Bush stopped DoJ investigation into Gonzales
The longer Alberto Gonzales stays on the job, the more legal hot water he will be in. Today, yet another embarrassing report surfaced. This time, it had to do with an internal Justice Department investigation into the conduct of Alberto Gonzales regarding warrantless wiretaps. Before the investigation could get off its feet, it was nixed by -- you guessed it -- George W. Bush. The has the story:
Shortly before Attorney General Alberto Gonzales advised President Bushlast year on whether to shut down a Justice Department inquiryregarding the administration's warrantless domestic eavesdroppingprogram, Gonzales learned that his own conduct would likely be a focusof the investigation, according to government records and interviews.
Bush personally intervened to sideline the Justice Departmentprobe in April 2006 by taking the unusual step of denying investigatorsthe security clearances necessary for their work.
It is unclear whether the president knew at the time of hisdecision that the Justice inquiry -- to be conducted by thedepartment's internal ethics watchdog, the Office of ProfessionalResponsibility -- would almost certainly examine the conduct of hisattorney general.
Sources familiar with the halted inquiry said that if the probe hadbeen allowed to continue, it would have examined Gonzales's role inauthorizing the eavesdropping program while he was White House counsel,as well as his subsequent oversight of the program as attorney general.
This is getting worse and worse. Now it looks like President Bush has some explaining to do. This is what happens when you stretch the power of the Executive too far. You become drunk with power, and act as if you are above the law, then you get caught in the act. applies to politics. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The Administration, under Cheney's influence, has pushed so far in the authoritarian direction. Now we're pushing back.
It happened with Nixon, and now again with Bush.
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