Sen. Leahy to Target Gonzales and White House in Attorney Firings; Key Gonzales Deputy Resigns

According to a post today by Bob Geiger, Sen. Patrick Leahy, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, just issued the following strongly worded statement. In no uncertain terms, Sen. Leahy gives notice that the partisan maneuvers of the White House and the inaccurate statements given under oath by AG Alberto Gonzales related to the firing of eight U.S. Attorneys and other matters will be scrutinized as never before:

"The White House and the Attorney General have dodged Congress’s questions and ducked accountability as if they still were dealing with a rubberstamp Congress. They are discovering that those days are gone.

“I am outraged that the Attorney General was less than forthcoming with the Senate while under oath before the Judiciary Committee. It is deeply disturbing that this plan appears to have originated from high-ranking officials at the White House and executed in secret with a complicit Department of Justice.

“This is not how justice is served, nor is it how our system of checks and balances is designed to work. It is an abuse of power committed in secret to steer certain outcomes in our justice system, and then to dust over the tracks. The President of the United States and the Attorney General are responsible for setting the moral standard for this Administration. Apparently this matter does not bother them but it does bother me, and we will summon whoever we need in our hearings to get to the bottom of this.” [emphasis mine]

Meanwhile, Bloomberg is reporting on the resignation of Gonzales' top aide, and Sen. Schumer's response to the resignation:

The chief aide to U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales resigned amid new revelations about the Bush administration's ouster of eight U.S. attorneys.

The Justice Department announced the resignation of Kyle Sampson, who was Gonzales's chief of staff. Sampson may be called to testify by Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee who are demanding to know more about the firings. Democrats have likened the dismissals to a political purge.

"U.S. attorneys have always been above politics, and this administration has blatantly manipulated the U.S. attorney system to serve its political needs,'' Senator Charles Schumer of New York said at a news conference in Washington today. Schumer said Sampson's departure "does not take the heat off the attorney general. In fact, it raises the temperature.''

Bloomberg also reports that Sen. Leahy plans to summon Gonzales, Sampson and Harriet Miers to testify saying, "We will have hearings and there will be subpoenas, and people will be under oath." Leahy hasn't yet decided whether or not to summon Karl Rove.