Senate Democrats seek Special Prosecutor to investigate Alberto Gonzales for perjury
F.B.I. Chief Challenges Gonzales’s Testimony (NY Times).
Documents Contradict Gonzales's Testimony (AP).
FBI Director Contradicts Gonzales (AP):
FBI Director Robert S. Mueller said Thursday the government's terrorist surveillance program was the topic of a 2004 hospital room dispute between top Bush administration officials, contradicting Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' sworn Senate testimony....
Mueller's testimony cast fresh doubt on Gonzales' credibility. Hours earlier, Senate Democrats called for a perjury investigation against Gonzales and subpoenaed top presidential aide Karl Rove in a deepening political and legal clash with the Bush administration.
``It has become apparent that the attorney general has provided at a minimum half-truths and misleading statements,'' four Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee wrote in a letter to Solicitor General Paul Clement....
Democrats issued a list of examples of what one called Gonzales' ``lying'' before Congress.
``We have now reached a point where the accumulated evidence shows that political considerations factored into the unprecedented firing of at least nine United States attorneys last year,'' said Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
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Senate Democrats called today for a Special Prosecutor to investigate Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Watch Sen. Chuck Schumer's short speech:
Watch Gonzo saying "I don't recall" at least 74 times before the Senate Judiciary Committee. This is a Harvard Law graduate, ladies and gentlemen! People think he's protecting the White House, with his lies and stonewalling:
Bush renewed his secret warrantless wiretapping program (TSP), against Americans, WITHOUT approval of the Justice Dept!
You've gotta watch this video below! Former Deputy Atty. Gen. James Comey explained why he and several others in the Justice Dept. resigned in 2004. They were protesting Bush's renewal of his secret wiretapping program against Americans, without approval of the Attorney General. Comey showed lots of pain and anguish at the corruption he witnessed from Gonzo and White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card.
In March 2004, Attorney Gen. Ashcroft entered the George Washington Medical Center with gallstone pancreatitis. He made James B. Comey temporary Attorney General, while Ashcroft was sick. While Ashcroft was in hospital, and seriously ill, on the evening of March 10, 2004, White House Counsel Alberto Gonzalez and White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card went to his hospital room and requested that Ashcroft reconsider the refusal of Acting Attorney General James Comey to reauthorize the secret surveillance program, in contradiction of the policy agreed by Ashcroft and Comey immediately before he fell ill.
Comey had rushed to Ashcroft's room upon being notified that Gonzalez and Card were on their way, and arrived shortly before them. Comey testified about this incident to the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 15, 2007, during the committee's investigation of the controversial dismissal of U.S. attorneys in December of 2006. According to Comey's testimony, Ashcroft refused to reauthorize the program and indicated that the acting Attorney General sitting next to the bed was the person to whom Gonzales and Card should direct their request. Card and Gonzales allegedly turned and left the room at that point without acknowledging Mr. Comey.
Gonzales has contradicted Comey's account of the events. He stated: "Clearly if he (Ashcroft) had been competent and understood the facts and had been inclined to do so, yes we would have asked him. Andy Card and I didn't press him. We said 'Thank you' and we left."
As many as 30 Department of Justice senior staff were prepared to resign immediately, protesting both the underhanded effort to go around acting Attorney General Comey to get the program re-authorized, and also in protest of the Bush Administration's effort to continue the warrantless search program without change, contrary to the DOJ's then current assessment of the program's lack of legal basis. Ashcroft has been requested to appear before House and Senate Intelligence Committees in a closed-door hearing, in June 2007, to describe the incident, and circumstances surrounding the program more completely.
Testimony of former Deputy Atty. Gen. James Comey. Read transcript:
Dramatic highlights of Gonzo's testimony this week. Watch him squirm to NOT answer the questions! (Video)
Documents Contradict Gonzales's Testimony (AP).
FBI Director Contradicts Gonzales (AP):
FBI Director Robert S. Mueller said Thursday the government's terrorist surveillance program was the topic of a 2004 hospital room dispute between top Bush administration officials, contradicting Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' sworn Senate testimony....
Mueller's testimony cast fresh doubt on Gonzales' credibility. Hours earlier, Senate Democrats called for a perjury investigation against Gonzales and subpoenaed top presidential aide Karl Rove in a deepening political and legal clash with the Bush administration.
``It has become apparent that the attorney general has provided at a minimum half-truths and misleading statements,'' four Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee wrote in a letter to Solicitor General Paul Clement....
Democrats issued a list of examples of what one called Gonzales' ``lying'' before Congress.
``We have now reached a point where the accumulated evidence shows that political considerations factored into the unprecedented firing of at least nine United States attorneys last year,'' said Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
___________
Senate Democrats called today for a Special Prosecutor to investigate Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Watch Sen. Chuck Schumer's short speech:
Click to viewWatch Gonzo saying "I don't recall" at least 74 times before the Senate Judiciary Committee. This is a Harvard Law graduate, ladies and gentlemen! People think he's protecting the White House, with his lies and stonewalling:
Bush renewed his secret warrantless wiretapping program (TSP), against Americans, WITHOUT approval of the Justice Dept!
You've gotta watch this video below! Former Deputy Atty. Gen. James Comey explained why he and several others in the Justice Dept. resigned in 2004. They were protesting Bush's renewal of his secret wiretapping program against Americans, without approval of the Attorney General. Comey showed lots of pain and anguish at the corruption he witnessed from Gonzo and White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card.
In March 2004, Attorney Gen. Ashcroft entered the George Washington Medical Center with gallstone pancreatitis. He made James B. Comey temporary Attorney General, while Ashcroft was sick. While Ashcroft was in hospital, and seriously ill, on the evening of March 10, 2004, White House Counsel Alberto Gonzalez and White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card went to his hospital room and requested that Ashcroft reconsider the refusal of Acting Attorney General James Comey to reauthorize the secret surveillance program, in contradiction of the policy agreed by Ashcroft and Comey immediately before he fell ill.
Comey had rushed to Ashcroft's room upon being notified that Gonzalez and Card were on their way, and arrived shortly before them. Comey testified about this incident to the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 15, 2007, during the committee's investigation of the controversial dismissal of U.S. attorneys in December of 2006. According to Comey's testimony, Ashcroft refused to reauthorize the program and indicated that the acting Attorney General sitting next to the bed was the person to whom Gonzales and Card should direct their request. Card and Gonzales allegedly turned and left the room at that point without acknowledging Mr. Comey.
Gonzales has contradicted Comey's account of the events. He stated: "Clearly if he (Ashcroft) had been competent and understood the facts and had been inclined to do so, yes we would have asked him. Andy Card and I didn't press him. We said 'Thank you' and we left."
As many as 30 Department of Justice senior staff were prepared to resign immediately, protesting both the underhanded effort to go around acting Attorney General Comey to get the program re-authorized, and also in protest of the Bush Administration's effort to continue the warrantless search program without change, contrary to the DOJ's then current assessment of the program's lack of legal basis. Ashcroft has been requested to appear before House and Senate Intelligence Committees in a closed-door hearing, in June 2007, to describe the incident, and circumstances surrounding the program more completely.
Testimony of former Deputy Atty. Gen. James Comey. Read transcript:
Dramatic highlights of Gonzo's testimony this week. Watch him squirm to NOT answer the questions! (Video)