December 19, 2007
WH Lawyers May Have Encouraged Destruction Of CIA Tapes
One day after a federal judge ignored the Justice Department's objections and ordered a hearing into the destruction of CIA interrogation tapes, the New York Times is reporting that at least four high-ranking White House lawyers may have had a role in the decision to destroy the video evidence.
Citing "current and former administration and intelligence officials," the Times names four White House officials -- former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Vice President Dick Cheney's Chief of Staff David Addington, former senior National Security Council lawyer John Bellinger and former White House counsel Harriet Miers -- who "took part in discussions with the Central Intelligence Agency between 2003 and 2005 about whether to destroy videotapes showing the secret interrogations of two operatives" from al-Qaida.
The Times' sources reportedly gave "conflicting accounts as to whether anyone at the White House expressed support for the idea that the tapes should be destroyed."
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December 13, 2007
Senate Panel Holds Rove, Bolten In Contempt
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 12-7 today to hold former White House political adviser Karl Rove and White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten in contempt of Congress for non-compliance with subpoenas in the investigation of the U.S. attorney firings scandal.
"This is not a step I have wanted to take," Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said in a statement. But, he went on: "White House stonewalling is unilateralism at its worst, and it thwarts accountability. Executive privilege should not be invoked to prevent investigations into wrongdoing, and abusing it should have remedies and consequences."
Sens. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Arlen Specter, R-Pa., crossed party lines to vote with the committee's 10 Democrats in favor of the citations, though Specter acknowledged that the vote was "highly likely to be a meaningless act."
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ABA Journal Not Above Usual Magazine Stunts
It's a sort of truism in lawyering circles that if you become a household name, you're doing something very wrong. This week, the ABA Journal has several cases in point.
In an apparent bid to show that it can compete with general-interest rags in cover-shot gimmickry, the usually super-serious magazine of the American Bar Association has named former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales as its 2007 Lawyer of the Year... and Gonzales' successor Michael Mukasey as 2008's Lawyer of the Year.
"The top legal story of 2007 was unquestionably the unraveling of support for the Bush administration's expansive view of presidential power during wartime, and with it, the slow-motion destruction" of Gonzales, ABA Journal's cover story reasons. "And now, all those problems have been dumped in the lap of the new AG.... How he'll deal with them -- in the middle of a presidential campaign, no less -- promises to make him the top legal newsmaker of 2008."
Certainly, Gonzales' collapse is one of the biggest stories of 2007. But Lawyer of the Year?
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November 14, 2007
Bush Takes Swipe Over Gonzales Again As Mukasey Sworn In
President Bush could not resist expressing his anger at the unceremonious way in which longtime confidante Alberto Gonzales was disposed from his job -- even as the man who replaced him as U.S. attorney general, Michael Mukasey, was just feet away for his own formal swearing-in.
"Our new attorney general, Michael Mukasey, follows in the footsteps of a fine man and fine American, Al Gonzales," Bush said, as Mukasey and Chief Justice John Roberts stood by for the ceremony. "As White House counsel and attorney general in my administration, Al Gonzales worked tirelessly to make this country safer and to ensure all Americans receive equal justice in the eyes of the law," the president continued, thanking Gonzales and his family for their "service to our nation."
Few in Washington share Bush's high opinion of Gonzales, however, which is the reason why the former AG resigned in late August after months of bipartisan calls for his ouster. Bush has apparently not gotten over the slight to his longtime friend and to his own judgment. When he announced Mukasey's nomination in September, he also took time from praising his pick to indirectly chide critics over Gonzales.
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November 06, 2007
Mukasey To Be Confirmed As AG By Next Week
Former federal Judge Michael Mukasey cleared a key hurdle today when the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 11-8 to confirm him as the next attorney general. Mukasey is expected to easily survive a floor vote by next week, upon which he will be forced to dive into the formidable task of stabilizing the Justice Department.
Democrats Dianne Feinstein and Charles Schumer expressed doubts about Mukasey's stand on detainee treatment but decided to cast their votes for him anyway. Mukasey had refused to say definitively whether waterboarding qualified as illegal treatment of terrorism suspects.
A CNN/ORC survey (subscription) released today finds that a majority of a half-sample of Americans, 69 percent, believe waterboarding is a form of torture. But when a different half-sample was asked if the use of waterboarding, or simulated drowning, should be allowed in an "attempt to get information from suspected terrorists," 40 percent said yes, compared with the 29 percent who asserted that waterboarding was not torture.
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November 05, 2007
House Judiciary Cmte. Files Miers/Bolten Contempt Report
The House Judiciary Committee has filed an 862-page report [PDF] recommending that lawmakers find former White House counsel Harriet Miers and current Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten in contempt for refusing to testify or provide documents in an investigation into the U.S. attorney firings of last year.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi is expected to bring a vote on the criminal contempt citation to the floor, though the timing of that has not been announced. If a simple majority of the House does find Miers and/or Bolten in contempt, the matter will be referred to D.C.'s U.S. attorney, Jeffrey Taylor. And herein lies yet another speed bump in congressional Democrats' quest to get to the bottom of those firings.
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November 02, 2007
Mukasey Confirmation Appears Certain
UPDATED.
Following Chairman Patrick Leahy's announcement earlier today that he would vote against confirmation of Michael Mukasey, fellow Democrats Charles Schumer and Dianne Feinstein announced their intention to support the nominee for attorney general. With GOP members of the Senate Judiciary Committee expected to line up behind President Bush's pick to replace Alberto Gonzales, Mukasey is all but guaranteed clearance to the floor, where he is expected to win confirmation by a comfortable margin.
In making his announcement this afternoon, Leahy joined Edward Kennedy, Sheldon Whitehouse, Joseph Biden and Richard Durbin in vowing to oppose Mukasey unless he states clearly that waterboarding is torture.
"There may be interrogation techniques that require close examination and extensive briefings. Waterboarding is not among them. No American should need a classified briefing to determine whether waterboarding is torture," Leahy said from his home state of Vermont.
