House Judiciary Panel Subpoenas Gonzales

AP ^ | April 10, 2007

[West Coast Conservative]

The House Judiciary Committee has served a subpoena to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales seeking documents related to the firings of U.S. attorneys.

[Grig]

And as for getting the troops the funds they need we have.....???

[MizSterious]

They’re hoping that can (at the very least) find a misspelled word or a dangling participle.

[kellynla]

they need to be subpoenaing Fat Sandy Burglar & Fitzgerald!!!

[thiscouldbemoreconfusing]

When is the President going to start standing up to these communist Republic hating scum?

Is it any wonder the R's in congress won't stand up for him?

[PRND21]

And as for getting the troops the funds they need we have.....???

Elections matter.
Shouldn't we get back to blasting the Republican front runner?

[Howlin]

About now; he’s given them all they are entitled to.

Supreme Court, here we come.

[advertising guy]

hide and watch....told freepers last week Dubya is severly pissed over this and is gonna come out guns ablazing

[popdonnelly]

What a waste of time. How about the Democrats putting the country above politics for a change?

[LIConFem]

Playing this manufactured “scandal” for all it’s worth.

[eleni121]

Judiciary panel....Have they all gone insane!???

[SF Republican]

hiding and watching and waiting

[popdonnelly]

“Shouldn’t we get back to blasting the Republican front runner?”

Yeah, we need to lose above all else. That’ll show ‘em!

[Michael.SF.]

Have they all gone insane!???

The only insane ones are the Republicans who are going along with this farce. They should walk out on the hearings, after making an opening statement regarding the overstepping of bounds and the use of this for partisan purposes.

The democrats know exactly what they are doing - relying on a dumbed down electorate and an compliant media.

[xzins]

The president should tell them to take a hike.

[NormsRevenge]

In this Friday, March 30, 2007, file photo, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales appears at a round table discussion with law enforcement officials about his Project Safe Childhood initiative in Boston. Gonzales' top aide abruptly quit on Friday, April 6, 2007, almost two weeks after telling Congress she would not testify about her role in the firings of federal prosecutors. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)

[neocon1984]

I assume this is a stunt. Due to separation of powers, Congress does not have the right to subpoena members of the POTUS cabinet.

[NormsRevenge]

US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales (L) sits in a roundtable talk about the "Project Safe Childhood" hosted by US Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald (R) at the Dirksen Federal building in Chicago, Illinois. The noose tightened Tuesday around beleaguered Gonzales, after a top aide, fearing criminal prosecution, refused to testify in a scandal over the dismissals of eight federal prosecutors.(AFP/Jeff Haynes)

[TomGuy]

Playing this manufactured “scandal” for all it’s worth.

Yes, it is manufactured.

But that gives rise to the question: Why did Gonzales lie -- when there was absolutely no reason for doing so?

Gonzales's ineptitude or incompetence helped created this manufactured “scandal”.

[RWB Patriot]

“How about the Democrats putting the country above politics for a change?”

Fat chance. The RATs are beyond the point of redemption.

[NormsRevenge]

Protestor Farhad Khoiee-Abbasi calls for the firing of U.S. Attourney General Alberto Gonzales on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 19, 2007. The former top aide to U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has agreed to testify next Thursday before a Senate panel investigating the firings of eight federal prosecutors, news media reported on Friday. (Jim Young/Reuters)

[JerseyDvl]

WHAT....A....CIRCUS!

[eleni121]

The only insane ones are the Republicans who are going along with this farce. They should walk out on the hearings, after making an opening statement regarding the overstepping of bounds and the use of this for partisan purposes.

---

ABSOLUTELY CORRECT! I AM MORE FURIOUS WITH THE PANSY SPINELESS REPUBLICANS THAN THE DEMS.

[LIConFem]

I agree. The democrats were aided at every turn buy the administration's weakness and stupidity. The first and only words out of Bush's mouth when this idiocy began, should have been, "Yes, we canned some folks and replaced them with others who were more to our liking. That's what new administrations do. Next question?"

[samadams2000]

Take your hands of our cute little inefectual harmless Muppet!!!!

[tobyhill]

The MSM is falling all over themselves with this fraud of an issue. The documents have been provided and what hasn’t is protected under the Separation of Powers Clause. Gonzales is already going to testify so other than performing for the liberal idiot crowd these subpoenas mean zilch.

[Eva]

I guess the Gonzales will have to counter with a subpoena for Pelosi on her violation of the Jones Act.

[YOUGOTIT]

I know of nothing in the Constitution that gives the House any authority to subpoena document's from the Executive branch that did what it is legal to do fire those that it had appointed.

As I look at the anti-american SCUM in the US House and Senate I understand more and more why they are TRAITORS and supporters of Al-Qaeda - They HATE America and the Constitution.

[Recovering_Democrat]

Can anyone give the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee a lesson on the “Separation of Powers” concept?

