Two Republicans are staging an offensive in the Senate Judiciary Committee this morning to portray the Democrats are overreaching in their probe into the U.S. Attorneys firings.
Sen. Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania Republican, dangled the possibility of getting Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales to resign if Democrats would agree to meet with White House officials on President Bush's terms.
Then, Sen. Orrin Hatch, Utah Republican, accused Democrats of "misleading...the American people about the proper relationship between the legislative and executive branches."
Mr. Hatch said that Democrats have chosen "to make demands that they knew the executive branch would resist."
"They chose to ask questions they know witnesses cannot answer and then to yell about a cover-up," Mr. Hatch said during a hearing with J. Scott Jennings, deputy White House political director.
Mr. Jennings is not answering questions about the U.S. Attorneys firings, based on an executive privilege claim by Mr. Bush.
White House spokesman Tony Snow last week accused Democrats of sandbagging Mr. Gonzales in a similar fashion, saying they knew he would not be able to answer certain questions about classified information.
Mr. Specter, however, today said that while Mr. Gonzales did not perjure himself last week, his testimony was "misleading."
"When the attorney general repeatedly said there was no disagreement within the administration on the program that was disclosed by the president [in December 2005], he was telling only a part of the facts, and really playing a cat and mouse game with congressional oversight," Mr. Specter said.
-- Jon Ward, White House correspondent, The Washington Times
Comments (2)
After Mr. Specters arrogant stand on the acceptance of judicial appointee's along with his statement of late, I think his role in the Senate is misleading.
Posted by Larry Stone | August 3, 2007 5:34 AM
I attended one of the same schools as Gonzales did, and at roughly the same time. There are only two possibilities. (1) His mind has failed. There is no way that someone with the absent-minded and incompetent mental state he displays in his testimony could have graduated. (2) He's lying through his teeth. Playing dumb, etc.
I think the second possibility is much more likely, but in either case, he has no business remaining in the responsible position of Attorney-General. He can't solve the problems when HE is the biggest problem.
Posted by Shannon Jacobs | August 4, 2007 1:18 AM