Senate Judiciary *LIVE* Hearing - AG Gonzales on Dismissal of U.S. Attorneys [9:30 ET/CSPAN 3]

Senate Judiciary Committee/CSPAN 3 ^ | April 19, 2007

[TomGuy]

FROM THE SENATE
Dismissal of U.S. Attorneys 
Atty. Gen. Alberto Gonzales testifies before a Judiciary Cmte. hearing on the recent firing of eight U.S. Attorneys. Critics have questioned the motivation for the firing and the Atty. Gen.'s role in the process. The original hearing, scheduled for Tuesday, was post-
poned because of the Virginia Tech University shootings.
Thursday, 9:30 a.m. ET. CSPAN 3

[Bahbah]

Schumer says we didn’t deliver the knockout punch but we set him back 20 steps.

He wants to make a circumstantial case that this was all the White House since they can’t say who put who on the list.

[Clint N. Suhks]

He’s out of his mind.

Self important prick.

[davidosborne]

This whole stupid “list” thing is killing me... AG should have said EVERYONE is on the “list” if you do your job you come OFF the list.. if you don’t you STAY ON the list, and are fired at will... next question.....

[Clint N. Suhks]

I heard that.

He can subpoena a ham sandwich before Rove will show up.

[davidosborne]

there goes shmuckie again.. the list.. the list....the list.. blah blah blah blah blah.. the list the list the list... shut up already !!!

[Bushman2]

This idiot, Schumike, hasn’t had any credibility for a long time. How can he determine who has it and who doesn’t.

The reasons these 8 were relieved was...”IT’S THE PRESIDENTS DESCRETION WHO SERVES”.

Now...”Get Off The Floor, You MORON!”

[Clint N. Suhks]

Hey Look!

It’s the Schmucky Schroomer Show!

[davidosborne]

I only heard AG say ONE TIME.. and way too “politely” that the burden of proof is on the acursers to show any wrongdoing.. they just want him to admit that the reason they were fired were “political” which is not illegal or unethical.. but AG already said it was for “performance” and I don’t see how he can recover from that..

[LetsRok]

I put this all at the footsteps of President Bush. All of the “compassionate conservative” and “reaching across the isle” balooney is now coming back to bite him. Instead of just firing ALL the attorneys the day of his inauguration, he brought this on himself. These are POLITICAL jobs. They are supposed to end at the end of an administration. Ashcroft should have taken care of this on day one.

[conservative in nyc]

Is the Schumer show trial over?

[davidosborne]

yeah .. but no one forced AG to make up a “story” either... I am sure that he really WANTS to believe that there was NO political motivation at ALL.. but this is the REAL WORLD.. and if he can’t play in the Big Leagues than step down and let John Bolton take over !!

[conservative in nyc]

Instead of just firing ALL the attorneys the day of his inauguration, he brought this on himself. These are POLITICAL jobs. They are supposed to end at the end of an administration. Ashcroft should have taken care of this on day one.

President Bush removed almost every Clinton-appointed U.S. Attorney within a year or so of taking office. As best I can tell, only Paul Warner from the District of Utah served longer. He was reappointed by the President (likely at the request of Utah's Senators), and served until 2006. No Clinton-appointed U.S. Attorney is currently in office.

[rfp1234]

—No Clinton-appointed U.S. Attorney is currently in office.—

patrick fitzgerald (lower case intentional) was involved in the TWA 800 “non-investigation”. I assume that fitz was an assistant US attorney during the klintoon years, and was then promoted by GWB.

[conservative in nyc]

Scott Lazar was the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois when President Bush came into power. President Bush appointed Patrick Fitzgerald to the post in September 2001. Clinton didn’t appoint him.

[conservative in nyc]

“Lazar” should be spelled “Lassar”.

[cowtowney]

Spector and Schumer are schmucks. Leahy also.

Having said that, Gonzales sounds like such a wimp. He needs to grow some.

Better still, he should resign. He’s done a terrible job and if he can’t run his department any better than he did this firing, he needs to go anyway.

[plain talk]

Thanks for posting that. It is incredible to me how much liberals can spin. They know they can get away with it because after years of government education and indoctrination have no reasoning abilities whatsoever. Apparently firing 93 attorneys by dems is not political but firing a couple of them by this WH are. Incredible.

[Preachin']

‘I put this all at the footsteps of President Bush. All of the “compassionate conservative” and “reaching across the isle” balooney is now coming back to bite him.’

So true!

[Steve_Seattle]

"He should have just come out and said that he fired them. Why lie about it and pretend you knew nothing? Get some balls ‘Berto."

Belated comment: Gonzales signed off on the firings, but the research and legwork was done by staffers. I don't think Gonzales ever claimed he "knew nothing"; he said that his staff handled all the details, and he wasn't involved in the nitty-gritty of deciding who to let go, or why. But he knew, in a general way, what was going on, and signed off on it at the end of the process.

[highball]

Instead of just firing ALL the attorneys the day of his inauguration, he brought this on himself. These are POLITICAL jobs. They are supposed to end at the end of an administration. Ashcroft should have taken care of this on day one.

The eight attorneys in question were all put in place by George W. Bush. They were not holdovers from a previous administration.