Comment Of Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.,
Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee,
On U.S. Attorney Firings
March 13, 2007

“The White House and the Attorney General have dodged Congress’s questions and ducked accountability as if they still were dealing with a rubberstamp Congress.  They are discovering that those days are gone. 

“I am outraged that the Attorney General was less than forthcoming with the Senate while under oath before the Judiciary Committee.  It is deeply disturbing that this plan appears to have originated from high-ranking officials at the White House and executed in secret with a complicit Department of Justice. 

“This is not how justice is served, nor is it how our system of checks and balances is designed to work.  It is an abuse of power committed in secret to steer certain outcomes in our justice system, and then to dust over the tracks.  The President of the United States and the Attorney General are responsible for setting the moral standard for this Administration.  Apparently this matter does not bother them but it does bother me, and we will summon whoever we need in our hearings to get to the bottom of this.”

# # # # #