Senators demand details from Gonzales-Say testimony must wait until information given

[babylonsister]

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/04/06/senators_demand_details_from_gonzales/

Senators demand details from Gonzales
Say testimony must wait until information given


By Lara Jakes Jordan, Associated Press | April 6, 2007

WASHINGTON -- Senators investigating the firings of federal prosecutors said yesterday that they must have details of Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales's role before he can testify.


The request by the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, was made as a separate Senate panel shelved its own meeting next week with Gonzales because the firings have overshadowed all other issues connected to him.

"It would be very difficult in this environment to give the department's budget request the attention it deserves until the Senate has examined the department's leadership failures," said Senator Barbara Mikulski, Democrat of Maryland. She heads the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees Justice Department spending and had planned to hear from Gonzales on April 12.

The delay further frustrates the White House's push for Gonzales to give lawmakers his side of the story as Democrats and Republicans alike call for his resignation over the US attorney firings.

Gonzales has been forced to clarify his role in the firings after first saying, on March 13, he "was not involved in seeing any memos, was not involved in any discussions about what was going on." That statement was later contradicted by documents and testimony by Kyle Sampson, formerly the attorney general's top aide.

Sampson told Leahy's committee that Gonzales was briefed regularly about the firings and "this process of asking certain US attorneys to resign."

Gonzales says he was not involved in selecting which prosecutors to dismiss and largely relied on Sampson to handle the firings.

White House spokesman Tony Fratto said the delay was "disappointing."

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[bdamomma]

1. Gonzo is gone zo!!!

gonzo serving at the presidents pleasure, how much more can you swallow Gonzo!!!