Feinstein's vote had been thrown into doubt by Leahy's decision. In a statement earlier this week, she said, "The Justice Department is in desperate need of effective leadership.... I believe that Judge Mukasey is the best we will get and voting him down would only perpetuate acting and recess appointments, allowing the administration to avoid the transparency that confirmation hearings provide and diminish effective oversight by Congress."
With Feinstein and Schumer now solidly on board, there is little doubt that Mukasey will be the next attorney general of the United States.
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November 01, 2007
Bush Seeks To Head Off Fight On AG Nominee
President Bush delivered yet another harsh reprimand of the 110th Congress today, this time with a warning against holding up the nomination of former federal Judge Michael Mukasey for attorney general.
"Judge Mukasey has been praised by Republicans and Democrats alike as a man of honesty, intellect, fairness and independence," Bush said in remarks before the Heritage Foundation. "Judge Mukasey provided nearly six hours of testimony, patiently answered more than 200 questions at his hearing and responded to nearly 500 questions less than a week after his hearing. Yet the Senate Judiciary Committee is holding up his nomination."
Earlier today, the president called reporters to the Oval Office to air his frustration over criticisms of Mukasey. The New York Times described the unusual meeting as "a strong signal that Mr. Bush thinks the nomination of Mr. Mukasey, once seen as a sure thing, is in trouble over his responses to questions about what constitutes illegal torture." That may be, but there's still no indication that the nomination is in any real trouble. What's more likely the case is the president wants the torture debate to end as quickly as possible.
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October 19, 2007
Mukasey, Torture And The Responsibility Question
Cultural critics blame the proliferation of sadistic and gruesome imagery on television and in movies on Americans' psychic discomfort with their role as players in the war on terror. The phenomenon has even birthed a new category of mainstream entertainment: torture porn.
Audiences mostly comprising males in the 18-to-34 demographic are eagerly forking over $10 a pop to view the fantastical and revolting "Saw" and "Hostel" franchises. More discomfiting are the realistic depictions of torture lately seen in the film "Syriana" and on the show "24." A Foreign Affairs magazine survey (subscription) released in April found a 54-percent majority of Americans were OK with the use of torture on terrorism suspects "sometimes." Jack Bauer doesn't electrocute or nearly drown every hog-tied potential terrorist that comes his way, but when he does, the writers of the show are sympathetic to it. Bauer doesn't "always" torture, he "sometimes" tortures, and the end result is he saves the world. The "24" audience, including a former Democratic president, is apparently OK with that.
Americans may think they know what the legal definition of torture is from these images, but they probably have no idea. As we've learned in recent weeks, the business of defining torture is a difficult one, whether for national security reasons or failure of imagination. Certainly, the Bush administration is in no hurry to turn the issue into a national debate. That's problematic for this country, and not for the reasons you might think.
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October 17, 2007
Liveblogging The Michael Mukasey Confirmation Hearing: Part II
[Liveblogging The Michael Mukasey Confirmation Hearing: Part I]
End note. Thanks to the schedule provided by the Judiciary Committee, we were under the impression that the witness round was today. It is tomorrow, and about that we have no complaints.
Patrick Leahy didn't yell at anyone today. That hasn't happened in a long time. He expressed hope this morning and in closing that Mukasey's confirmation will signal the beginning of a healing process at DOJ. The Democrats on this panel have been accused of partisan bloodlust in this saga, but you have to believe Leahy wants this chapter closed. It's been an exhausting nine months for the committee, and the tug of war with the White House is far from over. A new attorney general that has the confidence of Congress means one fewer battlefront.
C-SPAN3 is replaying the hearing throughout the day; watch it here.
4:32. Cardin, who is intimately familiar with Election Day shenanigans, doesn't give up. He asks about a Georgia voter ID law that was overturned two years ago after a federal judge likened it to the Jim Crow-era poll tax. Cardin is undoubtedly aware that the issue goes before the Supreme Court next year.
"I think if identification is made available and... every step is taken that allows everyone who is allowed to vote to" have access to the polls, "it seems to me that the comparison to the poll tax would be over the top," Mukasey responds.
But is it right when the "energy committed to weeding out the few" outweighs that used to ensure greater numbers to the polls, Cardin asks, conjuring Democrats' impression of the Republican Justice Department. "That shouldn't be what the Justice Department is doing, I hope you agree with that."
"I certainly do," Mukasey responds.
By the way, whatever party was responsible for the deceptive fliers and phone calls that threatened Cardin's Senate bid last year: Mukasey considers the tactics "flat-out fraud and pernicious fraud."
Continue reading "Liveblogging The Michael Mukasey Confirmation Hearing: Part II"
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Liveblogging The Michael Mukasey Confirmation Hearing: Part I
[Liveblogging The Michael Mukasey Confirmation Hearing: Part II]
12:20. Recess. So far, no big surprises, but plenty to reassure those who anguish over DOJ's loss of credibility under Gonzales. We'll resume with testimony from the witness panel -- fomer AG Dick Thornburgh among them -- later this afternoon in a new post.
12:11. "More recently, a statute called the USA Patriot Act has become the focus of a good deal of hysteria, some of it reflexive, much of it recreational," Mukasey wrote in an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal in 2004.
Russ Feingold somewhat ridiculously asks if Mukasey believes that all critics of the Patriot Act engage in "recreational hysteria." He doesn't, of course, and acknowledges parts of it can be improved. Like most non-partisans on the act, Mukasey sees good and bad there. The point of the op-ed is best summarized in the second half of its title: "Before attacking the Patriot Act, try reading it."
12:02. "I'm going to assure you there isn't going to be any stonewalling," Mukasey says when Charles Grassley asks about the load of documents and testimony his panel has been denied by the administration. "I'm certainly going to review the clearance process simply to make sure that it is a clearance process and not just a black hole."
