Justice Dept. IG Investigating Possible Gonzales Obstruction Of Justice Incident
Justice Dept. IG Investigating Possible Gonzales Obstruction Of Justice Incident
The Senate Judiciary Committee revealed today that the Justice Department’s Inspector General Glenn Fine is investigating whether Attorney General Alberto Gonzales may have acted unethically or illegally by attempting to “coach” Monica Goodling’s testimony.
In May, Goodling testified before Congress that, prior to resigning from the DoJ, she had an “uncomfortable” conversation with Gonzales, in which he “laid out” his version of the attorney firings and asked if she “had any reaction to his iteration.” Goodling said she did not think it was “appropriate for us to talk about that at that point.”
ThinkProgress raised the question of whether Gonzales’ actions could have constituted obstruction of justice. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) raised a similar concern.
On June 5, Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) sent a letter to Fine, asking, “Does the expansion of your inquiry include this matter?” referring to the Goodling allegations. Today, Fine responded:
In your letter, you referred to Monica Goodling’s testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on May 23, 2007, in which she stated that she had a meeting with the Attorney General in which the process leading to the removal of certain U.S. Attorneys was discussed. You asked whether our investigation includes this matter.
This is to confirm that the scope of our investigation does include this matter.
Read the full letter here.
In a statement released earlier today, Leahy voiced concerns that Fine’s investigation may be getting “too close for comfort” for the White House, and that the administration may try to shut it down:
The last time an internal investigation at the Department of Justice got too close for comfort the White House shut it down. I hope this investigation will not suffer the same fate as the OPR inquiry into the warrantlesss wiretapping program. This internal investigation is an important step in getting to the truth behind this matter, and they should be allowed to do their jobs without interference from this Administration.
UPDATE: Steve Benen notes, “Back on April 19, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales testified, under oath, that he had not spoken with ‘witnesses’ in the U.S. Attorney scandal about the events surrounding the purge because it would have been inappropriate. He told the Senate Judiciary Committee, ‘I haven’t talked to witnesses because of the fact that I haven’t wanted to interfere with this investigation and department investigations.’”
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It sounds like Gonzo himself can be charged with “obstruction of justice”…now let’s have an honest prosecutor bring about charges.
June 14th, 2007 at 2:44 pmS – Weeeeeeeeeet.
June 14th, 2007 at 2:45 pmSay it ain’t so Alberto! The problem with blogs is we can’t all be together to crack open the champaign. Woohoo!
June 14th, 2007 at 2:48 pmGlenn had better have a mirror behind Gonzo so he can see those crossed fingers.
If Glenn just sets in his mind that EVERYTHING ANYONE in this ADMINISTRATION says IS A LIE. Then if will be easier to get to the truth, because it will be the opposite of what they said, simple.
IGNORE THE TROLLS – Debate good, Trolls bad
June 14th, 2007 at 2:50 pmIs it possible – could it be – are we watching the screws turn (albeit incredibly slowly) on the White House and its resident criminals?
June 14th, 2007 at 2:50 pmWill we see them brought down one by one?
Let’s see how far this ‘investigation’ goes…
June 14th, 2007 at 2:50 pmwould be a wonder if justice did prevail.
Stranger things have happened.
It now becomes clearer why gwb still gives Alberto the thumbs up – the can of worms is opening up too far to be re-closed, perhaps?
How much longer can Bush hold onto this guy? Loyalty is one thing, criminal conduct is another — but than again — criminal conduct is the foundation of this Bush administration — starting from the top on down.
June 14th, 2007 at 2:51 pmRoboTroll 3100 reports:
(sigh) I just can’t do this today… Too much corruption for one simple robot troll to spin… I need a day off.
Screw this, I’m going to a waterpark.
June 14th, 2007 at 2:52 pmCaption :
Sneaky Gonzales tries to remember where he put his annotated copy of “My Pet Goat”…
June 14th, 2007 at 2:55 pmBy the way — just a side note — Did anyone see on television that Laura did not go with Bush to visit the Pope last week? Could it be that she saw the pictures of Bush drinking the beer at the summit? I think she is fed up with him, too. I certainly would be.
June 14th, 2007 at 2:55 pmSo the Senate and the House keep finding more and more violations of the law.
They haven’t gotten into the biggies yet, torture, rendition, etc.
At what point are Americans going to get tired of the Democrats taking “no confidence” votes, telling lawbreakers that they should resign?
Before oversight came into play, Bush proved that he has absolutely no respect for the niceties of following the law and that he’s running the show not Congress.
The Republicans are continuing to control the message and the situation. The Democrats need to ratchet things up a lot more, or they are going to find themselves in real trouble come the next election.
June 14th, 2007 at 2:56 pmdidn’t they also have gonzalez on some kind of obstruction as wh counsel? like when word came down to him on a friday that a special prosecutor had been appointed, he decided to wait till the next monday to “officially notify” everybody to preserve documents. in other words, a weekend to destroy documents. whatever happened to that?
June 14th, 2007 at 2:57 pmi’m astounded that, given the numerous and substantial lies that gonzo has been caught telling, that he still holds his position as attorney general of the united states… my god, we have sunk so low…
And, yes, I DO take it personally
June 14th, 2007 at 2:57 pmgiven the substantial and demonstrable number of lies that gonzo has been caught telling, i am totally amazed that he still sits as attorney general of the united states… my god, we have sunk so low…
And, yes, I DO take it personally
June 14th, 2007 at 2:58 pmIt seems like just Monday that 37 Republicans and Joe Lieberman gave a vote of confidence in Gonzales…
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/06/11/conservatives-kill-gonzales-no-confidence-vote/#comments
June 14th, 2007 at 3:05 pmScrew this, I’m going to a waterpark.
