NY Times: Impeach Gonzales

July 29, 2007
NY Times: Impeach Gonzales

As far as we can tell, there are three possible explanations for Mr. Gonzales's talk about a dispute over other — unspecified — intelligence activities. One, he lied to Congress. Two, he used a bureaucratic dodge to mislead lawmakers and the public: the spying program was modified after Mr. Ashcroft refused to endorse it, which made it "different" from the one Mr. Bush has acknowledged. The third is that there was more wiretapping than has been disclosed, perhaps even purely domestic wiretapping, and Mr. Gonzales is helping Mr. Bush cover it up.

Democratic lawmakers are asking for a special prosecutor to look into Mr. Gonzales's words and deeds. Solicitor General Paul Clement has a last chance to show that the Justice Department is still minimally functional by fulfilling that request.

Sacramento Bee: Impeach Gonzales

July 27, 2007
Sacramento Bee: Impeach Gonzales

Gonzales' performance shredded what little credibility he had left. On Thursday, four Democraic senators -- Feinstein, Charles E. Schumer of New York, Russell D.Feingold of Wisconsin and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island -- asked Solicitor General Paul Clement to appoint a special prosecutor to probe whether Gonzales had committed perjury in his testimony.

Miami Herald: Impeach Gonzales

July 26, 2007
Miami Herald: Impeach Gonzales

No Republican came to Mr. Gonzales' defense during the hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, nor should they have. His ignorance, feigned or real, was extensive and bipartisan. "I can't answer," he told Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., when asked about the prosecution of voting-rights cases. "I'm not making any progress here," a frustrated Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said after one particularly foggy exchange.

"I don't trust you," snapped Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. The question is, Why should anyone trust Mr. Gonzales?

Congress should take whatever steps are necessary, from a contempt citation to pursuing criminal charges, to remove him from office. His continued tenure is an affront to the American people.

Documents Contradict Gonzales Senate Testimony

July 26, 2007
Documents Contradict Gonzales Senate Testimony

"Not the TSP?" responded Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-NY). "Come on. If you say it's about other, that implies not. Now say it or not."

"It was not," Gonzales answered. "It was about other intelligence activities."

A four-page memo from the national intelligence director's office says the White House briefing with the eight lawmakers on March 10, 2004, was about the terror surveillance program, or TSP.

Alberto Gonzales and the Geneva Convention

May 25, 2007
Alberto Gonzales and the Geneva Convention

But Gonzales wouldn't have to go to cases from Singapore to find how inhuman treatment was defined under the Geneva Convention.

The International Military Tribunal for the Far East, the Tokyo war crimes trial of major Japanese leaders, organized by American General Douglas MacArthur held months of hearings on the inhuman treatment of POWs and civilian internees. Prosecutors spent days summing up cases of inhuman treatment before the tribunal.

All the war crimes trials at the end of the Second World War came under the jurisdiction of the UN War Crimes Commission, and the U.S. and Britain were the main countries that planned the trials, so the records defining the term inhuman treatment were easily available to anyone who looked hard enough.

Senator: Gonzales Obstructed Justice, Lied Under Oath

May 25, 2007
Senator: Gonzales Obstructed Justice, Lied Under Oath

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a former career prosecutor, states that after reviewing the testimony of Monica Goodling and other recent developments he is deeply concerned that Gonzales is guilty of obstruction of justice stemming from his efforts to coach Goodling about how to recall their prior meetings. He also noted the sharp inconsistencies between Gonzales’s testimony and that of other witnesses, and its conflict with documentary evidence and focused on his statement to the House Judiciary Committee that he had not reviewed his conversations with staffers now under investigation–now revealed to be a falsehood. Democrats now state they will hold a vote of no confidence in Gonzales in mid-June.

Goodling: Gonzales and possible witness tampering

May 23, 2007
Goodling: Gonzales and possible witness tampering

WASHINGTON - A former Justice Department official told House investigators
Wednesday that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales tried to review his version of
the prosecutor firings with her at a time when lawmakers were homing in on
conflicting accounts.

"It made me a little uncomfortable," Monica Goodling, Gonzales' former White
House liaison, said of her conversation with the attorney general just before
she took a leave of absence in March. "I just did not know if it was
appropriate for us to both be discussing our recollections of what had
happened."

May 24, 2007
Goodling admits she broke the law, accuses Gonzales of lying to
congress

In her testimony to the House Judiciary Committee, Ms. Goodling removed all
doubt about whether partisan politics infected the Justice Department´s
treatment of federal prosecutors. She admitted that she investigated the party
affiliations, and even campaign contributions, of applicants for prosecutor,
and other nonpolitical jobs. "I know I crossed the line," she said of her
actions, which may have violated federal law. Her admission that partisan
politics was used to hire people only makes it more likely that it was also
used to fire people.

