posted on April 20, 2007 07:11:45 AM new
I listened to part of the testimony of the Attorney General of the United States.....no wonder he and bushDUH get along. I never heard more stammering and stuttering...Boy! The truth has a hard time passing a bushit's lips....
Another "leader" who just doeesn't seem to know what those under him are doing !!!!!!!
Attorney General Doesn't Satisfy Critics
Updated 8:00 AM ET April 20, 2007
By LAURIE KELLMAN
WASHINGTON (AP) - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales came to Capitol Hill with only one mission: to placate Republican and Democratic senators dissatisfied with his account of how eight federal prosecutors were fired.
Apparently, he failed. For the first time, Republicans on the Judiciary Committee broke ranks and said it might be best if Gonzales stepped down.
"It is generous to say the attorney general's communications about this matter have been inconsistent," Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., told Gonzales in a packed hearing room Thursday. "The consequence should be the resignation of the attorney general."
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said in an interview after the hearing, "There are some problems that he just hasn't handled well, and it might just be best if he came to a conclusion that the department is better served if he's not there."
Some of the committee's biggest questions went unanswered: How exactly did the Justice Department settle on the eight prosecutors who were fired? Does Gonzales have command of his agency?
"You have been a forceful witness, and you have had a lot of staying power," Sen. Arlen Specter, the ranking Republican on the committee, said near the end of Gonzales' seven hours of testimony.
"But we haven't gotten, really, answers," added Specter, R-Pa. "I urged you to put on the record the details as to all the U.S. attorneys you asked to resign so that we could evaluate. And you have not done that."
Specter threw Gonzales a thin lifeline, declining to call for his resignation but making it clear that he thinks there's little argument for Gonzales keeping his post.
"His ability to manage the department has been severely undercut by the way he has handled these resignations and by the way he has handled his news conferences, his press statements and his testimony before the committee," Specter said.
Seventy-one times Gonzales claimed a faulty memory when members of the Senate committee asked such questions as who decided on the ousted eight, and whether Gonzales was or was not involved in the evaluation process.
It was not the performance President Bush seemed to be seeking when he said last March that "Al's got work to do up there." Still, White House officials said the president continued to support his longtime friend. Bush spokesman Tony Fratto said that Gonzales "can be effective going forward."
For his part, the attorney general insisted he had committed no wrongdoing.
"The moment I believe I can no longer be effective, I will resign," he said.
Gonzales faced a long day of challenges to his credibility from Democrats and Republicans, while behind him, protesters hooted and sometimes shouted, "Liar!"
Senators ticked off evidence _ based on department documents and testimony from two former senior Justice officials _ that Gonzales participated in discussions about at least three of the fired prosecutors: Carol Lam in San Diego, Bud Cummins in Little Rock, Ark., and David Iglesias in New Mexico.
Gonzales recalled an Oct. 11 conversation with Bush and White House political adviser Karl Rove about voter fraud concerns during which Iglesias, who was later fired, came up.
"I now understand that there was a conversation between myself and the president," Gonzales said.
Asked several times whether he was responsible for deciding whom to fire, Gonzales at times appeared to answer both yes and no. At one point he said, "I had everything to do with the decision." At others, he described the decision process as a consensus among top Justice officials, headed by former chief of staff Kyle Sampson and signed off on by Gonzales.
Democrats, many of whom have called for Gonzales' resignation, widely ridiculed his answers. But some of the sharpest criticism came from Republicans.
Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, like Gonzales a close Bush ally, called the handling of the firings "deplorable."
Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina called most of Gonzales' explanations "a stretch."
"It's clear to me that some of these people just had personality conflicts with people in your office or the White House and (they) just made up reasons to fire them," Graham said. "You have a tremendous credibility problem with the American people and the Congress."
At the end, Gonzales shook hands with the senators remaining in the room and strode out, ignoring reporters' questions. Protesters at the back of the room sang a rock tune popular with sports fans when a rival basketball player fouls out of a game: "Hey, hey, hey, goodbye."
___
Associated Press writer Ben Evans contributed to this report.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
posted on April 20, 2007 04:09:17 PM new
Could it POSSIBLY BE that even REPUBLICANS are tired of the ocean of BS coming out of the bushit administration ?????
(I don't really think so ....but)
Gonzales Seeks GOP Support - Gets Little
Updated 6:33 PM ET April 20, 2007
By DAVID ESPO
WASHINGTON (AP) - Desperate for support among fellow Republicans, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales faced grim prospects Friday after a bruising Senate hearing that produced one outright call for resignation and a fistful of invitations and hints to quit.
