July 24, 2007
Gonzales Is Back On The Hill. So?
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales testified yet again before the Senate Judiciary Committee this morning. That sound you're hearing is crickets.
None of the cable networks covered the hearing live longer than a segment's worth of time, unlike his appearance in April. Back then, when the attorney firings scandal was really picking up steam, it seemed Gonzales' job might hang in the balance. But President Bush and Gonzales himself have made crystal clear that the AG isn't going anywhere.
The committee has clocked scads of sworn accounts from former DOJ and White House officials contradicting what little testimony Gonzales has been able to "recall." (Readers might remember that his performance helped inspire The Gate's first-ever contest.) And the firings scandal has spawned another, more disturbing scandal over a secret surveillance program.
But Bush and the White House have dug in their heels on the matter. They have repelled congressional subpoenas for access to documents and former officials, and used an executive privilege claim in a pretty unorthodox fashion along the way.
Congressional Democrats have been largely powerless to squeeze the White House on the matter. Instead, the attorney firings scandal has turned into a proxy indictment of Bush's leadership.
As for Gonzales, he is arguing that as the person responsible for the turmoil in the Justice Department, he is best equipped to fix it.
Senators were clearly not swayed by that line of reasoning. "I don't know how you can say you can help solve the problem. It appears to a lot of people that you are the problem," Rhode Island Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse told the AG today.
Gonzales disputed that. But on Friday, he delivered a rare and lengthy mea culpa to his employees via DOJ's internal TV channel. He knows his reputation is shattered. He knows a great many influential people want him gone. And he's still not budging.
NPR's Ari Shapiro delivered one of the best takes of the day (though there's a sense he is trying very hard not to laugh during the report). AP has more on the hearing.
Posted at 1:38 PM
Posted to:
Alberto Gonzales, Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, Congress, President Bush, Senate
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