The nation’s chief law enforcement officer shouldn’t break the law so often.
Documents show that eight congressional leaders were briefed about the Bush administration’s terrorist surveillance program on the eve of its expiration in 2004, contradicting sworn Senate testimony this week by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
The documents, obtained by The Associated Press, come as senators consider whether a perjury investigation should be opened into conflicting accounts about the program and a dramatic March 2004 confrontation leading up to its potentially illegal reauthorization.
Impeaching him would go a long way to fixing the major problems with this administration. It would also mean a lot of people in this administration would go to jail.
Sorry vera, we’re talking about the AG. You need to check the Senate thread.
Question: If the Attorney General is accused of Contempt of Congress, who does Congress get to prosecute him?
Well, okay, now I have my answer.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/07/26/senate-press-conference-calling-for-gonzales-special-prosecutor/
FBI director contradicts Gonzales
By LAURIE KELLMAN and LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press
WASHINGTON – FBI Director Robert S. Mueller said Thursday the government’s terrorist surveillance program was the topic of a 2004 hospital room dispute between top Bush administration officials, contradicting Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ sworn Senate testimony….
Tsk tsk
“Well, okay, now I have my answer.”
But who is in charge of appointing the special prosecutor? If it is the Republicans, forget about it. It won’t happen.
I’m not sure that Congress can prosecute him. The Constitution doesn’t give them Executive Powers.
The one alternative I do see that might pass legal muster would be if the Senate voted to “revoke” their consent on Gonzales’s nomination.
But who is in charge of appointing the special prosecutor? If it is the Republicans, forget about it. It won’t happen.
Yeah, apparently the Solicitor General is charged with that. He is a Bush appointee.
I’m not sure that Congress can prosecute him.
They can (and should) prosecute him for Contempt of Congress, obstruction and perjury. I don’t think executive power enters into it. The guy is a tool of the highest order.
Dammit, what do ya gotta do to get some justice around here?
It doesn’t happen very often, but Congress can prosecute for contempt. Andrew Sullivan points here:
http://www.acsblog.org/separation-of-powers-crs-explains-congresss-contempt-powers.html
“Under the inherent contempt power the individual is brought before the House or Senate by the Sergeant-at-Arms, tried at the bar of the body, and can be imprisoned in the Capitol jail. The witness can be imprisoned for a specified period of time as punishment, or for an indefinite period . . . until he agrees to comply… A finding of inherent contempt against an executive branch official[] does not appear to be subject to the President’s Pardon power.”
“Yeah, apparently the Solicitor General is charged with that. He is a Bush appointee.”
“It doesn’t happen very often, but Congress can prosecute for contempt.”
If they tried to get the Solicitor General to do his job and he didn’t, could they find both men in contempt of Congress?
It’s time to start clearing house.
In Maryland, if you put a slug into a parking meter – 25 cents – you get disbarred.
Has Alberto Gonzales does 25 cents worth of dishonesty? I think so. Maybe $25 million worth, if you sum all of it (politicization of federal prosecutions, hiring from a Virginia Beach-based madrassa for underachieving fundies rather than from real law schools, firing the good and honest and replacing them with the corrupt and venal – and perjuring himself over all of the above repeatedly and obdurantly.)
Screw impeachment, I want his law licenses s***canned.