Continue reading "Liveblogging The Michael Mukasey Confirmation Hearing: Part I"
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October 11, 2007
Representing Alberto Gonzales
Formerly the highest-ranking law enforcement official in the nation, Alberto Gonzales knows the value of a good lawyer, and it appears he's putting that knowledge to use. AP reports that the former attorney general has hired George Terwilliger, a former Justice Department official who now serves as one of Washington's toughest white-collar crime defense attorneys, to represent him in the ongoing investigations into Gonzales' conduct at DOJ.
In an ironic twist, Terwilliger was reportedly on the White House's short list of possible replacements for Gonzales when he exited the department last month.
In an interview with AP, Terwilliger warned that Gonzales' decision to hire him should not be read as an admission of guilt. "Investigations are conducted to find the facts," he said. "And the facts will show that Judge Gonzales acted honorably in all circumstances while holding positions of great responsibility and importance to maintaining the safety of the country."
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October 05, 2007
Bush: 'This Government Does Not Torture People'
UPDATED.
The White House today signaled that it will not accede to Congress' demands for transparency on two secret memos on terrorism detainees, insisting it does not engage in torture and that key members had already learned all they needed to know.
"They have been briefed to appropriate members of Congress on the Intelligence Committee. But they are classified for a reason and they are secret," press secretary Dana Perino said during the daily briefing. "One of the reasons they are secret is because they need to be. They need to be cloaked in the classified system so that we can keep that information private so that we're not signaling to our enemies exactly what our techniques are."
Earlier, President Bush gave his first public response to revelations that CIA officers may be using tactics that might qualify as torture in a program secretly endorsed by the Justice Department.
"This government does not torture people. We stick to U.S. law and our international obligations," Bush said in a brief statement to the press this morning.
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October 04, 2007
CIA Interrogations To Take Center Stage In Mukasey Hearings
UPDATED.
Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee are incensed at the revelations in this morning's New York Times report outlining secret legal opinions the Bush administration has used to justify harsh interrogations techniques for terrorism suspects.
"It would be bad enough if this administration had disgraced itself and this country by engaging in cruel and degrading treatment of detainees. It is worse still that it enlisted the Justice Department in the effort to justify and cover up its activities," said Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy, speaking on the floor of the Senate today.
Kennedy is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which yesterday announced that confirmation hearings for attorney general nominee Michael Mukasey would begin as early as two weeks from now. Chairman Patrick Leahy appeared to be signaling that he would not hold up Mukasey's hearings despite an ongoing confrontation with the White House over the NSA surveillance program and U.S. attorney firings scandal. While the revelations about DOJ possibly signing off on torture will probably not affect the hearing timeline, they will almost certainly have a huge impact on Mukasey's confirmation.
A congressional source with close knowledge of the committee said that "a lot of people are really, really angry" about the secret opinions. According to the Times report, the White House took backdoor measures to keep CIA interrogation techniques like "head-slapping, simulated drowning and frigid temperatures" in play by way of secret DOJ memos asserting their legality -- even as it publicly bowed to demands by Congress and the Supreme Court to outlaw them.
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September 17, 2007
Bush Nominates Mukasey For Attorney General, Still Sore Over Gonzales
UPDATED.
As expected, President Bush formally announced his nomination of retired federal judge Michael Mukasey to take the helm at the Department of Justice -- but not without an indirect jab at his critics over the resignation of the previous attorney general, Alberto Gonzales.
Speaking to reporters on the White House lawn this morning, Bush said, "When [Mukasey] takes his place at the Justice Department, he will succeed another fine judge." Recalling Gonzales' resume as a Texas Supreme Court judge, White House counsel and AG, Bush continued, "This honorable and decent man has served with distinction."
If that was a message to Gonzales' many critics in the Beltway, the president then narrowed his remarks to critics on Capitol Hill. "The attorney general takes on an important responsibility for the country. It is vital that the position be confirmed quickly. I urge the Senate to confirm Judge Mukasey promptly," he said.
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September 14, 2007
Gonzales Makes Quiet Exit
Democrats (and some Republicans) have been calling for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' departure from the Justice Department for the last nine months. Today, they finally got their wish. Gonzales appeared before his colleagues one last time this afternoon before taking leave of an agency which he has been accused of steering seriously off-course.
Many in Washington were convinced that Gonzales would attempt to serve out his term, despite the repeated calls for his head. However, the AG surprised political insiders and those at his department with a resignation announcement in late August. According to the Washington Post, those close to Gonzales say that it seems as though a weight has been lifted from his shoulders since he decided to step down.
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September 12, 2007
Gonzales May Be Out, But Has The Battle Just Begun?
UPDATED.
Remember Alberto Gonzales?
The attorney general hasn't left office yet, but ever since he handed in his resignation to President Bush, the furor over his handling of the attorney-firings scandal and a National Security Agency surveillance program has largely subsided, thanks to more recent news from Larry Craig and David Petraeus.
That doesn't mean congressional Democrats are going to drop their beefs with the Justice Department. On the contrary, Roll Call reported (subscription) earlier this week that "even if Bush nominates an otherwise noncontroversial attorney general," sources from both sides of the aisle "don't expect a speedy confirmation." The Democratic leadership is expected to press the administration for more information regarding ongoing DOJ investigations before considering Bush's nominee.
Today, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid rejected out of hand one of the White House's rumored top choices to replace Gonzales, former Solicitor General Ted Olson. "I intend to do everything I can to prevent him from being confirmed as the next attorney general," Reid said in a statement. "Clearly if you made a list of consensus nominees, Olson wouldn’t appear on that list," Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., told the New York Times yesterday.
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September 07, 2007
Will White House Appeal Judge's Patriot Act Ruling?
Andrew Cohen of the Washington Post's Bench Conference blog thinks so. But a DOJ appeal may actually not be worth it.
