In one of the newly released transcripts, from a hearing in July, Cooney, who heads the Washington U.S. Attorney's Office fraud unit, told the judge they expected to make a decision on whether to charge McCabe within 60 days.

When they returned to court in early September, Cooney told Judge Reggie Walton, a George W. Bush appointee, that no decision had been made, but they expected to have one within days.

At the next hearing, on Sept. 30, Cooney said "That prediction was obviously incorrect."

The judge asked why it was taking so long.

"I don't know why it's so difficult for a decision to be made," Walton said. "Either you have a case or you don't."

Cooney told the judge "this is an exceedingly difficult matter and situation" and that he needed another three months.

"I don't get it," the judge said, telling Cooney he needed to make a decision in the CREW lawsuit and that "it seems to me from the standpoint of Mr. McCabe, he has a right to have the government make a decision and not hold his life in limbo pending a decision as to what's going to happen."

Walton added, "I understand there are political implications and other implications involved in reference to whether you go forward. And I fully appreciate the complexity of the assessment, especially — unfortunately, to be candid — in light of the way by the White House, which I don't think top executive officers should be doing. Because it does, I think, really complicate your ability to get a fair adjudication from the government's prospective.

"Because the public is listening to what's going on, and I don't think people like the fact that you got somebody at the top basically trying to dictate whether somebody should be prosecuted," Walton said. "I just think it's a banana republic when we go down that road, and we have those type of statements being made that are conceivably, even if not, influencing the ultimate decision. I think there are a lot of people on the outside who perceive that there is undue inappropriate pressure being brought to bear."

"It's very disturbing that we're in the mess that we're in in that regard," Walton added later. "Because I think having been a part of the prosecution for a long time and respecting the role that prosecutors play in the system. I just think the integrity of the process is being unduly undermined by inappropriate comments and actions on the part of people at the top of our government. I think it's very unfortunate. And I think as a government and as a society, we're going to pay a price at some point for this."