Gorelick's refusal to testify attacked

Capitol Hill Republicans launched a two-pronged attack yesterday in response to September 11 commission member Jamie S. Gorelick's refusal to testify publicly about her role fighting terrorism while she was the No. 2 person in the Clinton Justice Department.

Senate Republicans asked Attorney General John Ashcroft for "records relating to Deputy Attorney General Gorelick's involvement in the development and promulgation" of the "wall" that prevented law-enforcement and intelligence-gathering agencies from working more closely together in the fight against terrorism.

The Republicans need to keep pounding on this until it breaks open. Gorelick's tenure at Justice was one long game of running cover for the Clintons. So was her tenure at the Dept. of Defense.

If the Republicans hit long enough and hard enough they will damage the wretched Clintons; a pretty good goal.

Regards,

The commission refuses to call her, saying that it would not change the witness list and that no other deputy-level officials had been asked to testify.

But even private citizens, especially those involved in security and intelligence, like those named below, were called to testify...

Gorelick's bio for the 911 Commission says, [Gorelick] "currently serves on the Central Intelligence Agency's National Security Advisory Panel as well as the President's Review of Intelligence."

Can't Gorelick be sworn in as a knowledgeable citizen who currently works in the private sector?

First public hearing of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States

The purpose of this public hearing was to engage those whose lives were forever changed by the events of September 11 in a public dialogue about the Commission's goals and priorities. The Commission also sought to learn about work already completed and the state of current knowledge, in order to identify the most important issues and questions requiring further investigation.
11:00 - 12:35 PM Law Enforcement, Domestic Intelligence, and Homeland Security

Michael Wermuth, RAND
Steven Brill, Author of After: How America Confronted the September 12 Era
Zoë Baird, Markle Foundation
Randy Larsen, ANSER Institute for Homeland Security
2:00 PM - 3:30 PM The Attackers, Intelligence, and Counter-Terrorism Policy

Daniel Byman, Georgetown University
Brian Jenkins, RAND
Abraham D. Sofaer, Hoover Institution
Magnus Ranstorp, University of St. Andrews

The commission refuses to call her, saying that it would not change the witness list and that no other deputy-level officials had been asked to testify.

According to Newsweek, Janet Reno "ceded" the day to day operations of DOJ to her Deputy AG, Jamie Gorelick.

Newsweek, July 31, 1995 v126 n5 p28(2) Reno's darkest hours.
Reno has largely given up making policy and instead spends her time making speeches outside Washington. (She’s visited 37 states so far.) Meanwhile, she has ceded day-to-day management of Justice to Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick. Reno is “frustrated by the bureaucracy,” says one acquaintance. The federal law-enforcement bureaucracy is proving vexing right now, from revelations that FBI agents attended a racist gathering in Tennessee to the recent demotion of Deputy FBI Director Larry Potts over the controversial 1992 shoot-out with white supremacist Randy Weaver. Justice and FBI officials have publicly differed on who pushed to dump Potts, and aides say relations between Gorelick and FBI Director Louis Freeh have turned frosty. (“That’s absolutely ridiculous,” Gorelick insists.)
Maureen Dowd in March 1997:

"...It has been an open secret in Washington that the Department of Justice was run by her hardheaded deputy, Jamie Gorelick" 7 posted on 04/27/2004 6:28:42 AM CDT by spycatcher

There goes that excuse.

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