See Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy documents for publicly released documents and hearings transcripts.
The United States House Committee on the Judiciary and the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, have oversight authority over Department of Justice (DOJ). In 2007 it conducted public and closed-door oversight and investigative hearings on the DOJ's interactions with the White House and staff members of the Executive Office of the President. A routine oversight hearing on January 18, 2007 by the Senate committee was the first public congressional occasion that Attorney General Gonzales responded to questions about dismissed United States Attorneys (USAs). Both committees invited or subpoenaed past and present Department of Justice officers and staff to appear and testify during 2007, and both committees requested or subpoenaed documents, and made the documents that were produced publicly available.
Calendar of public hearings Hearing dates with witnesses
January 18, 2007 - Senate Judiciary Committee: Oversight of the U.S. Department of Justice Witness: Alberto Gonzales, Attorney General
February 6, 2007 - Senate Judiciary Committee: Is the DOJ Politicizing the Hiring and Firing of U.S. Attorneys? Witnesses: Senator Mark Pryor (D-Arkansas) Paul J. McNulty, Deputy Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice Mary Jo White, Partner, Debevoise & Plimpton, LLP, New York, NY Laurie L. Levenson, Professor of Law, Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, CA Stuart M. Gerson, Partner, Epstein Becker & Green, Washington, DC
March 6, 2007 - House and Senate Judiciary Committees, in separate hearings House: Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law: H.R. 580, Restoring Checks and Balances in the Confirmation Process of U.S. Attorneys Senate: "Part II–Preserving Prosecutorial Independence" Witnesses for both hearings:William Moschella, principal associate deputy attorney general, Department of JusticeCarol Lam, Former U.S. AttorneyDavid Iglesias, Former U.S. AttorneyBud Cummins, Former U.S. AttorneyJohn McKay, Former U.S. AttorneyDaniel Bogden, Former U.S. AttorneyPaul Charlton, Former U.S. AttorneyJohn Smietanka, Former U.S. AttorneyRepresentative Darrell Issa, R-CaliforniaFormer Representataive Asa Hutchinson Former Deputy Attorney General George Terwilliger
March 29, 2007 - Senate Judiciary Committee: Preserving Prosecutorial Independence: Is the Department of Justice Politicizing the Hiring and Firing of U.S. Attorneys? -– Part III Witness: D. Kyle Sampson, former Chief of Staff to Attorney General Gonzales
April 19, 2007 - Senate Judiciary Committee: "Department of Justice Oversight Witness: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
May 3, 2007 - House Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law: Hearing on The Continuing Investigation into the U.S. Attorneys Controversy Witness: James Comey, Former Deputy Attorney General
May 11, 2007 - House Judiciary Committee Witness: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
May 15, 2007 - Senate Judiciary Committee: Preserving Prosecutorial Independence: Is the Department of Justice Politicizing the Hiring and Firing of U.S. Attorneys? –- Part IV Witness: James Comey, Former Deputy Attorney General
May 23, 2007 - House Judiciary Committee: The Continuing Investigation into the U.S. Attorneys Controversy and Related Matters Witness: Monica K. Goodling, former DOJ White House Liaison
June 5, 2007 - Senate Judiciary Committee: Preserving Prosecutorial Independence: Is the Department of Justice Politicizing the Hiring and Firing of U.S. Attorneys? -- Part V Panel 1: Bradley J. Schlozman, Associate Counsel to the Director, Executive Office for United States Attorneys. Former Interim U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri; Former Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General; Former Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC
Panel 2: Todd Graves, Former U.S. Attorney, Western District of Missouri, Kansas City, MO
June 7, 2007 - Senate Judiciary Committee: "Prevention of Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation in Federal Elections: S. 453" - Senator Cardin presiding. Witness List: Panel I Charles Schumer, United States Senator [D-NY] Barack Obama, United States Senator [D-IL] Panel II Douglas F. Gansler, Attorney General, State of Maryland, Baltimore, MD Jack B. Johnson, County Executive, Prince George’s County, MD, Upper Marlboro, MD Panel III Hilary O. Shelton, Director, Washington Bureau, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People [NAACP], Washington, DC John Trasvina, President and General Counsel, Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund MALDEF, Los Angeles, CA Richard Briffault, Joseph P. Chamberlain Professor of Legislation, Columbia Law School, New York, NY William B. Canfield, Principal, Williams & Jensen PLLC, Washington, DC Peter N. Kirsanow, Commissioner, United States Commission on Civil Rights, Washington, DC
June 13, 2007 Senate Committee on Rules and Administration Nominations to the Federal Election Commission Steven T. Walther (Nevada), Nominated to term expiring April 30, 2009 (vice Scott E. Thomas, term expired) Robert D. Lenhard (Maryland), Nominated to term expiring April 30, 2011 (vice Danny L. McDonald, term expired) David V. Mason (Virginia), Nominated to term expiring April 30, 2009 (reappointment) Hans von Spakovsky (Georgia), Nominated to term expiring April 30, 2011 - Recess appointee to the FEC (vice Bradley A. Smith, resigned)
June 15, 2007 'House Judiciary Committee, staff investigators Private interview: Mary Beth Buchanan, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, former director of the U.S. Justice Department's Executive Office for United States Attorneys from June 2004 to June 2005
July 24, 2007 Senate Judiciary Committee Witness: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Concerning Oversight of the Department of Justice.
