1 Boring Old Man

Confirmation hearings for his successor could spawn criminal investigations of the White House.
By Elizabeth Holtzman, a former Democratic congresswoman from New York…

NO MATTER how many members of Congress lose confidence in Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales, President Bush is unlikely to let him go. If Gonzales resigns, the vacancy must be filled by a new presidential nominee, and the last thing the White House wants is a confirmation hearing.

Already, the Senate is outlining conditions for confirming a Gonzales successor. Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, has said that his panel would not hold confirmation hearings unless Karl Rove and other White House aides testify about the firing of U.S. attorneys to clarify whether "the White House has interfered with prosecution."

All this is reminiscent of the Watergate scandal. In 1973, as the coverup was unraveling, the Senate imposed a condition on the confirmation of President Nixon’s nominee for attorney general, Elliot Richardson. Richardson’s predecessor had resigned because of Watergate troubles. Concerned that the Justice Department would not get at the truth, the Senate insisted that Richardson would name a special prosecutor to investigate Watergate. Richardson duly appointed Archibald Cox.

The rest is history. Cox’s aggressive investigations led to the prosecution of top administration officials and the naming of Nixon as an unindicted co-conspirator in the coverup. When Cox sought White House tapes of Nixon’s conversations with his staff, the president had him fired, unleashing a firestorm of protests. Americans demanded that a previously reluctant Congress start impeachment proceedings against Nixon. Congress complied; the House Judiciary Committee, of which I was a member, voted for impeachment, and Nixon resigned.

Aspects of this history could easily repeat themselves. The Senate could demand, as it did in 1973, that a new attorney general appoint a special prosecutor, and this could again have dire consequences for the White House…

Congresswoman Holtzman’s article goes on to make the issues very clear – including a credible list of the possible actionable crimes in the U.S. Attorney scandal. It’s coming down to a standoff, and Alberto Gonzales heads back to Congress week after next for another round. My read on things after reading this article is that Bush is going to hold onto the Attorney General no matter what happens. It’s the only way to avoid the Nixon trap. And, I might add, it’s the only thing that Bush does really well – be a stubborn ass. The only way to get the AG out of office will be to impeach him [which may ultimately be doable at the rate Gonzales is going]. [Thanx to Peg for the tip about this article].

An Aside: While the path to a great leap forward isn’t clear, this contemporary scandal has certainly eclipsed everything we thought was going to be on the docket after the midterm elections, and it’s growing daily. I’m not completely sure how I feel about that. The Niger forgeries and the manipulation of the prewar intelligence remain at the top of the "high crimes and misdemeanors" list for me. I know the Tenet book speaks to those days, and the possibility of subpoenaing Condoleeza Rice about the "sixteen words" is promising. But the Nigergate story goes much deeper [I’m afraid to get my hopes up about Ray McGovern’s revelations]. And there is good news on the horizon from Waxman. Don’t get me wrong, the political takeover of the Department of Justice is a plenty big deal. I just don’t want what I consider to be treason back in 2002 to get swept under the rug.