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The
Washington
Post
Democrats Urge
Perjury Probe of Gonzales
By LAURIE KELLMAN, AP
from washingtonpost.com on the Web, July 26, 2007
WASHINGTON -- Senate Democrats
called for a perjury investigation against Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on
Thursday and subpoenaed top presidential aide Karl Rove in a deepening political
and legal clash with the Bush administration.
"It has become apparent that the attorney general has provided at a minimum
half-truths and misleading statements," four Democrats on the Senate Judiciary
Committee wrote in a letter to Solicitor General Paul Clement.
They dispatched the letter shortly before Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., announced
the subpoena of Rove, the president's top political strategist, in remarks on
the Senate floor.
"We have now reached a point where the accumulated evidence shows that political
considerations factored into the unprecedented firing of at least nine United
States Attorneys last year," said Leahy, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary
Committee.
In response, White House spokesman Tony Fratto said, "Every day congressional
Democrats prove that they're more interested in headlines than doing the
business Americans want them to do. And Americans are now taking notice
that this Congress, under Democratic leadership, is failing to tackle important
issues," he said.
Gonzales is at the center of the U.S. attorney controversy, but the call for a
perjury probe involved alleged conflicts between testimony he gave the Judiciary
Committee in two appearances, one last year and the other this week. The
issue revolves around whether there was internal administration dissent over the
president's warrantless wiretapping program.
As for the firing of the prosecutors, e-mails released by the Justice Department
show Gonzales' aides conferred with Rove on the matter.
Leahy also said he was issuing a subpoena for J. Scott Jennings, a White House
political aide.
"For over four months, I have exhausted every avenue seeking the voluntary
cooperation of Karl Rove and J. Scott Jennings, but to no avail," the Vermont
lawmaker said. "They and the White House have stonewalled every request.
Indeed, the White House is choosing to withhold documents and is instructing
witnesses who are former officials to refuse to answer questions and provide
relevant information and documents."
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