Attorney General

Observers Differ Over Gonzales’ Future

As 15 Democratic members of Congress piled onto the controversy over Albert Gonzales by calling yesterday for a investigation of whether “sufficient grounds” to impeach him exist, observers are split about the U.S. attorney general’s future. “Just when you think it couldn’t get any worse, it gets worse,” Douglas Kmiec,…

Aug 1, 2007 8:25 PM CDT

Prosecutor on Firing List After Clash

A federal prosecutor testified yesterday that a senior Justice Department official called him at home and told him to slow down nearly completed efforts to obtain a guilty plea from the maker of the painkiller OxyContin. U.S. Attorney John Brownlee told the Senate Judiciary Committee he received the call from…

Aug 1, 2007 3:34 PM CDT

Broad Secret Spy Program Confirmed

The director of national intelligence revealed yesterday that President Bush issued an executive order after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks authorizing a wide range of secret surveillance activities. The letter makes clear that a warrantless terrorism surveillance program was just one aspect of the government’s surveillance activities, the Washington Post…

Aug 1, 2007 2:52 PM CDT

OxyContin Plea Deal Probed

The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing today on plea agreements reached in a case against the company that makes the painkiller OxyContin. Purdue Pharma and three of its executives agreed to pay $634.5 million earlier this month to settle charges they misled physicians about the addictive nature of…

Jul 31, 2007 2:10 PM CDT

DOJ Investigates GOP

The Justice Department is investigating more than a dozen current and former members of Congress for corruption, and most of the targets appear to be Republicans. Lawyer Jan Baran, who focuses on ethics law, told the New York Times it’s not a surprising state of affairs, given the GOP lock…

Jul 27, 2007 3:09 PM CDT

Senator Threatens AG Perjury Probe

The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee says he will ask for a perjury inquiry into congressional testimony by Alberto Gonzales—unless the attorney general revises his statements. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said he will ask the Justice Department’s inspector general to lead the probe into Gonzales’ statements about a congressional…

Jul 26, 2007 5:03 PM CDT

House Committee OKs Contempt Citations

Updated: The House Judiciary Committee has voted to forward to the full House a recommendation to issue contempt citations against former White House counsel Harriet Miers and White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten. The vote was 22 in favor and 17 against. House Judiciary Committee chairman John Conyers Jr.,…

Jul 25, 2007 8:15 PM CDT

Sen. Suggests Special Prosecutor

Updated: The senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee is suggesting that it may be time for the attorney general to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the firings of at least eight U.S. attorneys. Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania told Attorney General Alberto Gonzales that the administration’s claims of…

Jul 24, 2007 7:30 PM CDT

House Schedules Contempt Vote

The House Judiciary Committee has scheduled a Wednesday vote on whether to hold the president’s chief of staff and his former White House counsel in contempt of Congress. The vote could set up a constitutional conflict with the administration, which maintains the Justice Department does not have the power to…

Jul 23, 2007 7:41 PM CDT

Sweeping Privilege Power Claimed

In a “bold new assertion of executive authority” the Bush administration contends the Justice Department has no power to pursue contempt charges on behalf of Congress in response to the president’s claim of executive privilege, the Washington Post reports. A senior administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity made…

Jul 20, 2007 3:56 PM CDT

President: Morford is New Deputy AG

A career federal prosecutor will serve at least temporarily as the new deputy attorney general in the troubled Justice Department, replacing one of a half-dozen senior officials who have announced their departures in the midst of ongoing controversy over alleged politicization of the prosecutorial process. The White House announced today…

Jul 18, 2007 10:49 PM CDT

Miers Continues to Resist Subpoena

A lawyer for former White House counsel Harriet Miers sent a letter to the House Judiciary Committee yesterday confirming she will not testify or provide documents. The committee had subpoenaed Miers for information relating to the firings of at least eight U.S. attorneys. When she refused, the committee gave Miers…

Jul 18, 2007 5:28 PM CDT

WH Gets Extension on Wiretap Response

The Senate Judiciary Committee has given the Bush Administration more time to respond to subpoenas seeking information about a program that permitted terrorism wiretaps without warrants. Today was the original deadline to respond to the subpoenas, the New York Times reports. The committee seeks documents to learn more about the…

Jul 18, 2007 2:55 PM CDT

Ex-AGs Seek Probe of DOJ Case

Former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman has long maintained that his prosecution was politically motivated. Now he’s getting support from 44 former state attorneys general who are asking Congress to investigate. The group sent a letter to the House and Senate judiciary committees on Friday urging a probe of the Justice…

Jul 17, 2007 5:39 PM CDT

Politics Ensnares Ex-Political Aide

Former White House political director Sara Taylor has learned some lessons since she received a Senate subpoena on her return home from a European vacation. Even though she resigned, normalcy is still out of reach. E-mail is never really private. The professional liability insurance she purchased doesn’t cover her legal…

Jul 12, 2007 3:22 PM CDT