 |
|
|
 News from Around the Americas | May 2007 
Democrats Move to Expand Probe of Gonzales, US Justice Department
 Robert Schmidt - Bloomberg
Senate Democrats, spurred by revelations that then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales pressured hospitalized Attorney General John Ashcroft in 2004 to approve a secret spying program, are stepping up a probe of the Justice Department.
Lawmakers yesterday moved to challenge Gonzales on several fronts, including demanding the Justice Department turn over e- mails from White House political adviser Karl Rove. Also, Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska joined about half a dozen Republicans in urging Gonzales to step down as attorney general.
"Alberto Gonzales puts his blind loyalty to the president above the rule of law," said Democratic Senator Charles Schumer of New York. "The Justice Department seems to reek of politicization" beyond the firing of eight U.S. attorneys.
The Gonzales probe, now in its fourth month, was stalled after more than 6,000 pages of internal Justice Department documents and interviews of agency officials failed to produce evidence that the prosecutors were ousted for illegal reasons. Gonzales has remained on the job with the unwavering support of his boss, President George W. Bush.
The disclosure of Gonzales's role in the spying program and the decision of Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty to resign have reenergized the inquiries.
Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday, former Deputy Attorney General James Comey said Gonzales and then-White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card visited Ashcroft in his hospital bed to get him to reauthorize the spying program after Comey had refused.
Prepared to Resign
Comey testified that he, Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller were prepared to resign before Bush stepped in and agreed to amend the spying program.
"When Mr. Gonzales was White House counsel, he attempted to circumvent the very department he came to lead," Schumer said today at a news conference. "It's deeply disturbing that somebody with such contempt for law would be charged with ultimately administering our laws."
Hagel, who has said that he might run for president, cited Comey's testimony in calling for Gonzales to quit.
"The American people deserve an attorney general, the chief law enforcement officer of our country, whose honesty and capability are beyond question," Hagel said in a statement. Gonzales "has failed this country. He has lost the moral authority to lead."
In a related development, the leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee demanded the Justice Department turn over any e-mails from Rove that concern the firing of the U.S. attorneys.
Two Days to Respond
Senators Patrick Leahy, the panel's chairman, and Arlen Specter, the senior Republican, gave the department two days to respond. The committee earlier subpoenaed the documents, and yesterday's deadline passed with no response from the agency, the senators said.
"You ignored the subpoena" and "did not even offer an explanation for your noncompliance," the senators wrote in a latter last night to Gonzales. "The committee intends to get to the truth."
Leahy, of Vermont, and Specter, of Pennsylvania, told Gonzales the Justice Department at least should have provided the committee with a written response explaining its refusal to comply.
The subpoena, issued by Leahy May 2, demanded all of Rove's e-mails in the Justice Department's possession that relate to the probe.
E-Mail Exchanges
The Justice Department today sent the committee two identical e-mail exchanges in which Rove, using the address KR@georgewbush.com , was listed as one of the recipients. The messages were sent Feb. 28 by Scott Jennings, a deputy director in the White House political affairs office, to a number of people, including two at the Justice Department: Kyle Sampson, Gonzales's ex-chief of staff, and Courtney Elwood, another Gonzales aide.
In the e-mail, which carried the subject line of "urgent issue," Jennings warned the group that fired New Mexico U.S. Attorney David Iglesias was holding a press conference to say that he had been pushed out after being contacted about a public corruption probe by two Republican lawmakers from his state.
Jennings had been tipped off to the news by an aide to Senator Pete Domenici, a New Mexico Republican, who Iglesias has said pressured him to bring a corruption case against Democrats before the November 2006 elections.
Leahy also sent a letter today to Bush's counsel, Fred Fielding, urging the White House to cooperate with the Judiciary Committee probe. Documents released by the Justice Department show Rove and other administration officials played a significant role in the firings.
"The White House has not produced a single document or allowed even one White House official involved in these matters to be interviewed," Leahy wrote. |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us