A Question for the Most Mendacious Attorney General Ever

By Scott Horton

Georgetown’s Marty Lederman has a zinger:

Mr. Attorney General, in your written statement to this Committee, you insist that “[w]e must ensure that all the facts surrounding the situation are brought to full light.”

Truer words were never spoken.

Because it is now beyond doubt that officials in the White House had significant involvement in the creation and development of the list that was presented to you — and because the ultimate decision to remove the U.S. Attorneys was made by the President — we would need full disclosure of communications within the White House, and between White House and DOJ officials, in order to bring all the relevant facts to “full light.”

The President ordinarily does not assert Executive privilege without a recommendation to that effect from the Attorney General. Will you assure us today that you will recommend to the President that he not assert any alleged privilege in order to withhold from Congress communications that occurred within the White House (and in RNC databases) that would shed light on those facts?

As pieces in Time magazine and several papers have made clear in the last week, Gonzales appears to be motivated by an intention to conceal the role of the White House in the entire affair. There is a truly remarkable coincidence between his “memory failures” and White House involvement. So it’s clear where the questioners need to concentrate their inquiries in the House Judiciary Committee today.