U.S. District Court Judge Victor Marrero's ruling [PDF] yesterday strikes a provision in the revised 2005 Patriot Act that allows the government to compel data and records from businesses. The FBI was permitted to forbid those businesses -- Internet service providers, phone companies, etc. -- to object to, or talk about in any way, orders to surrender records. (Judicial review was permitted, but Marrero concludes that the bar for reversal was set unreasonably high.)
That meant those companies had no way of alerting customers that their records were being seized by the feds, nor could they resist handing the records over in the name of protecting customers' privacy. ISPs in particular have vocally objected to this provision; the one that brought the lawsuit is listed as "John Doe."
Marrero found that the gag order violated the businesses' First Amendment rights. That's a fairly easy legislative fix. Congress agrees with DOJ that in some cases, particularly those related to terrorism investigations, it may be necessary to demand records from vendors and order them to keep quiet about it. But lawmakers could rewrite the provision and expand judicial review over this process, placing additional burden on the FBI to show a compelling reason why a gag order is necessary. It's hard to think of a good reason why DOJ would object to that.
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August 30, 2007
DOJ Inspector General Investigating Gonzales Testimony
The resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, effective Sept. 17, does not mean he will be able to wash his hands of the intense scrutiny he has faced in office.
Department of Justice Inspector General Glenn Fine affirmed today in a letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy that his office was investigating the possibility that Gonzales may have perjured himself multiple times in recent testimony before Leahy's committee and others.
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August 29, 2007
Daydreaming About Gonzales' Successor
The obits on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales are borderline gleeful, and for that reason it will be a good day indeed when Washington no longer has Al Gonzales to kick around anymore. There's little disagreement on how good Gonzales was at his job (not very) or whether he stayed on the job too long (he did). Now Washington insiders are playing their second-favorite sport: the speculation-a-thon.
Will President Bush really move DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff over to DOJ? Will there be an ugly nomination battle? And what will become of Gonzales, the man known affectionately (and not so affectionately) as Gonzo?
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August 28, 2007
Paging John Ashcroft
Now that Alberto Gonzales is on his way out of the DOJ, will John Ashcroft finally come out and talk about that dramatic night in his hospital room?
A few pundits are joking that Gonzales' poor performance as attorney general succeeded in making Ashcroft look good. The former AG was the regular butt of jokes because of his old-fashioned brand of patriotism and religious devoutness, which is pretty unfair. We've said it before and we'll say it again: a few people out there might owe Mr. Ashcroft an apology.
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August 27, 2007
Alberto Gonzales Resigns; Chertoff Floated As Replacement
UPDATED.
Describing his career trajectory as "a remarkable journey," U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced he was finally stepping down after months of bipartisan calls for his resignation.
"Yesterday, I met with President Bush and informed him of my decision to conclude my government services as attorney general of the United States effective September 17," Gonzales said at a 10:30 a.m. EDT press conference. "It has been one of my greatest privileges to lead the Department of Justice."
The timing of Gonzales' announcement, late in the summer while Congress and the president are away, succeeded in taking the Beltway by surprise. Together, Gonzales and Bush had formed a two-man chorus of defiance, insisting the AG would not resign in the face of what they termed a political witch hunt. Neither Gonzales nor Bush publicly wavered on the matter, despite a mountain of damning testimony -- much of it the AG's own -- portraying him as an out-of-touch, ineffectual leader of the nation's criminal justice system.
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August 16, 2007
Ashcroft Was 'In No Condition' For Gonzales, Card Visit
Newly released notes from FBI Director Robert Mueller indicate two White House aides ignored the health concerns of then-Attorney General John Ashcroft as they tried to pressure the AG to sign off on President Bush's secret, possibly unconstitutional domestic spying program.
In the notes [PDF], obtained by the House Judiciary Committee and released today, Mueller seems to have been angered by then-White House Chief of Staff Andy Card and former counsel Alberto Gonzales, who insisted on seeing Ashcroft in his hospital room while the AG was recovering from gall bladder surgery and acute pancreatitis. Mueller says he was tipped off to the visit by then-Deputy AG James Comey, who assumed acting AG powers during his boss' illness.
Having reached Mueller while he was dining with his wife and daughter, Comey said that Ashcroft was "in no condition to see them, much less make decision [sic] to authorize continuation of the program." As is consistent with their sworn testimony, Comey requested Mueller's presence at the hospital to "witness" Ashcroft's condition.
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August 14, 2007
Final Verdict On Rove May Never Come
The passage of time has a way of bringing legends back down to earth. But when you're as inscrutable, provocative and, yes, mythic a figure as Karl Rove, the process by which history judges will probably meet no end.
Since Sunday's surprise announcement that he would resign, the man who essentially got George W. Bush to the White House has been besieged by postmortems that seek to take him down a peg. The purported evidence most frequently on offer is that Rove was unable to secure for Republicans control of Congress in the 2006 midterm elections.
Opines the Washington Post: Rove "should be judged on his own terms: as the would-be architect of a long-lasting Republican majority.... The GOP's wipeout in 2006 would suggest that Mr. Rove did not achieve this goal, notwithstanding his brave parting words about Republican victory in 2008."
Fair enough. But there's one very important point here that isn't lost on longtime Rove observers: He's always worked for Bush, not the other way around. The confluence of events that led to the midterm defeat -- deafness on the Iraq war, a base discontented after scandal and betrayal -- originated from the Oval Office and Capitol Hill, not the mind of one political consultant, as well-placed and influential as he was.
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August 09, 2007
Bush Stays Course On Iraq, Taxes & Torture
President Bush today addressed a varied list of topics -- ranging from the nation's bridges to corporate tax cuts to Iran -- ahead of a retreat to his family's compound in Kennebunkport, Maine.
The deeply unpopular leader kicked off the news conference, broadcast by all the networks along with cable, with one of the few bright spots of his administration: education. His initiatives in this arena have managed to receive bipartisan support, including the America Competes Act, which he will sign today. The bill boosts and expands science, technology, engineering and math education, as well as research and development.
"The American economy is the envy of the world and we need to keep it that way," Bush said in his opening remarks. "The bill I will sign today will help ensure we do remain the most competitive and innovative nation in the world."