One GOP member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, John Cornyn of Texas, predicted Gonzales would weather the furor and said he should. "Frankly, I don't think the Democrats are going to be satisfied with the resignation by Al Gonzales," he said.
Gonzales gave no indication Friday that he was leaving.
"Please know that as you continue your work, I am by your side," the attorney general told an audience of crime victims' rights supporters. He spoke in a gravely voice the day after his long day of testimony.
Gonzales also called several GOP senators, including Cornyn and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, an aide said.
Specter said Gonzales sounded "in good spirits."
"The attorney general did call me today and he said he was just checking with senators to see how the hearing went," Specter said Friday. "I told him, 'Everything I had to say about the hearing I've already said.'"
The Pennsylvania Republican also said he sent a letter to Bush about Gonzales, who Specter had said a day earlier had emerged from the hearing with his credibility tarnished. Specter would not reveal the contents of the letter.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said President Bush had spoken with Gonzales after Thursday's hearing, and she added, "The attorney general continues to have the president's full confidence."
There was little other evidence of support for Gonzales, who has been struggling to explain last winter's firings of eight federal prosecutors.
Sen. Sam Brownback, a Kansas Republican who sits on the committee, issued a statement that notably did not urge Gonzales to remain in his post.
"Although his answers suggested that there were serious managerial issues at the Department of Justice, I did not see a factual basis to call for his resignation. As for whether the attorney general should resign, that is a question I leave to him and to the president," he said.
There were fresh calls from Democrats for Gonzales to step down. "The president should restore credibility to the office of the attorney general. Alberto Gonzales must resign," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California.
Gonzales and other administration officials had hoped his appearance Thursday would produce a groundswell of support among Republicans, but there was little if any evidence of that.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell was traveling, and a spokesman referred reporters to noncommittal comments the Kentucky lawmaker had made on April 1.
"I think most Republican senators are willing to give the attorney general a chance to come up before the Judiciary Committee and give his side of this story, and are likely to withhold judgment about whether he can be effective in the Senate in dealing with us, until after we hear from him before the Judiciary Committee," McConnell had said at the time.
Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida, who doubles as the general chairman of the Republican Party, had no immediate reaction to Gonzales' appearance.
In several hours before the Judiciary Committee on Thursday, Gonzales said he had done nothing improper in firing the eight prosecutors, but conceded the case had been badly handled. At the same time, he said 71 times that he either could not recall or did not remember conversations or events surrounding the dismissals.
Alone among the nine Republicans on the committee, Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma called for Gonzales to resign.
Several other Republicans made plain their unhappiness.
Specter told Gonzales his description of events was "significantly if not totally at variance with the facts."
"Why is your story changing?" Charles Grassley of Iowa asked at one point, citing differences between an earlier explanation and the hearing testimony.
Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, after hearing the attorney general's account of the case, said, "Most of this is a stretch," and added it seemed to him that some of those dismissed "just had personality conflicts with people in your office or the White House and (officials) just made up reasons to fire them."
Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama expressed concern with Gonzales' memory at the hearing. In an interview later, he went further. "I think it's going to be difficult for him to be an effective leader," he said.
"At this point, I think (Gonzales) should be given a chance to think it through and talk to the president about what his future should be."
At the White House on Friday, Perino lavished praise on Gonzales. "He has done a fantastic job at the Department of Justice. He is our No. 1 crime fighter. He has done so much to help keep this country safe from terrorists. He has worked determinately to prevent predators from attacking our children," she said.
"He has worked _ they have a fantastic record of fighting corruption in government and in keeping gang violence off our streets.
___
Associated Press writers Lara Jakes Jordan and Laurie Kellman contributed to this report.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
posted on April 22, 2007 01:57:32 PM new
Specter: Gonzales Undermines AG's Office
Updated 2:41 PM ET April 22, 2007
By JOHN HEILPRIN
WASHINGTON (AP) - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has hurt the Bush administration and the Justice Department with his poor handling of the firing of eight federal prosecutors, a leading Republican said Sunday.
Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Gonzales was certainly undermining himself and his agency's law enforcement efforts.
"The attorney general's testimony was very, very damaging to his own credibility. It has been damaging to the administration," Specter said of Gonzales' appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee this past week. "No doubt, it is bad for the Department of Justice. It is harmful. There has been a very substantial decrease in morale."
But Specter stopped short of adding his name to the growing ranks of lawmakers, both Democrat and Republican, calling on Gonzales to resign.
"I don't challenge anybody else who wants to do it," Specter said. "My own mindset is to leave it up to the attorney general and the president."
