U.S. attorneys probe shifts from Gonzales to Rove

[maddezmom]

Source: CNN

POSTED: 1148 GMT (1948 HKT), May 10, 2007

Story Highlights• Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to appear before House Judicary Committee
• Hearing is Gonzales' first before House panel since Democrats took control
• Justice Department denies that prosecutors' firings were politically motivated
• Congress wants to examine hiring practices at civil rights division in particular

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democrats are shifting their attention on the botched firings of eight federal prosecutors from Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' fitness to head the Justice Department to the White House role in the dismissals.

In the three weeks since Gonzales testified before a Senate committee, the department disclosed that it is investigating whether his former White House liaison, Monica Goodling, weighed the political affiliations of those she considered hiring as entry-level prosecutors. Consideration of such affiliations could be a violation of federal law.

More of the eight fired U.S. attorneys also have told congressional investigators they were warned that if they publicly protested their dismissals, Justice Department officials would publicly criticize their performance.

~snip~

"All of that goes to the larger question," House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Michigan, said Wednesday in a telephone interview. He said the bigger question is who put together and approved the list that caused the eight U.S. attorneys to lose their jobs.

Conyers is holding a subpoena for White House political adviser Karl Rove but has not issued it. Meanwhile, the Senate Judiciary Committee last week subpoenaed Gonzales for all e-mails the Justice Department has gathered regarding Rove and the firings. (Full story)



Read more: http://edition.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/05/10/gonzales.testifies.ap/index.html?section=cnn_latest

[maddezmom]

1. It's Conyers' turn to question Gonzales today

It's Conyers' turn to question Gonzales today
May 10, 2007

By TODD SPANGLER

FREE PRESS WASHINGTON STAFF

WASHINGTON -- House Judiciary chairman and Detroit Congressman John Conyers gets his opportunity to question Attorney General Alberto Gonzales this morning about the forced resignations of eight federal prosecutors.

Gonzales' appearance before the House committee comes three weeks after he spoke to its Senate counterpart and he is expected to repeat that while the forced resignations were badly handled, they were not improper.

~snip~

Margaret Chiara, the U.S. Attorney for Michigan's western district based in Grand Rapids, was among those let go, but her dismissal hasn't been as controversial as other instances where critics allege prosecutors may have been forced to leave because they wouldn't pursue specific cases.

The hearing is scheduled to begin at 9:30 this morning.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070510/NEWS07/70510013/0/ENT03

CSPAN3
http://www.c-span.org/watch/cs_cspan3_rm.asp?Cat=TV&Code=CS3

[maddezmom]

2. The BLT: The Morning Wrap....so now there are 9

May 10, 2007
The Morning Wrap
Justice Department: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told the Senate last month that there were eight U.S. attorneys who were asked to resign last year. Today, the Washington Post reports that there was a ninth. Todd Graves, the former U.S. attorney in Kansas City, says he was also asked to step down and was told his resignation was requested to make way for someone else. As luck would have it, Gonzales is due to testify before the House Judiciary Committee today on the firings.

[formercia]

3. Attorneygate getting MSM traction.

Source: CNN

U.S. attorneys probe shifts from Gonzales to Rove
POSTED: 7:48 a.m. EDT, May 10, 2007

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democrats are shifting their attention on the botched firings of eight federal prosecutors from Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' fitness to head the Justice Department to the White House role in the dismissals.

In the three weeks since Gonzales testified before a Senate committee, the department disclosed that it is investigating whether his former White House liaison, Monica Goodling, weighed the political affiliations of those she considered hiring as entry-level prosecutors. Consideration of such affiliations could be a violation of federal law.

More of the eight fired U.S. attorneys also have told congressional investigators they were warned that if they publicly protested their dismissals, Justice Department officials would publicly criticize their performance.

And there have been new allegations that U.S. attorneys were evaluated on their enthusiasm for pursuing voter fraud cases that might benefit Republican candidates.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/05/10/gonzales.testifies.ap/index.html

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Before the fact.

[Demit]

4. Your thread title should be the title of the article, in LBN.

[ClayZ]

5. K and R