Leahy wants Justice docs before confirming new AG David Edwards and Nick Juliano

Published: Monday September 3, 2007





Print This Email This The White House has foiled and forestalled Congressional investigations of its warrantless domestic spying program and other instances of alleged misconduct, but a new round of confirmation hearings could open a crack in the Bush administration's armor. The showdown came to a head earlier this month when Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy invoked threats of criminal contempt charges when the White House again refused to comply with subpoenas. But the announced resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has placed another arrow in Leahy's quiver as he continues to target what, if any, legal justifications backed Bush's assertion that 9/11 gave him unilateral authority to approve wiretaps rather than submitting to judicial oversight. Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Leahy implied he may hold up confirmation of Gonzales's as-yet-unnamed successor, until the White House cooperates with investigations of the current AG's alleged misconduct. "I have told the White House there's a lot of information we need to have before a confirmation hearing," Leahy told host Chris Wallace. Republicans and Democrats had for months criticized Gonzales's alleged attempts to politicize the Justice Department, and some have accused him of giving President Bush poor, improper or illegal advice in areas ranging from the warrantless wiretapping program to the treatment of US-held detainees at Guantanamo Bay. However, Leahy said, the Judiciary Committee has an incomplete picture of Gonzales's performance and guidance because of the administration's refusal to hand over requested documents, citing executive privilege and national security concerns. "They've operated under a legal document apparently approved by the attorney general that has allowed everything from signing statements to torture to warrantless wiretapping of Americans," Leahy said. "We have to know what was in there so we can ask the next person, what's going on." Leahy indicated he wouldn't hold up the confirmation of a new attorney general to compel the administration to cooperate in tangentially related areas, such as by allowing the testimony of just-departed White House political guru Karl Rove. "I'll know when we have enough information to ask the valid questions on both sides," he said, "and then we'll go forward with the confirmation hearing." At an Aug. 20 press conference, Leahy accused the administration of hiding "behind a fictitious veil of secrecy," and he threatened to bring contempt proceedings before the committee if the administration refused to cooperate. Since then, there has been "nothing new" with regards to communication between the committee and the White House, a Leahy spokesman told RAW STORY via e-mail. The committee's schedule does not indicate that contempt charges will be considered this week, but the spokesman, David Carle, noted that the committee is carrying over a "heavy existing agenda." Whether contempt charges are considered, new confirmation hearings may offer Leahy a better opportunity to compel the White House's cooperation, and he said previously he hopes to be able to avoid criminal proceedings. Besides, the Justice Department has said it would not prosecute contempt charges should they pass the House, when the House Judiciary Committee voted in favor of finding two administration figures in contempt of Congress for their refusal to testify in its investigation of the US Attorney firings. Sen. Arlen Specter, the Judiciary Committee's top Republican, echoed the call for White House cooperation, but he said such confirmation of a new attorney general should not be delayed. "Let us not get embroiled in two years of litigation on what executive privilege means, until this administration is gone," Specter (R-PA) said. "There are some important questions to be answered, and congressional oversight can do it without putting a lot of preconditions, and tying up the confirmation of a new attorney general." The following video is from Fox's Fox News Sunday, broadcast on September 2.



