JURIST - Paper Chase: House Democrats calling for Gonzales impeachment inquiry

[JURIST] A group of US House Democrats said Monday that they plan to pursue a resolution instructing the House Judiciary Committee [official website] to launch an investigation into whether to impeach Attorney General Alberto Gonzales [official profile; JURIST news archive]. Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA) [official website], sponsor of the resolution, and six co-sponsors plan to introduce the measure to investigate whether Gonzales has been truthful about the Bush administration's expanding domestic surveillance program [JURIST report]. The White House has said that this is just another "partisan attack," but Inslee defended the move, saying that "it's indefensible to treat the truth with such cavalier disregard when talking to the American people and Congress."

On Sunday, US Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said that Gonzales may be the subject of a perjury investigation [JURIST report] if he does not clear up concerns regarding the truthfulness of his testimony on warrantless wiretapping. Last week, FBI Director Robert Mueller contradicted testimony [JURIST report] given by Gonzales concerning a 2004 discussion of intelligence activities. Mueller testified before the House Judiciary Committee [hearing materials] last Thursday that there was dissent within the administration concerning the domestic surveillance program, but Gonzales said earlier in the week that then-Deputy Attorney General James Comey did not express concerns about recertifying the program. In his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee [transcript] last Tuesday, Gonzales insisted that Comey's reservations concerned another undisclosed intelligence program and not the domestic surveillance program as widely reported. There have also been recent reports that a 2006 Director of National Intelligence memorandum contradicts Gonzales' testimony [JURIST report] on reauthorization of the surveillance program and that a 2004 FBI memorandum [JURIST report] contradicts testimony Gonzales provided in 2005 on renewal of the Patriot Act. AP has more.

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