Despite the criticism, Gonzales gave no indication Sunday he might soon resign. Gonzales remains focused on guarding against terrorism and keeping kids and communities safe, said Brian Roehrkasse, a spokesman for the department.
"He has acknowledged and apologized for the mistakes that were made during the handling of the recent resignations of the eight U.S. attorneys," Roehrkasse said in a statement Sunday e-mailed to The Associated Press, "and he intends to continue to work closely with the Congress to reassure them that he is taking all appropriate steps to rectify this unfortunate situation."
Gonzales emerged from a bruising committee hearing Thursday in which he was scolded by senators in both parties and had memory problems. He claimed dozens of times he couldn't recall key details about the prosecutors' firings or about a key November meeting that documents show he attended.
"All of America saw why so many of us had felt for so long that he shouldn't be attorney general," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., a Judiciary committee member and one of Gonzales' most vocal critics. "He was not in command of the facts. He contradicted himself. And he doesn't really appreciate the role of attorney general."
Schumer maintained Sunday that Gonzales ought to step down as soon as possible.
Asked whether Gonzales should resign, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said: "I don't think he can be effective" if he remains in office.
"A lot of those calls are coming from Republicans," Leahy said. "He's lost the confidence of many Democrats and Republicans in the Congress, and many people throughout America."
But some give Gonzales a chance of getting past the flap.
"I think he can survive," said Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., a member of the Judiciary committee and GOP presidential hopeful. Gonzales has "got difficulties, he's got problems," Brownback said. But as long as the attorney general has got President Bush's backing then "it's time to move on" and drop the calls for him to resign, he said.
Republican Sens. John Sununu of New Hampshire and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma have called for Gonzales' resignation. Coburn, a Judiciary committee member, told Gonzales on Thursday the firings were "handled incompetently" and he "ought to suffer the consequences."
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., also questioned whether Gonzales should stay. "You said something that struck me _ that sometimes it just came down to these were not the right people at the right time," Graham told Gonzales at the hearing. "If I applied that standard to you, what would you say?"
Gonzales replied he could still be an effective attorney general.
Another GOP committee member, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said in an interview "it's going to be difficult for him to be an effective leader." Sessions is a former federal prosecutor.
At the White House on Friday, spokeswoman Dana Perino heaped praise on Gonzales. "He has done a fantastic job at the Department of Justice," she said. "He is our No. 1 crime fighter. He has done so much to help keep this country safe from terrorists."
Specter and Schumer spoke on "Fox News Sunday," Leahy was on CBS' "Face the Nation" and Brownback appeared on CNN's "Late Edition.
posted on April 23, 2007 12:52:48 PM new
Yup, Bigpeepa, the neocon repugs are having a hard time facing this one!
Now bushit is saying he has full confidence in alberto GONEzales !
Well, he had confidence in "Brownie" and he had confidence in Rummy Dumfield ....and look where they are now.....GONE!
bushit thinks Al did a great job in the hearings...well, ya, he didn't use quite as many uh and duhs as bushit uses but he lied just as easily ! So I guess that's the bushit seal of approval
posted on April 25, 2007 09:59:11 AM new
Panel Grants Immunity to Ex-Justice Aide
Updated 11:42 AM ET April 25, 2007
By LAURIE KELLMAN
WASHINGTON (AP) - A House committee voted Wednesday to grant immunity to Monica Goodling, a key aide to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales during the firings of eight U.S. attorneys. She had refused to testify, invoking her Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination.
The 32-6 vote by the House Judiciary Committee surpassed the two-thirds majority required to grant a witness immunity from prosecution. A separate vote to authorize a subpoena for Goodling passed by voice vote.
Democrats said the votes were necessary tools to force into the open the story of why the prosecutors were fired and whether they were singled out to influence corruption cases.
The votes instruct a House lawyer to seek an immunity grant from a federal court. The grant would not take effect unless Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., chooses to issue Goodling a subpoena compelling her to testify, Conyers said.
Goodling and her lawyer have invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, saying they believe Democrats have set a perjury trap for her. Conyers said Wednesday he hopes Goodling changes her mind and voluntarily tells the committee her story.
"I do not propose this step lightly," Conyers told the panel. "If we learn something new in the course of our investigation ... we can always stop the process s before the court issues an order."
Some Republicans cautioned that immunity has tied the hands of prosecutors in the past, notably during the Iran-Contra scandal. Admiral John Poindexter and Lt. Col. Oliver North were granted immunity and later had their convictions reversed when a judge ruled that they were based too much on immunized testimony.
"Think of the consequences to the integrity and reputation of this committee and this institution should we grant immunity and it's impossible to prosecute someone," said Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., a former chairman of the panel.
