Senator Whitehouse Busts Gonzales for Burying the DOJ Internal Investigation

[understandinglife]

by emptywheel

Fri Apr 20, 2007 at 10:38:24 AM PDT

There was an important part of the Gonzales hearing yesterday that was kind of confusing, so I wanted to unpack it here. It appears that Senator Whitehouse believes Gonzales tried to bury DOJ's internal investigation into the USA Purge.

Towards the end of the hearing, Whitehouse started schooling Gonzales on the appropriate office to conduct an internal investigation, Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) or Office of the Inspector General (OIG). What appears to have happened is that, as part of his attempt to claim to be trying to get to the bottom of the USA scandal, Gonzales ordered the OPR to conduct an investigation. Then, the OIG started an investigation on its own accord. Only after an acting Chief of Staff (and note--this is Chuck Rosenberg and not Kevin O'Connor, whom Gonzales has since picked to be his real COS) suggested OIG investigate the firings did Gonzales think of encouraging the OIG to do an investigation. But at that point, OIG was already investigating on their own accord. So the question Whitehouse wants to ask is why Gonzales chose OPR and not OIG to conduct the internal investigation.

<clip>

Whitehouse makes it clear that Gonzales himself made the decision to ask OPR--and not OIG--to conduct the investigation.

<clip>

Gonzales makes one more dodge. When Whitehouse asks for assurances that the joint OPR/OIG report be made public, Gonzales retreats to the old recusal stance. He can't make such assurances, he says.

WHITEHOUSE: ... Can we be assured that the results of the OPR/OIG investigation will in fact be made public?

GONZALES: Senator, I think -- as I indicated in response to your earlier question, that I am recused from the oversight of these two investigations. And so, as a technical matter, I'm not sure that's going to be a decision for me to make, quite frankly.

And Mr. McNulty, the deputy attorney general -- I advised to recuse himself. And so Paul...

WHITEHOUSE: Who do you talk to?

GONZALES: Paul Clement, the solicitor general.

That, it seems, is a really good issue we ought to push for--public release of both the OPR and OIG investigation report.

Excellent analysis; important.


IT IS TRIBUNAL TIME IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

[understandinglife]

1. Link to comments at "The Next Hurrah"

http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the_next_hurrah/2007/04/whitehouse_bust.html#more

[understandinglife]

2. Additional comment from Marcy ...

There were several related points

First, that the WH (while gonzales was still Counsel) has made it much easier for WH and DOJ to talk about ongoing criminal investigations.

Second, he asked for an OIG investigation into whether any of the firings was political. Gonzales tried the same tactic--"I think that's an OPR investigation." BUt he also said, havign recused himself, he also couldn't order taht investigation.

I just wanted to lay all this out. At one point, Whitehouse comes out and makes the accusation more directly,

WHITEHOUSE: Now, a suspicious mind would say, "Well, wait a minute. OPR never makes a report." And, more than that, OPR is limited to evaluating the conduct of attorneys within the Department of Justice when they're acting as attorneys.

But I thought it worthwhile to unpack precisely teh accusation Whitehouse is making. It sounds just like Gonzales (and this WH) to try to do a fake investigation like this.



Another gotcha, gone-zo ...


Peace.

[seemslikeadream]

3. kick

:hi:

[understandinglife]

4. Thank you!

:hi:


Peace.

[nicknameless]

5. .

:thumbsup:

K&R

[DemReadingDU]

6. morning kick

[Gregorian]

7. He had Gonzales cornered.

The moment Whitehouse mentioned the Office of Professional Responsibility I noticed that immediately Gonzales started nodding his head vigorously. It was the kind of "gotcha" moment. He knew he'd been found out. Ratted out by a very wise man. Someone in the know. And the remainder of the encounter was victorious, with Whitehouse exposing the AG.