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March 24, 2007
The Mockery of Justice That Is Attorney General Gonzales
On Friday, the Justice Department also announced that the former chief of staff of former GOP Senator Ben Nighthourse Campbell pled guilty to making a false certification about a $2,000 salary overpayment to a staff member that was intended to be kicked-back to Kontnick. Amusingly, DOJ left Senator Campbell's name out of its press release -- more bad political news.
So here we have DOJ vigorously prosecuting two federal officials who lied about a relationship and $2,000.
This takes us to Al Gonzales. Gonzales had stood before the American people at a March 13th news conference and claimed he had not participated in any discussions about the removals, but knew in general that his aides were working on personnel changes involving United States attorneys. But, according to a report this morning, newly release evidence from his Justice Department shows that Gonzales and his senior advisers discussed the plan to remove seven United States attorneys at a meeting last Nov. 27th -- 10 days before the dismissals were carried out. A DOJ spokeswoman is spinning that the new evidence is not inconsistent with Gonzales's public statements.
Now, a public statement at a news conference may not fall within the statute that makes any material false statement about a matter within the jurisdiction of a federal department or agency a crime, known as 18 U.S.C. § 1001.
Karl Rove and Scooter Libby did exactly the same thing when they lied to former White House press secretary Scott McClellan about discussing Valerie Plame for the purpose of having McClellan stand before the media and America and repeat the lie. [This is precisely the reason that the Senate and House Judiciary Committees should be using to justify putting Karl Rove under oath about the US Attorney firings -- he's a known liar.]
Apparently, it is a common tactic inside the Beltway to stand before the media and mislead. I recall a certain past president who wagged his finger in denial about a relationship with a young woman.
That president was impeached.
Gonzales appears to have lied to the American people. He would seem to have done it with great deliberation. He would have done it, I suspect, after hashing the matter out with Karl Rove and other politicos in the White House.
But even if he didn't lie, Gonzales should step aside.
Why? Because Gonzales's Justice Department just finished prosecuting two other federal officials -- Steven Griles and Virginia Kontnick -- for making misleading statements about matters important to the good operation of our government. And if Gonzales will pursue such charges against others, it is a mockery of justice for him to remain Attorney General while trying to frustrate good government in his own department . . . the one that happens to be most responsible for protecting the rule of law in our Country.
Posted by shertaugh at March 24, 2007 7:57 AM
Comments
Just Thursday Alberto Gonzales once again told us he is working tirelessly to be sure he has every American's back covered…especially our children. Should his alleged lying about the firing of U.S. Attorneys make us feel better?
I don't know about anyone else but I've always been suspicious of the guy that seems to go out of his way to tell you he's "got your back covered".
See a sarcastic visual that demonstrates how many Americans feel when the Attorney General reassures us that he's got our backs covered...here:
Posted by: Daniel DiRito at March 24, 2007 4:30 PM
if Gonzales will pursue such charges against others, it is a mockery of justice for him to remain Attorney General while trying to frustrate good government in his own department
So if the DoJ didn't prosecute such blatant criminal acts, it would be OK for Gonzales to remain? The bottom line is that Gonzales should resign but the fact that his department occaisionally prosecutes criminals even when they are GOP operatives is one of the few things to his credit.
Posted by: Mojo at March 24, 2007 6:25 PM