Gonzo Update

Day 21 of FAUX NEWS Embargo of the Gonzales Story.

Update: The House Judiciary Committee voted this week to grant "use" immunity to 33 year old Pat Robertson Law School graduate and King maker, Monica Goodling. The vote was 32-6, with 17 Republicans voting, "Yea!" The 6 "Nay" votes were all Republicans. (Washington Post, April 26, 2007)

Why vote a "No" to immunity?

"Immunity can very easily be the get-out-of-jail card for someone who's committed a crime." --- Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wisc.)

That is an accurate statement but I thought the Republican Talking Point here was that USAs serve at the pleasure of the President and that no crime occurred.

Maybe the Wisconsin Congressman is a little sensitive about uncovering the reason why "his" USA, Steven M. Biskupic, was on the purge list and then suddenly, was not. (McClatchy, April 14th, 2007.)

Update: It's being reported that Rep Rick Renzi, (R-Ariz) might resign today after the FBI raided his wife's business last week as part of an investigation into a land swap deal. (Phoenix Business Journal, April 27, 2007)

Wait, who is the USA of Arizona? That's right, they don't have one since Paul Charlton was fired on December 7th, 2007.

Why was Charlton fired? That right, his boss doesn't remember. Maybe this will help:

Congressman Rick Renzi, an Arizona Republican, was locked in a close re-election battle last fall when the local United States attorney, Paul Charlton, was investigating him for corruption. The investigation appears to have been slowed before Election Day, Mr. Renzi retained his seat, and Mr. Charlton ended up out of a job — one of eight prosecutors purged by the White House and the Justice Department.

Mr. Renzi was fighting for his political life when the local press reported that he was facing indictment for a suspect land deal. According to The Wall Street Journal, federal investigators met unexpected resistance from the Justice Department in getting approval to proceed and, perhaps as a result, the investigation was pushed past the election.

Mr. Renzi’s top aide, Brian Murray, admitted this week that when reports surfaced that his boss was being investigated, he had called Mr. Charlton’s office asking for information. Mr. Charlton’s office did the right thing, according to Mr. Murray’s account: it refused to comment. Weeks later, Mr. Charlton was fired. (NYT, April 26, 2007)

Sound familiar? That's because this is the third fired USA to report similar conduct:

The former U.S. attorney for New Mexico, David C. Iglesias, has told Congress he felt pressured to speed up an indictment of Democrats during phone calls last October from Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.) and Rep. Heather A. Wilson (R-N.M.). And former U.S. attorney John McKay of Seattle has said he was called by the chief of staff to Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) about a preliminary inquiry into voter fraud in Washington state. (Washington Post, April 26, 2007)

Update: Speaking of Arizona, Sen. John McCain became the latest in a growing number of Republicans to call for Gonzales to resign.

"I am very disappointed in his performance. I think loyalty to the president should enter into his calculations. ... I think that out of loyalty to the president that [resigning] would probably be the best thing that he could do." ( CNN's Larry King, April 26, 2007)

Update: "You're Doing a Heckuv a Job Brownie."

President Bush, while not watching any of the Gonzales' five hour testimony, nevertheless expressed confidence in him.

And, while Gonzales claimed not to recall 60 times or more,


Bush thought his answers, although he didn't hear them, were very honest.

The Attorney General went up and gave a very candid assessment, and answered every question he could possibly answer, honestly answer, in a way that increased my confidence in his ability to do the job. (Press Conference, April 23, 2007)

Today's chance of a Gonzales departure: 76 percent