Gonzales testimony
Senate Judiciary Committee - January 18, 2007 Gonzales stated:
Senate Judiciary Committee - April 19, 2007
Alberto Gonzales was scheduled to testify before Congress on April 17, 2007Gonzales, Alberto. Statement of Alberto Gonzales Full title: Statement of Alberto Gonzales, Attorney General, before the Committee of the Judiciary, United States Senate. Concerning Oversight of the Justice Department. (Opening statement released by the Justice Department April 16, 2007, before the Judiciary Committee hearing.) C-SPAN April 16, 2007. Retrieved April 16, 2007. (Link to Gonzales's April 19, 2007 opening statement). In the aftermath of the mass shooting at Virginia Tech, Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy postponed the hearing until April 19.Gonzales hearing postponed, SFGate.com, April 16, 2007 In advance of his testimony, a separate Gonzales statement was published in the Washington Post on April 15, 2007. He said "While I accept responsibility for my role in commissioning this management review process, I want to make some fundamental points abundantly clear. I know that I did not -- and would not -- ask for the resignation of any U.S. attorney for an improper reason. Furthermore, I have no basis to believe that anyone involved in this process sought the removal of a U.S. attorney for an improper reason."Alberto R. Gonzales, Nothing Improper Washington Post, April 15, 2007 The Gonzales statement responded to the allegations that his previous testimony contradicted Sampson testimony before Congress. Gonzales stated: "While I have never sought to deceive Congress or the American people, I also know that I created confusion with some of my recent statements about my role in this matter. To be clear: I directed my then-deputy chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, to initiate this process; fully knew that it was occurring; and approved the final recommendations. Sampson periodically updated me on the review. As I recall, his updates were brief, relatively few in number and focused primarily on the review process. During those conversations, to my knowledge, I did not make decisions about who should or should not be asked to resign."
On April 19, 2007, Gonzales testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Gonzales received intense questioning from both the Democratic and Republican members on the committee. Many Republicans on the committee openly criticised the attorney general and his handling of the matter questioning his honesty, competence and stating that he should "suffer the consequences" from the controversial firings. Gonzales also admitted during the testimony that when he ordered the firing of the US attorneys he did not know the reason for firing two of them. The attorney general stated that he "didn't have an independent basis or recollection" about the job performance of Nevada U.S. Attorney Daniel G. Bogden. With regards to Chiara, Gonzales stated, "Quite candidly . . . I don't recall the reason why I accepted" staff advice on why to dismiss Chiarra and only after the fact did Gonzales learn "it was a question of . . . poor-management issues." In another interesting exchange, Gonzales stated that he had approved the decision but didn't recall when the decision was made. ("'Well, how can you be sure you made the decision?' Mr. Leahy asked."'Senator, I recall making the decision from this—I recall making the decision,' Mr. Gonzales replied. "'When?' Mr. Leahy responded."'Senator,' Mr. Gonzales replied. 'I don't recall when the decision was made.') Gonzales stated more than 60 times that he "couldn't recall" certain incidents.
After Gonzales's April 19, 2007 testimony to the Judiciary Committee, both Senators Leahy and Specter expressed their disappointment with the results. Both stated that they still do not have a clear explanation of the reasons the eight attorneys were fired, with Leahy suggesting that political influence was the likely explanation, and Specter suggesting that incompetence might be the likely explanation.Gonzales Faces Tough Questioning in Senate (Transcript) Online NewsHour Public Broadcasting System (PBS), April 19, 2007. Retrieved April 20, 2007. Both Senators also expressed the concern that, either way, the controversy was undermining the integrity of the Department of Justice. The White House put out a statement that day saying "the president was pleased with the attorney general's testimony, and that he felt he answered [the] questions, and that he had admitted mistakes were made, but that he has the full confidence of the president." Leahy replied to the interviewer about the White House statement: "Well, the president has set a very low bar, indeed." CNN later reported that White House insiders thought that Gonzales had hurt himself with his recent testimony and described his performance before the Judiciary committee as "going down in flames," "not doing himself any favors," and "predictable."
A few days later, President Bush reiterated "The Attorney General ... 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....[A]s the investigation, the hearings went forward, it was clear that the Attorney General broke no law, did no wrongdoing. And some senators didn't like his explanation, but he answered as honestly as he could. This is an honest, honorable man, in whom I have confidence."President Bush Pleased with Attorney General's Testimony Press Release. The White House, April 23, 2007. Retrieved April 25, 2007. Nevertheless, Gonzales continued to come under increasing criticism, including from "key GOP lawmakers".
House Judiciary Committee - May 10, 2007 Alberto Gonzales testified before the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary regarding the dismissal of U.S. Attorneys.