[NYTr] "Justice" Dept "Examining Gonzales' Honesty"

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

AP via SF Chronicle - Aug 30, 2007
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2007/08/30/national/w100751D10.DTL

Justice Examining Gonzales' Honesty

By LARA JAKES JORDAN
Associated Press Writer

(08-30) 13:14 PDT--WASHINGTON, (AP) -- The Justice Department said
Thursday it is investigating whether Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
lied or otherwise misled Congress last month in sworn testimony about
the Bush administration's domestic terrorist spying program.

Details of the inquiry by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A.
Fine were released three days after Gonzales abruptly announced he was
stepping down despite months of vowing to remain on the job.

In a letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, who two weeks
ago asked for the inquiry, Fine said his investigators believe they
"will be able to assess most of the issues that you raise in your
letter."

Leahy had asked Fine to look into whether Gonzales gave inaccurate
testimony about the firings of several U.S. attorneys last year.

"You identified five issues and asked that we investigate whether the
statements made by the attorney general were intentionally false,
misleading, or inappropriate," Fine wrote in his four-paragraph
response to Leahy in the letter dated Thursday.

"The OIG has ongoing investigations that relate to most of the subjects
addressed by the attorney general's testimony that you identified,"
Fine told Leahy.

Spokesmen for Gonzales had no immediate comment.

Senate and House lawmakers have said they will continue congressional
investigations of Gonzales' leadership and management at the Justice
Department, despite the attorney general's announcement Monday that he
has resigned, effective Sept. 17.

Gonzales' resignation left the White House scrambling to find a
replacement. So far, no single candidate has emerged from a list of
more than two dozen lawyers, judges, GOP politicians and current and
former Justice Department officials being discussed.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Thursday it was unlikely that
Gonzales' successor will be named until President Bush returns Sept. 9
from the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Australia.

"We would expect to do it shortly after returning from APEC," Perino
said. "This is something we want to do in an expeditious manner."

She would not discuss any potential candidates.

Gonzales announced his departure a month after his truthfulness was
challenged during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. At the bitter
hearing, Gonzales denied that he tried in 2004, as White House counsel,
to push the Justice Department into approving the administration's
Terrorist Surveillance Program — despite concerns that it was illegal.

Gonzales said the March 2004 dispute — which played out in part at the
hospital bedside of a groggy Attorney General John Ashcroft — focused
on "other intelligence activities." Ashcroft was recovering from
surgery at the time. Gonzales succeeded him in 2005.

Gonzales' testimony to Congress was contradicted two days later by FBI
Director Robert S. Mueller, who said the dispute was about the program
that then allowed the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on domestic
terror suspects without court review.

Leahy, in a statement, said the internal probe "can help restore
independence and accountability, which have been sorely lacking at the
Justice Department."

"These actions have eroded the public's trust and undermined morale
within our justice system, from the top ranks to the cop on the beat,"
Leahy said. "The current attorney general is leaving, but these
questions remain."

Fine and H. Marshall Jarrett, counsel to the department's Office of
Professional Responsibility, launched a joint internal Justice review
last March into whether the prosecutor firings were politically
motivated. The inquiry was later expanded to include whether Gonzales
inappropriately discussed the ousters in a meeting that former aide
Monica Goodling later said made her feel "uncomfortable."

Investigators also are looking into allegations that Goodling, and
possibly other aides, let politics play a part in hiring career
prosecutors — a violation of federal law.

The investigation is not expected to be finished for several more
months, and possibly not until early 2008.

Fine's office already is investigating the Justice Department's role
and use of information gathered as part of the domestic spying program.
A follow-up audit, expected by late December, is being conducted into
on whether the FBI has taken steps to end its mishandling of
administrative subpoenas — known as national security letters — that
allowed agents to improperly obtain personal information about people
in the United States.

Leahy also asked Fine, in his Aug. 16 request, to look into whether
Gonzales was not telling the truth when he testified in 2005 that there
"has not been one verified case of civil liberties abuse" involving the
NSLs.

"It is appropriate that the Inspector General will examine whether the
Attorney General was honest with this and other congressional
committees about these crucial issues," Leahy wrote.