http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/21139Gonzales, Expect a Subpoena from the Senate on Thursday!
By Matt Renner, www.truthout.org
Democrats in the US House of Representatives served a subpoena on Tuesday demanding all previously undisclosed documents relating to the firings of eight US attorneys in 2006. The Senate is considering a similar action.
The subpoena requires the Department of Justice (DOJ) to turn over all documents pertaining to the Congressional investigation. The DOJ voluntarily provided more than 3,000 pages of emails to Congress in March. But instead of satisfying critics of the attorney firings, these documents raised new questions.
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In a separate letter on Monday, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), Ranking Member Arlen Specter (R-Pennsylvania) and Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-California) and Charles Schumer (D-New York) also requested documents from the DOJ that have not yet been disclosed. While much of their request overlaps with the information being subpoenaed by the House Judiciary Committee, they are looking at some additional factors as well.
The Senator's letter references an article in the American Spectator from April 2 which says that "a series of files and documents that could prove critical to the Congressional investigation into the firings ... remain in the office of the deputy attorney general and the executive office for the US attorneys, but have not been produced by the Department." These documents are reported to include evaluations and rankings of all 93 US attorneys, as well as relevant briefing materials known to have been provided to the attorney general prior to the investigation into these firings.
The Senate letter sets a deadline of Wednesday April 11 for full cooperation by the DOJ. The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote Thursday to authorize subpoenas for this material. According to Democratic staffers, subpoenas will only be issued if the DOJ does not cooperate voluntarily.In his letter to the attorney general, Congressman Conyers explained why subpoenas have become necessary: "Recent developments, including the apparent inconsistencies between your statements and the testimony of ... Kyle Sampson; declarations that your former senior counsel and White House liaison, Monica Goodling, intends to invoke her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination rather than answer the subcommittee's question; and a series of recent resignations by senior officials at the Department.... Under these circumstances, you must understand why we cannot accept the Department's unilateral judgment as to how much of this information it needs to disclose...."