As Bush was speaking, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was slip-siding after three days of record gains. French bank BNP Paribas announced this morning that it froze three funds because of concerns about the U.S. subprime lending market, reviving American investors' panic about volatility there.
Protesting that he was not an economist, Bush refused to detail what he thought should be done about the subprime lending problem, but did seem to draw the line at a federal bailout. He also said that because many of the defaulting homeowners "didn't understand what they were signing up for," it would be a "proper role for government to enhance education initiatives," and again pointed to the America Competes Act.
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August 02, 2007
Competing Compromises On Surveillance Program
Yesterday's snippy exchange between Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., over Gonzales' testimony last week about a controversial surveillance program obscured what could be a more positive development in the ongoing spat between lawmakers and the Bush administration: Compromise may be on the way.
But with Democratic and Republican leaders each offering their own competing plans to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, whose idea of compromise will prevail?
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July 31, 2007
House Dems Push Gonzales Impeachment; Specter Unhappy With WH Response
UPDATED.
Democratic Rep. Jay Inslee today laid out a case for forcibly removing Attorney General Alberto Gonzales from office, after filing a resolution [PDF] that would kick off preliminary impeachment proceedings.
"Americans of all stripes believe that we deserve an attorney general who will not allow the politicization of the judicial system," said the former prosecutor, flanked by other former officers of the law turned legislators. The attorney general should "respect the laws of privacy" and "be forthright with the American people and U.S. Congress," Inslee added.
If the resolution receives a simple majority, the House Judiciary Committee will conduct an investigation into whether Gonzales has committed any impeachable offenses, such as perjury.
The months-long investigation into the politically tinged firings of U.S. attorneys last year, and a related one into a secret surveillance program considered by many in DOJ to be illegal, has cast Gonzales in an unflattering light. He was elevated to the job from White House counsel in February 2005.
Democrats and Republicans alike have pushed for Gonzales to be fired or resign, but both the attorney general and President Bush, a longtime friend and career benefactor, have refused to give in. The White House has also ignored congressional subpoenas in the ongoing investigations.
Calling impeachment a "last resort," Inslee said that Congress' and the public's loss of faith in Gonzales was harmful to the judicial system and therefore to democracy. "Accordingly, I am here today with a number of colleagues to call on the Judiciary Committee in the House of Representatives to conduct a thorough investigation to determine whether articles of impeachment are appropriately lodged against the attorney general," the Washington lawmaker said.
Continue reading "House Dems Push Gonzales Impeachment; Specter Unhappy With WH Response"
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July 30, 2007
Rep. Inslee To Push For Gonzales Impeachment Tomorrow
Washington Democrat Jay Inslee plans to introduce articles of impeachment against Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Tuesday, House sources confirmed.
The move comes one day after the New York Times editorial board urged Congress to consider impeaching the nation's top cop if lawmakers continue to hit a dead end in their effort to cast light on a spate of U.S. attorney firings last year as well as internal DOJ strife over warrantless surveillance.
It was not clear whether Inslee consulted with the Democratic leadership. A spokeswoman for the House Judiciary Committee said she could not comment on the impeachment push, and calls to Inslee's and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's offices were not immediately returned.
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Mueller Contradicts Gonzales Over Spy Program
FBI Director Robert Mueller, in testimony yesterday before the House Judiciary Committee, contradicted statements by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales that there was no internal dispute within the administration about the legality of a warrantless eavedropping program.
The dispute revolves around a late-night visit in 2004 that Gonzales, as a White House counsel, and former White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card made to then-Attorney General John Ashcroft's hospital room, supposedly in an attempt to persuade Ashcroft to sign off on the terrorist surveillance program. The ailing Ashcroft refused because of concerns about its legality, according to testimony by former Deputy Attorney General James Comey.
Gonzales told the Senate Judiciary Committee this week that the visit was not related to the wiretapping program and there was no disagreement within the administration about it.
Mueller strongly suggested otherwise when asked about the meeting by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas.
Continue reading "Mueller Contradicts Gonzales Over Spy Program"
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July 26, 2007
Rove Subpoenaed As Specter Slams Dems' Special Prosecutor Request
UPDATED.
The Senate Judiciary Committee has ordered President Bush's chief political aide, Karl Rove, to testify in the U.S. attorney firings investigation. One of Rove's aides, Deputy Political Director J. Scott Jennings, was subpoenaed as well.
It is doubtful the White House will allow Rove and Jennings to testify under oath before the panel. The administration has used an executive privilege claim to rebuff Congress' demands for access to testimony and documents related to the firings.
But the evidence gathered so far by the committee has convinced a great many observers that the firings were politically motivated. Several longtime Bush allies have joined the chorus calling for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' ouster.
The Senate panel has yet to join its counterpart in the House in citing uncooperative White House or DOJ officials for contempt. To move past the executive privilege claim that will undoubtedly come in response to Rove's subpoena, the Senate committee will have to do so.
Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy said that the White House's refusal to accommodate Congress was an indictment in itself.
"It is obvious that the reasons given for these firings were contrived as part of a cover-up and that the stonewalling by the White House is part and parcel of that same effort," the Vermont Democrat said in a statement. "This stonewalling is a dramatic break from the practices of every administration since World War II in responding to congressional oversight."
The White House, as per usual, dismissed the subpoenas as a meaningless political stunt.
Continue reading "Rove Subpoenaed As Specter Slams Dems' Special Prosecutor Request"
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July 25, 2007
House Panel Cites Bolten & Miers For Contempt
UPDATED.
The House Judiciary Committee voted 22-17 to cite two top White House aides -- chief of staff Joshua Bolten and former counsel Harriet Miers -- for contempt over their failure to cooperate with the panel's investigation into the firing of nine U.S. attorneys.
The citations were approved on a party-line vote, as congressional Democrats stepped up their efforts to confront the White House directly over the prosecutors' dismissals. The decision is Congress' latest challenge to the White House's executive privilege claim, which Bush and his aides have invoked in their refusals to submit documents and provide testimony in the probe.
