Senate Judiciary Committee
Authorizes Chairman Leahy
To Issue Subpoenas As Part Of Panel’s Ongoing Investigation
Into Mass Firings Of Prosecutors
Panel Approves Authorization to
Compel Dept. of Justice Officials, Fired Prosecutors; Will Consider
White House Subpoenas Next Week
WASHINGTON (Thursday, March 15) -- The
Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday authorized Chairman Patrick
Leahy (D-Vt.),
in consultation with the Ranking Member Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), to
issue subpoenas to 11 current and former Department of Justice
officials as part of the panel’s ongoing investigation into the
unprecedented firings
of eight prosecutors last year.
“Just a few weeks ago this
Administration's Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General failed
to tell Congress the whole truth about this matter while under
oath. Their explanations have not held up and now we have the
resignation -- or firing -- of the Attorney General’s Chief of
Staff,” said Leahy.
“I hope they cooperate, but this is too important to
trust to hope. This is an Administration with a serious credibility
problem. By authorizing subpoenas, the Committee maintains the
flexibility it needs to move ahead with its investigation and pursue
the truth.”
“We have asked for Administration
officials and now former officials to cooperate with the Committee,
and I hope that they will. If they cooperate, we will not need to
issue subpoenas. But we did not start to get the truth from the
Department or the Administration until we put subpoena
authorizations on the Committee’s agenda,”
Leahy added. “Through the Committee’s oversight work
so far, we now know some of the answers to many questions we have
been asking, and the answers are not good. ”
The authorization approved Thursday
covers five Department of Justice officials and six fired U.S.
Attorneys. The Department of Justice officials are: Kyle Sampson,
former Chief of Staff of the Department of Justice; Michael Elston,
Chief of Staff to Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty; William
Mercer, Acting Associate Attorney General; Monica Goodling, Counsel
to the Attorney General and White House Liaison; Michael Battle,
former Director of Executive Office for United States Attorneys.
The former U.S. Attorneys are: H.E. “Bud” Cummins, III, Former U.S.
Attorney, Eastern District of Arkansas; David C. Iglesias, Former
U.S. Attorney, District of New Mexico; Carol Lam, Former U.S.
Attorney, Southern District of California; John McKay Former U.S.
Attorney,
Western District of Washington; Paul K. Charlton, Former U.S.
Attorney, District of Arizona;
Daniel G. Bogden, Former U.S. Attorney, District of
Nevada.
The Committee is expected to vote on
similar authorizations for White House officials at its business
meeting next week. Those White House officials are: Karl Rove,
Deputy Chief of Staff to the President; Harriet E. Miers, former
White House Counsel; and William Kelley, Deputy Counsel to the
President.
Below is Chairman
Leahy’s statement from the Committee’s Executive Business Meeting
earlier today.
Statement Of
Senator Patrick Leahy,
Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee,
On Authorization For Subpoenas For The U.S. Attorney Investigation
March 15, 2007
Over the last several months, the
Judiciary Committee has used the tools at its disposal -- hearings,
investigation and oversight -- to uncover an abuse of power that
threatens the independence of U.S. Attorneys offices around the
country and the trust of all Americans. We have probed the mass
firings of eight U.S. Attorneys and are trying to get to the truth
in order to prevent these kinds of abuses from happening again.
In the next few days, I hope the
Senate will finally debate and adopt the Feinstein-Specter-Leahy
substitute favorably reported by this Committee to the Senate last
month. Senator Feinstein entitled the bill “Preserving United States
Attorney Independence Act of 2007.” She was right. We need to
close the loophole exploited by the Department of Justice and the
White House that enabled this abuse to occur. For more than a
month, some have blocked consideration of this bill on the floor. We
sought consent to proceed on February 15th and there was
objection. Senator Feinstein even sought to offer it as an
amendment to S.4 but, again, there was objection.
What we have learned this week in the
few documents we have seen from the Department of Justice shows that
officials at the Department and the White House chose to exploit
this authority to make an end run around the Senate. It is time to
roll back the change in law that has contributed to this abuse.
But that is not the end of our job.
Every time we learn more details about the ouster of these U.S.
Attorneys the story grows more troubling. Had we stopped asking
questions after the testimony of the Attorney General and other
Department officials, we would not know the truth.
The White House and the Attorney
General have dodged Congress’s questions and ducked real
accountability. In the past they have counted on a rubberstamping
Congress to avoid accountability. I trust that we will work
together in bipartisanship to get to the bottom of this.
