Yesterday, congressional Democrats started pressuring the Justice Department about a series of key documents pertaining to the prosecutor purge scandal, which the DoJ hasn’t turned over. Specifically, lawmakers want internal rankings that the Justice Department made of all 93 U.S. attorneys, employment charts that Monica Goodling put together for those deciding who to fire, and the internal DoJ ratings from December, which were used to decide who got purged.
The Senate Judiciary Committee threatened to issue subpoenas if the materials were not forthcoming. This afternoon, the House Judiciary Committee cut to the chase.
The House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed new documents Tuesday from Attorney General Alberto Gonzales as part of its investigation into the firings of federal prosecutors, with the panel chairman saying he had run out of patience.
“We have been patient in allowing the department to work through its concerns regarding the sensitive nature of some of these materials,” Rep. John Conyers (news, bio, voting record), D-Mich., wrote Gonzales in a letter accompanying the subpoena. “Unfortunately, the department has not indicated any meaningful willingness to find a way to meet our legitimate needs.”
“At this point further delay in receiving these materials will not serve any constructive purpose,” Conyers said. He characterized the subpoena as a last resort after weeks of negotiations with Justice over documents and e-mails the committee wants.
The Justice Department putzed around for weeks, offering partial document dumps and delaying tactics. Today, Conyers finally said, “Enough.”
Christy Hardin Smith explains exactly what Conyers is asking for and what the DoJ has to do in response.
A subpoena duces tecum is a legal summons which requires you to bring documents with you to an appearance — for these purposes, to the Judiciary Committee staff, for their review. In this case, the Judiciary Committee is requesting the following in its subpoena: complete and unredacted copies of any and all documents pertaining to the firing of USAttys and any and all consideration of potential replacements thereto; complete and unredacted copies of communication with members of Congress about said terminations and/or replacements; complete and unredacted copies of communication with any of the terminated USAttys; complete and unredacted copies of correspondence with the White House with regard to handling responses to Congress and/or the media about these issues.
In the letter, Rep. Conyers specifically requests not just paper documents, but electronic data (e-mails, files, etc.) including electronic metadata such as headers, directional information, and other such useful tracking data. (Which says to me: “Don’t try to erase your trail, we’re on to something here.”) April 16th is the day before Alberto Gonzales’ testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Something tells me it’s going to be a bumpy few days between now and then.
And in related news, Senate Dems have started to sink their teeth into the Wisconsin controversy in earnest.
A number of Democratic committee members signed a letter today to Alberto Gonzales seeking answers:
“We are concerned whether or not politics may have played a role in a case brought by Stephen Biskupic, the United States Attorney based in Milwaukee, against Georgia Thompson, formerly an official in the administration of Wisconsin’s Democratic governor. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals was reportedly so troubled by the insufficiency of the evidence against Ms. Thompson that it made the unusual decision to issue an order reversing Ms. Thompson’s conviction and releasing her from custody immediately after oral arguments in her appeal.”
Democrats are seeking all documents related to Biskupic’s handling of that case, including “[a]ll communications between the Department of Justice and any other outside party, including political party officials, regarding the case against Ms. Thompson or the United States Attorney’s handling of that case.”
It’s only going to get more interesting. Stay tuned.