Contempt of Congress is a misdemeanor subject to prison terms of up to one year and fines up to $100; it is considered a serious constitutional charge. House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., conceded that the president has power to fire U.S. attorneys, but he added that the issue is "whether any administration can terminate or retain such individuals in order to influence pending criminal investigations or influence an election."
Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., proposed the panel hold off on the contempt move and ask the House clerk to file a civil lawsuit to settle the issue of executive privilege. He said he feared the contempt citation case could lose in court and jeopardize future congressional efforts to gather information.
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July 24, 2007
Senate Lunch Chatter: Dems Sound Off On Wage Hike, Gonzales
UPDATED.
Senate Democrats led by Ted Kennedy celebrated the passage of a higher ed bill in a presser following the Tuesday lunches. Afterwards, House Dems led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi came to the Senate side and joined Senate Dems in a procession to Upper Senate Park for a celebration of the minimum wage hike that went into effect today. The first-in-a-decade increase was passed into law at the end of May as part of a bill funding U.S. troops in Iraq.
Senate Intelligence Chairman Jay Rockefeller also told reporters that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was lying earlier today in his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, when he said that Rockefeller and others knew of a 2004 White House effort to get then-AG John Ashcroft to sign off on a secret intelligence program while hospitalized. Rockefeller said he knew nothing of it, and didn't even know at the time about internal DOJ dissent over the program.
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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.
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July 11, 2007
Taylor's Account Of Firings Paints Benevolent White House Picture
Former White House aide Sara Taylor, answering a subpoena from the Senate Judiciary Committee, bobbed through a legal minefield this morning as lawmakers lobbed questions she could not answer.
"In light of the president's direction, I will answer faithfully those questions that are appropriate for a private citizen to answer while also doing my best to respect the president's directive that his staff's communications be privileged," she said in an opening statement.
Taylor had been ordered to testify in the firings of eight U.S. attorneys late last year. But on Monday, White House counsel Fred Fielding notified the committee that Taylor and Harriet Miers would not divulge to Congress matters concerning "White House consideration, deliberations or communications, whether internal or external, relating to the possible dismissal or appointment of United States Attorneys, including consideration of possible responses to congressional and media inquiries on the United States Attorneys matter."
Despite the restrictions, Taylor was able to offer a starkly different version of events from others who have testified on the matter.
Continue reading "Taylor's Account Of Firings Paints Benevolent White House Picture"
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June 13, 2007
Subpoenas Sent To Harriet Miers, Sara Taylor
UPDATED.
The Senate and House Judiciary committees stepped up their dual investigations of the U.S. attorney firings today by issuing subpoenas to former White House counsel Harriet Miers and former White House political director Sara Taylor. It was the first time the committees have ordered former White House officials to testify on an episode that continues to cast doubt on the political independence of the Department of Justice.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers issued a subpoena for Miers to testify on July 12. Miers stepped down early this year, and is now back with Locke Liddell & Sapp, the Houston-based law firm she co-managed before joining the Bush administration in 2001. Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy ordered Taylor before the committee on July 11.
(To read Miers' subpoena, click here [PDF]. To read Taylor's subpoena, as well as one ordering White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten to produce related documents, click here.)
Arlen Specter, the ranking Republican on the Senate committee, painted the subpoenas as a last resort. In an interview with Bloomberg News, Specter said previous requests to speak with Taylor and Miers were met with silence.
But White House spokesman Tony Snow accused the lawmakers of seeking a "media circus" rather than the truth, citing the loads of internal documents already handed over to the committees. At the daily briefing, Snow reminded reporters that it is legal for President Bush to hire and fire federal prosecutors at whim, but said he was "not going to get into" why the White House didn't want officials testifying in public or under oath.
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June 11, 2007
Senate No-Confidence Vote On Gonzales Fails
UPDATED.
Lots of empty seats for this vote, which is actually a vote for a vote. Backers of a resolution "expressing the sense of the Senate that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales no longer holds the confidence of the Senate and of the American people" failed to get the 60 yeas to proceed to an actual vote.
The resolution was defeated as many expected, 53 to 38.
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June 07, 2007
Attorney Firings: Cheney Squeezed Justice On Spy Program
The G-8 summit, the presidential campaigns, the immigration proposal and Paris Hilton (gulp) are sucking up all the oxygen in the news cycle. In another week, maybe, the latest development in the U.S. attorney firings saga wouldn't have been buried.
In written answers to questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee, former Deputy Attorney General James Comey spelled out the strongest case yet that pushback on the warrantless wiretapping program in 2004 came directly from Vice President Dick Cheney.
In testimony before the committee last month on the abrupt firing of eight U.S. attorneys, Comey revealed surprising new details about DOJ's resistance to the controversial surveillance program implemented at the direction of the White House following the 9/11 attacks. Comey said that he and other top DOJ officials, including FBI Director Robert Mueller, had decided to resign if the White House didn't agree to amend the program. Comey's testimony also revealed for the first time that former Attorney General John Ashcroft, a favorite villain of civil libertarians, had deemed the program illegal as well.
Continue reading "Attorney Firings: Cheney Squeezed Justice On Spy Program"
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May 24, 2007
Gonzales' No-Confidence Vote Set For June
The Senate will wait until the middle of next month to hold a no-confidence vote on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Sen. Charles Schumer of New York announced this afternoon.
Flanked by fellow Democratic Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Dianne Feinstein of California, Schumer said a vote on the non-binding measure would take place after the end of debate over the immigration bill -- which, barring any major hang-ups, should be in the middle of June.
"We would have liked the attorney general to have stepped down on his own, but the rule of law has been trampled, confidence in the Department of Justice has been shattered and leadership is virtually non-existent," Schumer said.
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May 23, 2007
Goodling Offers Up Red Meat On The Stand
UPDATED.