Ms. Goodling appeared to be straining to make her testimony helpful to Mr.
Gonzales, but when backed into a corner, she conceded that he had lied about
his role in the scandal.

Goodling Accuses McNulty of Misleading Congress

May 23, 2007
Goodling Accuses McNulty of Misleading Congress

May 23 (Bloomberg) -- A former top Justice Department aide denied knowledge
of any improper White House role in the firing of eight U.S. attorneys and
accused Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty of misleading Congress about the
dismissals.

Monica Goodling, the former White House liaison for Attorney General Alberto
Gonzales, told the House Judiciary Committee she had no discussions before the
firings with Karl Rove, Bush's top political adviser, or then-White House
Counsel Harriet Miers.

Alberto Gonzales Displays Contempt for Congress

May 18, 2007
Alberto Gonzales Displays Contempt for Congress

John Dean: This week, Gonzales was again shown to have lied to Congress; his ineptitude as Attorney General has resurfaced in litigation that is going to damage the government; and after ignoring a subpoena from the Senate, he made a belated but insufficient response following an angry letter from the Senate.

It's been clear for a while - and is becoming ever clearer - that the Attorney General ought to resign, or to be fired. Now, it seems that Congress is determined to force Gonzales from office or send him to jail, whichever they can do first.

Grounds to impeach Gonzales

April 11, 2007
Grounds to impeach Gonzales

If Attorney General Alberto Gonzales does not resign soon, the House Judiciary Committee should start an inquiry into his possible impeachment.

There is much evidence to suggest that the attorney general perjured himself before Congress regarding the firing of eight U.S. attorneys, but no matter what Gonzales says about these cases when he testifies before the committee next week, the narrow focus of the hearings won't begin to touch the full range of grave concerns that now exist about his fidelity to the rule of law.

Congress needs to consider whether Gonzales has so abused his office by trampling on the powers of the legislative branch of government that even if he committed no felonies, he has inflicted serious injury to the Constitution.

Gonzales: an active agent to subvert the Justice Department

March 29, 2007
Gonzales: an active agent to subvert the Justice Department

In light of this pattern, cast a glance back from the US Attorneys scandal through Gonzales's tenure as AG and White House counsel. Look back from the prosecutors he fired to the memos he commissioned on the Geneva Conventions and Guantánamo. Just as Gonzales once tried to redefine torture as not torture, he now tries to define political firings as not political and not firings. In this picture Gonzales is not merely a deferential retainer or simply serving a controversial theory of presidential power; he is the active agent of a campaign to distort and subvert the purposes of the Justice Department and the plain language of federal statutes.

Testimony that got so embarrassing for the White House that the Republicans tried to cut it off

March 30, 2007
Testimony that got so embarrassing for the White House that the Republicans tried to cut it off

In his Senate testimony yesterday, Kyle Sampson, the former chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, tried to be a "loyal Bushie," a term Mr. Sampson used in his infamous e-mail message to describe what he was looking for in United States attorneys. But if Mr. Sampson was trying to fall on his sword, he had horrible aim. In testimony that got so embarrassing for the White House that the Republicans tried to cut it off, Mr. Sampson simply ended up making it clearer than ever that the eight prosecutors were fired for political reasons.

He provided more evidence, also, that the attorney general and other top Justice Department officials were dishonest in their initial statements about the firings.

Mr. Sampson flatly contradicted the attorney general's claim that he did not participate in the selection of the prosecutors to be fired and never had a conversation about "where things stood." Mr. Sampson testified that Mr. Gonzales was "aware of this process from the beginning," and that the two men regularly discussed where things stood. Mr. Sampson also confirmed that Mr. Gonzales was at the Nov. 27 meeting where the selected prosecutors' fates were sealed.

Gonzales should be impeached

March 24, 2007
Gonzales should be impeached

THE HOUSE of Representatives should begin impeachment proceedings against Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

Gonzales, the nation's highest legal officer, has been point man for serial assaults against the rule of law, most recently in the crude attempt to politicize criminal prosecutions. Obstruction of a prosecution is a felony, even when committed by the attorney general.

The firings of US attorneys had multiple political motives, all contrary to longstanding practice. In some cases, Republican politicians and the White House were angry that prosecutors were not going after Democrats with sufficient zeal. In other cases, they wanted the prosecutors to lighten up on Republicans. In still others, exemplary prosecutors were shoved aside to make room for rising Republican politicians being groomed for higher office.