US Attorneys

MONTPELIER, Vt. (August 14, 2007) – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Tuesday sent a letter to President Bush urging him to work with Committee members to reach a final agreement for the testimony of key officials in the ongoing investigation into the mass firings of federal prosecutors and the politicization of hiring and firing within the Department of Justice.    » read more »

August 14, 2007 -- Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has received a letter from the Department of Justice in response to her questioning of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales during a July 24, 2007, Judiciary Committee oversight hearing.

At that hearing, Senator Feinstein asked Attorney General Gonzales about the total number of U.S. attorneys that he approved to be fired:

FEINSTEIN: We’re now up to nine that we know about. How many --
this is important -- how many U.S. attorneys did you approve to be
summarily fired?    » read more »

August 2, 2007 -- Today, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales asking him to clarify his testimony suggesting that enemy forces could legally subject Americans to abusive interrogation techniques, including waterboarding and mock execution.

Durbin says that Gonzales’s recent testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee raises serious new questions about the Administration’s commitment to America’s legal and moral obligation not to subject detainees to cruel and inhumane treatment.    » read more »

July 13, 2007 -- (Washington, DC) - Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), issued a subpoena for documents from the Republican National Committee (RNC) as part of ongoing congressional investigations into the targeted purge of US Attorneys and related matters. The Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law authorized Conyers to issue the subpoena yesterday.    » read more »

Is The Department Of Justice Politicizing The Hiring And Firing Of U.S. Attorneys?

July 11, 2007 -- "Today, the Committee welcomes Sara Taylor, until recently the White House Political Director. She is accompanied by her attorney Neil Eggleston, whom we have permitted to be seated next to her at the witness table during the hearing to provide her with his advice and counsel.    » read more »

Announce Vote to Authorize RNC Subpoena

July 10, 2007 -- (Washington, DC) - Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. and Commercial and Administrative Law Subcommittee Chairwoman Linda Sánchez confirmed that former White House counsel Harriet Miers will attend Thursday's hearing concerning the U.S. Attorney firings.    » read more »

July 11, 2007 -- Just when you didn’t think the incompetence could get any worse, it appears that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales misled Congress when he “assured lawmakers that the FBI had not abused its potent new terrorism-fighting powers.” According to today’s Washington Post, “six days earlier, the FBI sent Gonzales a copy of a report that said its agents had obtained personal information that they were not entitled to have.” Whether it is illegally firing US Attorneys, limiting voting rights, or selecting partisan judges, the Justice Department under Alberto Gonzales contin    » read more »

July 9, 2007 -- "Today, House Judiciary Chairman Conyers and I received another letter from the White House Counsel Fred Fielding responding to duly authorized subpoenas with a blanket assertion of executive privilege. I had hoped the Judiciary Committees’ subpoenas would be met with compliance. Instead, they have been met -- yet again -- with Nixonian stonewalling that reveals this White House’s disdain for our system of checks and balances.    » read more »

07/09/2007 -- WASHINGTON, DC - Sen. John Kerry issued the following statement today, in response to the White House announcement that the President's lawyers will block Congress from hearing testimony from two aides suspected of playing a role in the US Attorney's purge.

"I hope President Bush will rethink his refusal to cooperate with Congress and have his aides come clean on the firings of U.S. Attorneys," Kerry said.    » read more »