Democrats on the Hill got some answers on the U.S. attorney firings this morning when Monica Goodling began her testimony before the House Judiciary Committee. Goodling, a former White House liaison in the Justice Department, resigned in early April and invoked her Fifth Amendment rights when asked to testify. The committee offered her immunity later that month.
As Rep. Dan Lungren, R-Calif., pointed out today, Goodling didn't really offer big "gotcha moments," but she has provided a much more intimate and detailed look at the decision-making process in the Justice Department than had previously been revealed to congressional investigators.
She said that her role in the firings had been exaggerated and criticized Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty -- who resigned last week -- for "misleading" statements he made about Goodling's own involvement in the firings.
"He accused me of withholding information, and I felt like I had provided him with that information that he did not communicate," she said.
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May 22, 2007
Leahy & Specter Seek More Documents On Wiretap Program
Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and ranking member Arlen Specter, R-Pa., again asked Attorney General Alberto Gonzales today for information about the justifications for the warrantless wiretapping program, saying his response so far has been "wholly inadequate."
The request followed testimony last week by former Deputy Attorney General James Comey, who revealed that the Justice Department had concerns about the legal basis for the program and refused to certify it for a period of time in 2004. Comey testified that Gonzales and former White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card had approached then-Attorney General John Ashcroft while he was hospitalized, seeking his approval to renew the program.
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May 17, 2007
Dems Plan No-Confidence Vote On Gonzales
The tipping point in the attorneys firing scandal may be near, as Senate Democrats this afternoon announced they would be holding a no-confidence vote on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
"Whoever is the attorney general of the United States is the chief law enforcement officer for the people of the United States," Sen. Dianne Feinstein said, appearing in a joint press conference with Sen. Charles Schumer. "I have lost confidence in the independence of Attorney General Gonzales from the White House."
This week has been a particularly bad week for Gonzales and the White House on the prosecutor firings. On Tuesday, lawmakers heard new details of a 2004 encounter Gonzales, then White House counsel, had with his predecessor, Attorney General John Ashcroft. Gonzales, along with the chief of staff at the time, Andrew Card, arrived at the hospital in which Ashcroft was recovering from gall bladder surgery and acute pancreatitis on President Bush's orders, in order to pressure the ailing attorney general to sign off on a domestic surveillance program the Justice Department opposed.
Only, Ashcroft wasn't the attorney general at the time -- then Deputy Attorney General James Comey was acting in his place.
Continue reading "Dems Plan No-Confidence Vote On Gonzales"
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May 15, 2007
Comey: Gonzales Pressured Ashcroft On Surveillance
UPDATED.
The White House bypassed a resistant Justice Department on its controversial domestic surveillance program three years ago, according to a former No. 2 at the department.
Former Deputy Attorney General James Comey, who was the top aide to then-AG John Ashcroft, told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee today that White House officials also sought to go over his head and appeal to a hospitalized Ashcroft -- even though Ashcroft's condition made Comey the acting attorney general at the time.
Comey described a late-night visit to Ashcroft's hospital room by Andrew Card, then the White House chief of staff, and Alberto Gonzales, then the White House counsel. Alerted by Ashcroft's wife, Comey and FBI Director Robert S. Mueller raced to the hospital, anticipating that Card and Gonzales would try to coax Ashcroft into approving the surveillance program.
Continue reading "Comey: Gonzales Pressured Ashcroft On Surveillance"
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May 14, 2007
DOJ Second-In-Command Resigns
Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty today became the latest Justice official to step down in the wake of criticism of the firings of eight federal prosecutors late last year. His letter of resignation to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales cited family and financial concerns as the reasons for his exit, but ABC News is reporting that "anger" at being linked to the ongoing scandal over the firings may have been a significant factor in McNulty's decision.
In testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in February, McNulty insisted that "in this administration U.S. attorneys are never -- repeat, never -- removed, or asked or encouraged to resign, in an effort to retaliate against them, or interfere with, or inappropriately influence a particular investigation, criminal prosecution, or civil case." But according to U.S. News & World Report, Gonzales was unhappy with McNulty's testimony on the firing of U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins of Arkansas.
Today, Gonzales released a statement praising McNulty for more than two years of service as his deputy and more than eight years with the department.
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May 10, 2007
Gonzales Gets Less Hostile Treatment From House Panel
With President Bush firmly behind him, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales had a far smoother ride today in his appearance before the House Judiciary Committee than he did three weeks ago before a Senate panel. He received generally friendly questions from Republicans and provided skeptical Democrats little new information about the firings of eight U.S. attorneys.
While Senate Judiciary ranking member Arlen Specter, R-Pa., had scathingly appraised Gonzales' performance and another GOP senator had called for his resignation, House Judiciary ranking member Lamar Smith, R-Texas, said today it was nearly time to "wrap up the U.S. attorneys' controversy."
GOP lawmakers often asked either supportive leading questions or addressed other subjects. Even some Democrats brought up parochial concerns.
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Gonzales Heads Back To The Hill With New Obstacles
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is testifying before the House Judiciary Committee today amid new allegations from another U.S. attorney -- one who left his job several months before the now-famous eight prosecutors were fired.
Todd Graves stepped into the spotlight yesterday when he announced that a senior Justice Department official had asked him to leave his post as U.S. attorney in Kansas City, Mo., in January 2006. The Washington Post reports that Graves was told to resign to "give another person a chance." Graves complied, but his request to stay at his job long enough to prosecute a particular high-profile case was denied.
Check back later today for another story on Gonzales from National Journal's Murray Waas.
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April 30, 2007
Gonzales Gave Aides Broad Hiring/Firing Authority
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales signed a highly confidential order in March 2006 delegating to two of his top aides -- who have since resigned because of their central roles in the firings of eight U.S. attorneys -- extraordinary authority over the hiring and firing of most non-civil-service employees of the Justice Department. A copy of the order and other Justice Department records related to the conception and implementation of the order were provided to National Journal.