[TSchmereL]

it’s bush’s fault

[bw17]

They subpoenaed *DOCUMENTS* from the Justice Department. They didn’t subpoena Gonzales. The headline is (intentionally) misleading.

I would wager that the judiciary committee reached this decision by “voice vote” so that there’d be no official roll call record showing that the Republicans all voted against it.

Then Conyers can try to paint this as bipartisan.

[COBOL2Java]

Big fishing expedition. Cap'n Ahab's lookin' fer that great white...

[gondramB]

>>I assume this is a stunt. Due to separation of powers, Congress does not have the right to subpoena members of the POTUS cabinet.<<

Congress has the power to subpoena cabinet members. And hold them in contempt. The justice department could refuse to go forward with the prosecution but if it really comes down to it a unified congress is stronger than the President. They could eliminate the justice department and set up a new department for prosecution or just cut back funding.

Congress never stays that unified except in times of serious Presidential malfeasance but on this issue the President would be smart to back down because the law is not on his side least they become that unified against him.

He is taking a stand on the wrong issue.

[sappy]

Hell no.

[Mo1]

What .. they didn’t find anything in the 3,000 documents already sent to them???

[unixfox]

hide and watch....told freepers last week Dubya is severly pissed over this and is gonna come out guns ablazing

((( HOLDING BREATH )))

[eleni121]

I just called this BS committeee and of course I got the Dem side...I asked for the Republican side. The guy listened to my reasoned but very assertive complaints about their limp defeatist pansy spineless attitudes..and then he thanked me for the input.

WTH is going on????

[Txsleuth]

There just doing this to get the heat off of Nancy Pelosi..and Steny Hoyer.

Deflecting blame for all of their corruption...that is their standard MO.

[USS Alaska]

it’s bush’s fault

I love President Bush. In this case it is his fault. He should tell the AG to go to the congress and say, "We fired them and there will be no further testimony, documents or comments. Next subject."

[MrTed]

I think it can reasonably argued that Gonzales did not lie. I believe it is claimed that Gonzales lied when he said they were fired for “Performance” reasons. The fact that a given attorney was not following the “Priorities” of the Justice Department can be considered poor performance, even if those priorities could be considered “Political”.

[LibertarianSJ]

But that gives rise to the question: Why did Gonzales lie -- when there was absolutely no reason for doing so?

This question gets to the heart of this whole issue. Unless the White house dismissed attorneys with the express intent of shutting down investigations against WH officials or other Republicans (and there is absolutely no evidence to this effect), nobody did anything improper! So why the heck did Gonzales have to come out to the media and make himself appear either incompetent or ineffectual by basically saying (or at least implying) that he had almost nothing to do with the firings of these attorneys? For his sheer inability to handle such a simple matter, President Bush should dismiss him.

[Redbob]

"...Dubya is severly pissed over this and is gonna come out guns ablazing"

Fortunately for him you can now buy an even smaller caliber, the .17...

[pfony1]

With all due respect, if the Democrats try hold Gonzales “in contempt”, the President can just PARDON him.

Just as the Constitutional power to make recess appointments “checks” the power of the Senate to put “party interest” above the national interest, the President’s power to pardon can protect his cabinet from partisan lynch-mobs.

IIRC, the so-called “over-sight authority” of the Congress is relatively recent and is probably un-Constitutional.

It is certainly nutty to give “over-sight authority” to a pack of reckless, selfish children.

IMHO, we are just one Supreme Court judge away from rolling back years of such liberal nonsense, one case at a time.

Let’s not lose sight of THAT goal — which, IMHO, is more important than encouraging Republicans to demonize one another.

[ElectricStrawberry]

“I do not recall”

“That is priveledged Executive Branch information.”

Only 2 answers that I wanna hear.

[PerConPat]

The fact that a given attorney was not following the “Priorities” of the Justice Department can be considered poor performance, even if those priorities could be considered “Political”.

I agree... But the Rats can't resist the possibility of a politically perfect storm arising from Conyers' and Waxman's fishing expeditions. If Conyers can show that Rove etc. were discussing political maneuvers- on Government time- aimed at influencing campaigns by orchestrating the US Attorney firings, it could be the mother lode of poison darts for the Dim's to throw at the Pub's 2008 Congressional campaigns. This, IMHO, is also the driving force behind Waxman trying to lay his slimy hands on Rove's etc. e-mails.

[edsheppa]

Congress has the power to subpoena cabinet members.

It's not so clear. Court decisions have been all over the place on Executive Privilege.

[ex-NFO]

Reminds me of the old story of the scorpion and the frog. Of course the scorpion stings the Republicans. It’s their nature. The only question is why the frogs are still surprised when they do.

[TomGuy]

I think it can reasonably argued that Gonzales did not lie.

Gonzales also said he knew nothing about the method used to dismiss/was not involved, until emails showed that Gonzales was one of the prime deciders.

[M Kehoe]

Cool, let the games begin.

5.56mm

[oceanview]

there is no underlying crime here - its not like using executive privilege to thwart an investigation ala watergate. So I think the executive privilege claims will be upheld.