Leahy at center of Senate battle with White House over U.S. attorneys

03/21/2007

By Erin Kelly
Burlington Free Press

WASHINGTON -- In a rebuke to the White House, Sen. Patrick Leahy won nearly unanimous Senate approval Tuesday of a bill to require U.S. attorneys to be confirmed by the Senate.

The Vermont Democrat, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, then vowed to continue to press key Bush administration officials to testify publicly before his committee about the controversial firing of eight U.S. attorneys. The officials appear to have been axed because they were not considered loyal enough to President Bush.

The senator said he would seek subpoenas to compel administration officials -- including top adviser Karl Rove and former White House counsel Harriet Miers -- to testify if they refuse to do so voluntarily. He was scheduled to meet Tuesday with White House counsel Fred Fielding to discuss the matter.

Fielding said in a letter to Leahy and other lawmakers that he would only allow the witnesses to answer limited questions in closed session. Leahy is seeking public testimony that allows both Democratic and Republican committee members to question the witnesses.

Later in the day, Leahy said: I do not accept his offer. ... Testimony should be on the record and under oath That's the formula for true accountability."

"I don't want any more of this baloney," Leahy said earlier, pointing to an administration document that had been sent to the committee with key sections covered up with white ink. "We need the facts, not more spin, and not another concocted cover story."

As chairman of the judiciary panel, Leahy has played a lead role in the investigation of the firings -- an inquiry that some lawmakers believe could lead to the ouster of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

"I think the White House has been shaken up by how serious we are about this," Leahy said in an interview. "They were used to a rubber-stamp Congress for six years. Now I've heard that they're saying there's a new sheriff in town."

Meanwhile, Bush called Gonzales on Tuesday to reaffirm his "unwavering support" for the embattled attorney general, according to White House officials. The White House also denied reports that it was seeking a successor for Gonzales.

Fielding, in his letter to Leahy and other lawmakers, said there is no evidence that "any U.S. Attorney was replaced to interfere with a pending or future criminal investigation or for any other improper reason."

On Tuesday, senators voted 94-2 to approve a Leahy-sponsored bill eliminating a provision in last year's Patriot Act renewal that allowed Bush to appoint top federal prosecutors without the Senate confirmation previously required.

With that power, Bush fired eight U.S. attorneys -- six Republicans and two independents -- last December and replaced some of them with new prosecutors. Administration officials initially said that the attorneys were fired because they weren't doing a good job. But documents made public since then show that the prosecutors' perceived loyalty to Bush was a key factor in their firing.

Leahy, who served as a local prosecutor for eight years before his election to the Senate, said U.S. attorneys must be free to prosecute criminals fairly without regard to their political affiliation.

"I think this upsets those of us who have been prosecutors the most because we know that credibility is the most important thing a prosecutor can have," Leahy said. "And this has hurt the credibility of all the U.S. attorneys because people now think that they only have their jobs because they're a loyal 'Bushie' -- to quote from White House documents."

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