But Sensenbrenner was one of only six lawmakers, all Republicans, to vote against the immunity grant. The others were Reps. Chris Cannon of Utah, Randy Forbes of Virginia, Steve King of Iowa, Trent Franks of Arizona and Louis Gohmert of Texas.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
posted on April 25, 2007 11:37:42 AM new
Jon Stewart has been very funny about his, as has Stephen Colbert.
Gonzales is such a lightweight! Very weird guy, the way he talks, and add to that the southern accent. I don't know any grown man who presents himself the way this guy does.
_____________________
Dogs have owners, cats have staff.
posted on April 27, 2007 12:01:25 AM new
Justice Dept. Lists Withheld Documents
Updated 12:59 AM ET April 27, 2007
By LARA JAKES JORDAN
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Justice Department released a list of internal documents Thursday focusing on lawmakers' concerns and media questions about the firings of eight federal prosecutors, but the department resisted congressional demands for copies of the memos.
The list of 159 e-mails and memos, spanning nearly three months, at the least demonstrates concern about how the dismissals were being publicly received before they erupted into a firestorm that has resulted in calls for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to resign.
The small pile of documents, sent to Capitol Hill on Thursday night, also included e-mails about articles published in The Washington Post and The New York Times that quoted unidentified Justice officials justifying the firings. A government official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, said congressional investigators requested those two stories to determine who the unidentified officials were.
The new documents were released on the eve of closed-door congressional testimony by Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty. Documents listed as not being released were all authored by Kyle Sampson, Gonzales' former chief of staff, who resigned March 12 over the handling of the firings.
The list briefly describes each document being withheld. It shows that many of the memos and e-mails involve internal discussions over conversations with lawmakers.
"Request for information from Sen. Ensign re: dismissal of Bogden," reads the description of one, dated Dec. 8 _ two days after Nevada U.S. Attorney Daniel Bodgen and six other prosecutors were ordered to quit. "Discussion with Sen. Pryor staff re: ways a person can become a USA," reads another on Dec. 18. "USA" stands for U.S. attorney.
The senators named in the e-mails are John Ensign, R-Nev., and Mark Pryor, D-Ark. Pryor had objected to the firing of U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins of Little Rock, who was replaced by Tim Griffin, a protege of White House political adviser Karl Rove.
Most of the e-mails on the list focused on media coverage of the firings.
One, dated Jan. 13, is described as "Notifying FBI of Union-Tribune article re: Lam's resignation and FBI SAC D. Dzwilewski." Carol Lam was the U.S. attorney in San Diego, where Dan Dzwilewski is heading the FBI's local office until he resigned April 30.
Sampson has acknowledged, under questioning by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., that he complained to FBI headquarters about Dzwilewski's contention that Lam's firing was politically motivated.
Sampson also wrote some of the e-mails, released in full, that discussed the stories in the Post and Times.
"Great work Brian. Kudos to you and the DAG," Sampson wrote in a March 3 e-mail to several senior Justice officials, responding to a Post story that spokesman Brian Roehrkasse described as a "far better" account of the firings.
The House Judiciary Committee has demanded the full text of all documents that had been partially or completely blacked out among nearly 6,000 pages of e-mails, calendar pages and memos released to Congress as it investigates whether the firings were politically motivated. The documents being sought include correspondence with lawmakers and journalists about the firing.
More Justice documents are expected to be sent to Congress on Friday. Additional lists of documents that are being withheld, from other Justice staffers, will be released to Congress "on a rolling basis," Assistant Attorney General Richard Hertling told Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, the two Democratic chairmen of the Senate and House Judiciary committees investigating the firings.
Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., who sits on the Senate panel, said the withheld documents "may contain very important answers. It's critical that we get them."
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
posted on May 14, 2007 08:36:05 PM new
McNulty, Justice Dept. No. 2, Resigning
Updated 10:06 PM ET May 14, 2007
By LARA JAKES JORDAN
WASHINGTON (AP) - Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty said Monday he will resign, becoming the highest-ranking Bush administration casualty in the furor over the firing of U.S. attorneys.
McNulty, who has served 18 months as the Justice Department's second-in-command, announced his plans at a closed-door meeting of U.S. attorneys in San Antonio. He told them he would remain at the department until late summer.
"I thought this made a lot of sense," McNulty told The Associated Press in a phone interview after talking to the prosecutors. "The U.S. attorneys have been very supportive. I've got a good relationship with them, and they were very kind, and I appreciate that."
He also sent a one-page letter of resignation to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, whose own job has been put in jeopardy by the firings and their aftermath, noting "financial realities of college-age children" as one factor in his decision. The letter did not mention the firings controversy.
