White House Complaining About Gonzales Hearing Despite Being Offered Earlier Date

The White House is now complaining that the Senate Judiciary Committee won’t move up the date for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ hearing. Presidential counselor Dan Bartlett said yesterday on CBS that the date should be changed from April 17 to next week, and suggested that senators were playing politics by preventing him from testifying earlier:

BARTLETT: If they wanted to get to the bottom of it, they would accept the proposal the president’s put forward. They would have the attorney general up there next week, having the testimony in open hearing, on the record, for everybody to see. Because the attorney general has made clear that while the explanation of what they did has not been good, that his role in this has been to sign off on the final list, participate in meetings with regards to the implementation of it.

This is a ruse. The Senate is on recess this week, virtually assuring that it couldn’t respond to the White House request. Moreover, according to a Senate aide, Gonzales was offered an earlier date and rejected it:

Last week, the Justice Department did not indicate whether the attorney general would be willing to appear earlier than April 17. He is scheduled to appear that day for a regular oversight hearing that is likely to cover other matters, including allegations by an inspector general that the FBI has been insufficiently judicious in its use of national security letters, which allow investigators to obtain individuals’ telephone, e-mail and financial records.

A Senate Democratic aide said the administration’s eagerness for Gonzales to appear is new. Senators are out of town this week on recess for religious holidays. The administration “knew this and it’s why they are apparently insistent all of a sudden,” the aide said. The aide also said that Judiciary Committee staff members had proposed an appearance the week of April 10, but the Justice Department “said no.”

In any case, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) argues that there is now a good reason to keep the current date. The committee plans to use the interim to interview other Justice Department officials and develop a “factual groundwork” before Gonzales testifies. “So, I think to rush this and then have the attorney general say, ‘Well, I don’t know,’ when if you prepared it properly you could say, ‘Well, Mr. So-and-so says you were at this meeting,’” he said. “That’s why we have to wait.”