding matters.

In Asheville, Taylor was never interrogated by investigators.

Ferrell contends someone in Washington -- either then-Attorney General Ashcroft or someone who worked for him -- intervened.

"My information was that the U.S. attorney general in D.C. prohibited the U.S. Attorney's Office in North Carolina from interrogating Charles Taylor," Ferrell recalled last week. He would give no other details.

"My information was confidential," Ferrell said.

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