Neither did Gonzales, in a responding statement that praised McNulty as "a dynamic and thoughtful leader."
"Paul is an outstanding public servant and a fine attorney who has been valued here at the department, by me and so many others, as both a colleague and a friend," Gonzales said.
McNulty has been considering leaving for months, and he never intended to serve more than two years as deputy attorney general. His decision to step down was hastened by frustration over the prosecutors' purge that Congress is investigating to determine if eight U.S. attorneys were fired for political reasons, according to Justice officials familiar with his thinking.
McNulty also irked Gonzales by testifying in February that at least one of the fired prosecutors was ordered to make way for a protege of Karl Rove, President Bush's chief political adviser. Gonzales, who has resisted lawmakers' calls to resign, maintains the firings were proper, and rooted in the prosecutors' lackluster performances.
Two other former Justice Department officials _ Gonzales chief of staff Kyle Sampson and White House liaison Monica Goodling _ have resigned in the past two months over the U.S. attorney firings.
"It seems ironic that Paul McNulty, who at least tried to level with the committee, goes while Gonzales, who stonewalled the committee, is still in charge," said Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
McNulty's resignation is expected to be the start of significant turnover at the department, particularly within the office he heads. Possible replacements for McNulty, according to several Justice officials, include Kevin O'Connor, the U.S. attorney in Connecticut, who also serves now as Gonzales' staff chief; Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Wainstein; and Susan Brooks, top prosecutor in Indiana, who is vice chair of the attorney general's advisory committee.
It's unclear what McNulty will do after he leaves the Justice Department, where he has held several high-ranking posts in the current Bush administration and that of former President George H.W. Bush.
McNulty also served more than four years as the U.S. attorney in suburban Alexandria, Va., a position he took three days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and one he frequently described as "one of the greatest jobs you can ever have."
Much of McNulty's focus as U.S. attorney was on terrorism cases, including the conviction of Zacarias Moussaoui, who admitted to conspiring with the Sept. 11 hijackers but was spared the death penalty.
But it was the firings of the former U.S. attorneys that helped speed McNulty's decision to resign.
McNulty was in charge of overseeing the nation's 93 U.S. attorneys and attended numerous meetings about the firings _ both at the Justice Department and the White House, including at least one that Rove attended.
On Feb. 6, McNulty told a Senate panel that at least one of the ousted prosecutors was asked to leave without cause _ Bud Cummins in Little Rock, Ark., who was told to resign so that Tim Griffin, a former aide to Rove and the Republican National Committee, could take his place.
McNulty also told Congress that the decision to fire the eight U.S. attorneys in December was made solely by the Justice Department. He was furious after learning later that Sampson had discussed the potential firings with the White House since at least January 2005.
Gonzales maintains the firings were needed to replace underperforming U.S. attorneys, and has disagreed with McNulty's testimony that Cummins had been fired for any other reason.
"The attorney general is extremely upset with the stories on the US Attys this morning," Justice spokesman Brian Roehrkasse wrote in a Feb. 7 e-mail after McNulty testified. "He also thought some of the DAG's statements were inaccurate."
Gonzales and Sampson's lawyer have both said McNulty should have been well aware of the circumstances surrounding the firings. In his own Senate testimony last month, Gonzales indicated he trusted his most senior aides, including McNulty, to decide which prosecutors would be asked to resign.
"It was to be a group of officials, including the deputy attorney general, who were much more knowledgeable than I about the performance of each U.S. attorney," Gonzales said.
However, e-mails released by the department show McNulty was not intimately involved in all of the choices and at one point questioned the dismissal of U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden in Nevada.
"I'm a little skittish about Bogden," McNulty wrote in a Dec. 7 e-mail to Sampson. He concluded: "I'll admit have not looked at his district's performance. Sorry to be raising this again/now; it was just on my mind last night and this morning."
McNulty is a longtime GOP loyalist who was spokesman for House Judiciary Committee Republicans during the impeachment of President Clinton and later directed the transition team for the new Bush administration's Justice Department.
Earlier this year, he scaled back tough department tactics that aimed to curb corporate fraud after the Enron-era scandals. The so-called "McNulty Memo" limited prosecutors' ability to obtain confidential data from corporations without first receiving written approval from the department.
McNulty also led Justice Department crackdowns on military contracts, most notably in Iraq, that were awarded or otherwise pushed by bribed officials. His interest in those cases largely stemmed from his tenure as U.S. attorney, where his office had criminal oversight of the Pentagon.
A native of Pittsburgh, McNulty is married and has four children.
___
On the Net:
Justice Department: http://www.usdoj.gov/
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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