In the order, Gonzales delegated to his then-chief of staff, D. Kyle Sampson, and his White House liaison "the authority, with the approval of the Attorney General, to take final action in matters pertaining to the appointment, employment, pay, separation, and general administration" of virtually all non-civil-service employees of the Justice Department, including all of the department's political appointees who do not require Senate confirmation. Monica Goodling became White House liaison in April 2006, the month after Gonzales signed the order.
The existence of the order suggests that a broad effort was under way by the White House to place politically and ideologically loyal appointees throughout the Justice Department, not just at the U.S.-attorney level. Department records show that the personnel authority was delegated to the two aides at about the same time they were working with the White House in planning the firings of a dozen U.S. attorneys, eight of whom were, in fact, later dismissed.
Click here for Murray Waas' full report.
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April 25, 2007
Subpoenas Gone Wild!
In a busy day for congressional oversight, a House committee voted 21-10 to summon Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice before the panel to explain the Bush administration's false claim that Saddam Hussein was seeking uranium from Africa in the run-up to the war.
"The American public was misled about the threat posed by Iraq, and this committee is going to do its part to find out why," House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said of the vote.
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April 19, 2007
Liveblogging The Gonzales Hearing
4:52: Schumer to reporters after the committee breaks up for the day: "It's hard to believe after today's peformance the White House would want him to stay on." Only the most partisan critic couldn't feel for Gonzales, who had to endure two long stretches of attacks on his integrity and competence today. Coburn's Q&A session may be especially painful for the administration. Still, earlier today, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino reiterated Bush's declared intention to stick by the AG, saying, "I think the president has full confidence in the attorney general and whenever that changes for any public servant, we'll let you know, and I see no indication of that."
4:45: The New York Times and Yahoo News have photos of the hearing.
4:08: Lawmakers are now asking Gonzales about pet issues -- Specter on FISA, Cardin on voter intimidation -- which indicates all the bases have been well covered. Leahy just called a 10-minute recess. We'll keep an eye on things, but for all intents and purposes the hearing looks to be over.
4:00: In response to questioning from Cardin, Gonzales says he has "nothing to add" about Monica Goodling's role in the affair. Goodling was the top DOJ aide who hired a lawyer and invoked the Fifth Amendment when lawmakers asked to meet with her. She resigned two weeks ago.
3:50: Hatch to the rescue -- "attorney generals do not serve at the pleasure of the Senate"
3:39: Feinstein tells Gonzales in so many words that she does not believe his claim that the White House had nothing to do with the firings. Gonzales has said he did not select the dozens of prosecutors earmarked for possible termination, to which the California Democrat responded, "I may be very slow but I don't understand how this list was compiled." Referring to testimony from DOJ aides on Karl Rove and Harriet Miers' roles in the firings, Feinstein added, "Who selected the people who were put on that list? Somebody had to. A human being had to."
3:30: Under questioning from Leahy, Gonzales reiterates that Bush had absolutely no role in the firings and that he, Gonzales, has now told the committee every detail about his role in the firings
3:17: Rhode Island freshman Sheldon Whitehouse just had a go (was still reeling from Coburn), and next up is Arizona Republican John Kyl, who asks a couple short questions about the firings and then bizarrely veers off topic, asking Gonzales if he will help set up a meeting on funding for crime victims (he will) and then begins talking about Internet gambling regulations. Leahy isn't on camera, but he can't be terribly happy right now.
3:03: WOW. Coburn just said Gonzales should resign.
Coburn: "Why would we not apply the same standards you used to judge these individuals to your performance?"
Gonzales: "Obviously I have a lot of work to do--"
Coburn: "--That's not what I asked you.
Then...
Coburn: "There has to be consequences to accepting responsibility.... My considered opinion is that the exact same standards should be applied to you in how this was handled." Calling Gonzales' handling of the firings "incompetent," Coburn concludes, "I believe you ought to suffer the consequences that others have suffered. The best way to put this behind us is with your resignation."
2:56: Oklahoma Republican Tom Coburn takes Cardin's baton and runs with it. "Why would we not apply the same standards you used to judge these individuals to your performance?" That's a surprisingly harsh question from one of the most conservative lawmakers on the Hill. Gonzales' response is simply that he has learned his lesson.
2:45: Freshman Dem Ben Cardin raised the temperature a notch by demanding an answer for the question of the day: How can Gonzales possibly know no political ulterior motives drove the firings while also claiming he was not part of the decision-making process? The Maryland senator raises his voice while reminding Gonzales that five of the seven U.S. attorneys fired last December were involved in political corruption investigations.
2:40: For those scoffing at today's proceedings as so much sturm und drang, Grassley provides a useful reminder of how we got here. "I'm an equal-opportunity oversight person.... I feel on many occasions this administration has made many efforts to thwart my oversight efforts," he said in opening remarks. Gonzales is correct when he says that this hearing "is not about Alberto Gonzales" -- it's about the Bush administration, and lawmakers on both sides of the political spectrum tiring of the White House's seemingly aggressive brand of politics.
Continue reading "Liveblogging The Gonzales Hearing"
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March 27, 2007
Poll Track: Edwards Sees Movement In Static Field
When John Edwards announced he would continue to seek the Democratic nomination for president even though his wife was again battling cancer, this time in an incurable form, many wondered (though few would say aloud) a rather uncomfortable thought: Will this help him politically?
A very preliminary answer seems to be: Yes.
Continue reading "Poll Track: Edwards Sees Movement In Static Field"
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March 20, 2007
Bush Reassures Gonzales In Phone Call
President Bush this morning phoned longtime friend Alberto Gonzales to express his support for the embattled attorney general," AP reports. "The president reaffirmed his strong backing and support of the attorney general," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.
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March 15, 2007
Gonzales Targeted In Previous Probe
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales knew he was a potential target in an internal Justice Department investigation into the application of the National Security Agency's warrantless eavesdropping program, Murray Waas reports in next week's National Journal.
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