First Line of Questioning: Authority Issues
Mr. Gonzales, in your prepared testimony you said that you delegated the task of selecting which U.S. Attorneys to remove to your chief of staff, Kyle Sampson. You said that Mr. Sampson came up with a list of prosecutors who would be asked to leave, and that you eventually signed off on that list. You also testified, and I quote, "Mr. Sampson explained to me the plan to inform the U.S. Attorneys of my decision." Is it your testimony, sir, that the President was not involved in this process, that you made the final call?
If no: Please explain the extent of the President's involvement. Did he sign off on the final list? Was he given prior notification that these eight U.S. Attorneys would be asked to resign?
If yes: You are aware, sir, are you not, that by statute, the power to remove U.S. Attorneys belongs to the President, not the Attorney General? (28 U.S.C. 541(c): "Each United States attorney is subject to removal by the President.") As you pointed out in your testimony today, U.S. Attorneys serve at the pleasure of the president; not at the pleasure of the attorney general–and certainly not at the pleasure of Kyle Sampson. By what authority did you feel empowered to make these kind of personnel decisions? To replace presidential appointees? Is it your practice to exercise exclusively presidential powers without getting the president's sign off?
Second Line of Questioning: Knowledge of Substantive Basis for Dismissals
Sir, you've testified that you delegated the task of determining which U.S. Attorneys to remove to your former chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, and that you merely signed off on the recommendations he brought to you. When this controversy first erupted, however, the man you delegated this important task to resigned over his handling of this issue. That was over a month ago. Have you personally made any effort to go back and examine the process and reasoning Mr. Sampson used to come up with the final list of eight U.S. Attorneys? Or to put it another way, sir, do you know, as you sit here today, why each of the eight U.S. Attorneys were put on that list?
If yes: Can you please walk us through the substantive case for dismissing each of these attorneys? Let's start with David Iglesias . . .
If no: Do you mean to tell me, sir, that you spent weeks preparing for this testimony, but you have no answer to THE most fundamental question on everyone's mind: why were these attorneys removed? How can you sit here and testify that you "firmly believe that these dismissals were appropriate" when you're not even sure how and why the names of these eight prosecutors made it onto your chief of staff's list?
I understand that you claim to have delegated this task, but didn't you at least have an obligation to educate yourself on the substance of these decisions after the fact, particularly after this erupted into a major controversy? What did you do to satisfy yourself that Kyle Sampson had made the right calls? Are you simply taking on faith the word of a man who was forced to resign over his handling of this matter?
Third Line of Questioning: Monica Goodling
One of your senior aides, Monica Goodling, has refused to testify before this committee and has invoked her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. Last week, she, like your chief of staff before her, resigned abruptly. How do you reconcile Ms. Goodling's behavior with your claim that nothing inappropriate happened here? Do you have any idea why your senior aide believes her truthful testimony would incriminate her?
Mr. Gonzales, you are the nation's chief law enforcement officer. Putting that hat on for a moment, imagine you were overseeing an investigation into a large company, and one of its senior officers refused to speak with you, choosing instead to invoke the Fifth Amendment. Under those circumstances, would you simply accept the CEO's assurance that "nothing inappropriate" had happened? Really?
And wouldn't the DOJ, as a matter of policy, insist that the company fire the uncooperative employee? Why was Monica Goodling allowed to remain on the Justice Department payroll after invoking the Fifth Amendment? Why was she not fired?
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