Comment by RoboTroll 3100
Have fun! Make sure you get all your parts dry!
June 14th, 2007 at 3:07 pmSo all the White House needs to do to shut this investigation down is to deny a security clearance — just like they did with the wire-tapping investigation.
Done.
Am I being too cynical…?
June 14th, 2007 at 3:09 pmNot at all, Zooey.
June 14th, 2007 at 3:11 pmIf the Whitewash House shits down the investigation, a special prosecutor will need to be named to persecute these lyingratfu(kbastards.
June 14th, 2007 at 3:13 pmScooter’s saving the top bunk for you, Gonzo!
June 14th, 2007 at 3:14 pmThe law must be respected. This man has violated thew law time and tme again. Charges must be filed against him.
June 14th, 2007 at 3:22 pmWonder if Harvard is wondering what kind of message Gonzo is sending about the quality of the law degree from their school, especially regarding Ethics 101.
Puts them in the same category as Liberty U in VA, would be my opinion.
June 14th, 2007 at 3:26 pmThe whole world can see that the chief justice official in the USA is a lying son of a beetch…a thug who is a member of the Bush Crime Family…and the cons are so proud. Like Scooter Libby, he is only doing the bidding of the chief thug, the drunken AWOL coward in the White House.
June 14th, 2007 at 3:32 pmThis is ridiculous. This man needs to be impeached. Why are people not outraged enough to actually take action?!
June 14th, 2007 at 3:35 pmNow perhaps the complicit Rethugs who blocked the cloture vote this week will find themselves “sold out” by their own party. I loved the way they admonished Gonzo but then voted to block the “no confidence vote”….totally and unequivocally “hypocritical”. Every last Rethug needs to be very worried about regaining his seat again when his/her term expires. This will now show precisely who the real “thugs” in Congress are!
June 14th, 2007 at 3:35 pmI hope our side gets over its little protocols of niceness. Bush’s guys would just as soon lie about national security as tie their shoes in the morning.
June 14th, 2007 at 3:36 pmWith the AG a lying SOB which is known to everyone in the world, is it any wonder why this country has no credibility at this point? Thank the scumbag Rethugs for that one!
June 14th, 2007 at 3:36 pmThis is ridiculous. This man must be impeached! Why are people not outraged enough to actually take action?!
June 14th, 2007 at 3:36 pmWhen this hits the fan, those who voted “no” or were a “no show” will be considered to be just as criminal when all is said and done.
June 14th, 2007 at 3:37 pm#28 As I’ve repeated, ad nauseum, this guy will continue to pursue his evil and deceitful agenda on this country unless/until he’s impeached…..he must be impeached in order to save this country, that’s becoming more certain with each passing day.
In two years time, with Team Bush destroying this country entirely, we won’t even recognize it.
June 14th, 2007 at 3:38 pmRUCerious, I like your Freudian slip in 19, if it was.
And I totally agree with your sentiments.
June 14th, 2007 at 3:39 pmNo slip, nan, just the way I feel about it.
June 14th, 2007 at 3:46 pmCaption:
“Maybe I should start packing…
June 14th, 2007 at 4:01 pm…now, where can I hide Georges arrest records?”
Caption:
“Guano!”
June 14th, 2007 at 4:09 pmHave fun! Make sure you get all your parts dry!
Comment by Zooey
Watch it Zooey, you don’t want to be accused of sexual harrassment of robotrolls.
June 14th, 2007 at 4:32 pmI smell another BushCorp criminal conviction.
June 14th, 2007 at 4:38 pmp.s. Alberto wants us to know that he only obstructed justice “to protect America’s children.”
June 14th, 2007 at 4:40 pmIt’s all in the name of God, and protecting us kids from terra.
/sarcasm
June 14th, 2007 at 5:01 pmIt’s all in the name of God, and protecting us kids from terra. And if some companies happen to make a lot of money, they deserve it because they took on that great responsibility.
/sarcasm
June 14th, 2007 at 5:03 pmOh boy, another investigation ending in something similar to . . . ‘we may ask you if you feel like you should resign’ . . . ‘but if you don’t feel like it . . what the hey . . . let’s go have a beer.’
And the zero accountability continues.
With the precedent this administration has been allowed to set, the next administration will go ahead and complete the destruction of the United States.
June 14th, 2007 at 5:13 pmFoxes are investigating other foxes as the chickens are eaten by all foxes.
June 14th, 2007 at 5:16 pmGonzalez is the true meaning of the word illegal Mexican…he breaks the law which is illegal and he is a Mexican American.
June 14th, 2007 at 5:34 pmA Mexican thug that works for the crime family. Worthless crook.
June 14th, 2007 at 9:50 pmReid and Pelosi should cut the funding to the DOJ…
…AND…
…Bush, Cheney, Rove, and Gonzales’…
…Secret Service details…
June 14th, 2007 at 11:44 pmOff-topic, but geez, look at Gonzo’s photo. I always thought Lil’ Bush resembled a chimp (literally), but check out Gonzo: it’s like one of those “Separated at Birth” photo montages, with The Real Estate Lawyer compared to Cheetah (wasn’t that Tarzan’s chimp?).
June 15th, 2007 at 12:42 am