Think Progress

September 30th, 2008

JUSTICE — WHITE HOUSE PRESS CORPS IGNORES REPORT ON U.S. ATTORNEY SCANDAL:



After an 18-month investigation, the Office of Public Responsibility and the Department of Justice Inspector General (IG) released a report yesterday finding that the firing of nine U.S. Attorneys was “fundamentally flawed” and in some cases, governed by politics. The report said former attorney general Alberto Gonzales and other DOJ officials made “inconsistent, misleading, and inaccurate” statements about their reasons for firing the attorneys. But despite the IG’s finding of White House efforts to stonewall the investigation, the White House press corps did not ask one question about the investigation in yesterday’s press briefing. Reacting to the report, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said the abuses documented in the report “are corrosive to the very foundations of our system of justice.” He also warned President Bush that “any misuse of the pardon power” to the benefit of administration officials involved will be seen “as an admission of wrongdoing and misuse of power.”

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