The Attorney General has admitted
“mistakes were made,” but he and the White House continue to stand
by their actions, which have done so much to undercut the
independence of federal law enforcement and to besmirch the
reputations of former Bush appointees. The President of the United
States and the Attorney General are not living up to their
responsibility for setting the moral standard for this
Administration.
I made no secret during our
confirmation proceedings of my concern whether Mr. Gonzales could
serve as an independent Attorney General of the United States on
behalf of the American people and leave behind his role as counselor
to President Bush. The Department of Justice should serve the
American people by making sure the law is enforced without fear or
favor. It should not be a political wing of the White House.
Where is the accountability? For six
years accountability has been lacking in this Administration.
Loyalty to the President is rewarded over all else. That lack of
accountability, and lack of the checks and balances that foster it,
must end. We do not need another commendation for the “heckuva job”
done by those who have failed in their essential duties to the
American people. True accountability means being forthcoming and
there being consequences for bad actions.
The Department finally has provided
some limited factual information to us and our House Judiciary
counterparts. The factual record remains incomplete, however,
despite our best efforts. We do not have an agreement on witnesses
and the incomplete set of documents we have received so far are
redacted, leaving us without highly relevant information about the
firings. We have received no documents or assurances that witnesses
would be produced by the White House. The Justice Department and
the White House have worn out the benefit of the doubt after so many
shifting explanations and excuses and a lack of accountability or
acknowledgement of the seriousness of this matter. It erodes
credibility and undermines accountability when an Administration so
cavalierly handles its responsibility to provide honest oversight
answers to the Legislative Branch and to this Committee.
On Tuesday, we witnessed the Attorney
General himself claiming lack of personal knowledge and the need for
an investigation to get to the bottom of this affair. Of course his
pronouncement came almost two months after he had testified under
oath before this Committee rather definitively that there was no
cause for concern. The Senate Judiciary Committee opened the door
to the truth by beginning this investigation and performing real
oversight. I thank Senator Schumer for chairing our hearings. As I
have said over the last few days, the Committee will summon whoever
is needed to get to the bottom of this.
We have asked for Administration
officials and now former officials to cooperate with the Committee
and I hope that they will. If they cooperate, we will not need to
issue subpoenas. But we did not start to get the truth from the
Department or the Administration until we put subpoena
authorizations on our agenda last week.
Just a few weeks ago this
Administration's Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General failed
to tell Congress the whole truth about this matter while under
oath. Their explanations have not held up and now we have the
resignation -- or firing -- of the Attorney General’s Chief of
Staff. I hope they cooperate, but this is too important to trust to
hope. This is an Administration with a serious credibility problem.
By authorizing subpoenas, the Committee maintains the flexibility
it needs to move ahead with its investigation and pursue the truth.
Through the Committee’s oversight work
so far, we now know some of the answers to many questions we have
been asking, and the answers are not good.
We have asked why the Administration
has removed U.S. Attorneys and not had nominees lined up to replace
them. We have asked why home-state Senators were not consulted in
advance. We have asked why there are now 22 districts with acting
or interim U.S. Attorneys instead of Presidentially-appointed,
Senate-confirmed U.S. Attorneys. This includes the districts of all
eight of the U.S. Attorneys fired recently without cause. Yet the
White House has nominated only three people for these 22 spots.
We have learned that most of the U.S.
Attorneys that were asked to resign were doing their jobs well and
were fired for not bending to the political will of some in
Washington. Apparently, their reward for their efforts at rooting
out serious public corruption is an unprecedented pink slip.
So many critical questions remain. Why were these women and men
replaced when several had significant achievements in office and
glowing performance reviews? And why have their reputations been
stained by those seeking to justify these firings as “performance
related”? Were they simply too independent for this Administration?
What were the real motivations for their firings? Who within the
Administration were the moving forces behind the mass firings and
who was involved? What involvement did the White House have in the
legislative process that allowed this abuse of power to occur?
I hope all Senators share the desire
to get answers to these questions and many others as soon as
possible. The progress we have made has only come since we put
subpoenas on the agenda last week. We should authorize the subpoena
authority we need to follow through and get to the bottom of the
matter. Given the revelations in the press over the past few days
we have added the Attorney General’s successor as White House
Counsel, her associate White House Counsel and Karl Rove, the
President’s deputy chief of staff, to the authorizations. I hope to
obtain their cooperation and all relevant information without having
to utilize subpoenas. Having the authority from the Committee to
proceed, as needed, will be helpful in that regard.
# # # # #
