Justice Department Scandals Draw Subpoenas (by John Nichols for The Nation)

BLOG | Posted 06/13/2007 @ 12:29pm
Justice Department Scandals Draw Subpoenas


The most amusing spin following the vote by a majority of US senators to prepare a "no-confidence" vote against Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was the suggestion that the scandal-plagued Cabinet member had earned something of a reprieve.

Because the Senate did not muster the super-majority of 60 votes needed to schedule the "no-confidence" vote on Monday, the White House and its media acolytes suggested, the tide had turned in favor of Gonzales.

In fact, the decision of seven Republican senators to join their Democratic colleagues in taking steps to signal that the Attorney General did nothing to dampen enthusiasm for holding Gonzales to account.

In fact, it certainly looks as if congressional investigators are feeling emboldened.

How much?

On Wednesday, long-delayed subpoenas were issued to former White House aides who were intimately involved in efforts to remove US attorneys who were deemed to be insufficiently partisan in their investigations and prosecutions.

Senate Judiciary Committee chair Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, issued a subpoena to former White House political director Sara Taylor. Leahy left no doubt about what the line of questioning would be, saying that, "White House officials like former Political Director Sara Taylor were deeply involved in the mass firings of well-performing prosecutors..."

Another of those White House officials, former counsel Harriet Miers, is set to receive a subpoena from House Judiciary Committee chair John Conyers, D-Michigan. .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat?bid=1&pid=204878