Shouldn’t Gonzales Be Judged By These Same DOJ Standards?

The Gonzales testimony continues.

At approximately 2:54, The glaring question is asked. Sen. Coburn asks Mr. Gonzales how he can justify the firing of these attorneys for supposed mismanagement, and then not feel his actions should be judged by the same standard. Mr. Gonzales attempts to justify his position by stating that he had made mistakes and steps are being taken to correct them. Sen. Cobun counters with "It is my opinion that the exact same standards should be applied to you...and it is my belief that you should suffer the same consequences."

Some of the other testimony continuing after the lunch break:

2:36 - Sen. Grassley

"I feel on many occasions this administration has gone out of its way to try to thwart my oversight." "We shouldn't be getting conflicting statements from the Attorney General. "We expect nothing less from our top law enforcement official." "Why are there so many inconsistencies?"

(A) "First of all, I regret the inconsistencies. I made statements that were over-broad. The main reason for that was because I had not gone back and looked at the documents. I felt a tremendous need to come out quickly with statements."
(Q) "Who came up with the plan for this review?"
(A) "Sir, I did"

3:04 - Sen. Whitehouse

Sen. Whitehouse articulately discusses the importance of structure, tradition, process and policy. And notes that he cannot find "anywhere in this tragic record" any evidence of consideration and careful thought to process.

(A) "I think it's important as well, Senator"

3:13 - Sen. Kyl

Sen. Kyl's approach to this critical testimony is to ignore the reason for the hearing and to discuss how he might work with Mr. Gonzales on Internet gambling. A rather surprising divergence from the purpose of the hearing.

3:22 Sen. Leahy

Mr. Gonzales literally stammered through responses to these questions fired from Sen. Leahy:

(Q) "What do we have to do to obtain Rove's email regarding the plan to replace US Attorneys...?”
(Q) "What is the policy regarding the use of RNC servers for government communication?"
(Q) "Did the President ever tell you to fire a specific US Attorney?"
(A) "Not that I recall"
(Q) "Which is accurate testimony? He goes thru all the dates and statements Mr. Gonzales has made, "Which is the accurate statement?"
(A) "Those were misstatements and I take responsibility for them."

3:40 Sen. Feinstein

"I do not understand how this list was compiled." Feinstein goes over testimony and interviews with key personnel where they state they had no involvement in putting recommendations on the list. Some said they didn't even know there was a list.

The Senator reads from a memo that goes over what the talking points for the potential political firestorm will be. In that memo, it says "We will say it was the administration's decision and no specific person at the white House or specific person at DOJ. She directs to Gonzales "And to this day, we still do not know the person who actually put these names on the list". "Who?"

Gonzales responds only with, "I would like to know, I would like to ask that question". "I received the recommendations."


Technorati Tags:
Alberto Gonzales, testimony, Congress, hearings, US Attorney, firings, Bush, White House, DOJ, loyal bushies, attorney general, Karl Rove, Iglesias, Lam


.