Whitehouse criticizes Mukasey actions in Justice probe
6:48 PM Wed, Oct 01, 2008 | Permalink
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WASHINGTON -- Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse has joined colleagues in praising the Justice Department for a report that found political motives in the Bush administration's firing of nine federal prosecutors in 2006, but he sharply criticized Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey. The Rhode Island Democrat said Monday that more questions have been raised by Mukasey's appointment of a prosecutor to continue the investigation. He asked, for example, why Mukasey did not resign when the White House did not let Justice Department investigators question some potential witnesses. Whitehouse followed up Tuesday with a letter to the Justice Department. The office of the Justice Department's inspector general replied that it did not have the power to compel testimony from the White House witnesses in question. Whitehouse, a former federal prosecutor, has been active in the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearings on the firings of the U.S. attorneys. "There is a cover-up, and it continues. The cover-up will be examined further by a new prosecutor," Whitehouse said at a news conference Monday in the Capitol with fellow Judiciary Committee members. Whitehouse said it isn't clear whether the new federal prosecutor selected by Mukasey, Nora R. Dannehy of Connecticut, will be able to subpoena White House officials during her investigation. Whitehouse said Mukasey "tolerated'' the refusal of the White House to let certain personnel be interviewed by his investigators. According to a transcript of the news conference, the senator asked, "Why did he not go to the White House and say, 'If you're not cooperating, I'm not your attorney general any longer. I've got to stand behind my people.'?'' According to the Justice Department and its inspector general's spokesman, the department's inspector general did not have the authority to compel testimony by the White House personnel. But Peter A. Carr, a spokesman for the Justice Department, said in an e-mail that Mukasey "responded immediately'' to the inspector general's request for a further investigation by appointing Dannehy. Carr said the report by the inspector general "leaves some important questions unanswered and recommends that the Attorney General appoint an attorney to assess the facts uncovered, to conduct further investigation as needed, and ultimately determine whether any prosecutable offense was committed with regard to the removal of a U.S. Attorney or the testimony of any witness related to the U.S. Attorney removals.'' Carr said, "Ms. Dannehy will have the authority to pursue this matter wherever the facts and the law require.'' Whitehouse said in an interview today that, even though current and former White House officials may not be legally bound to cooperate with the inspector general, they should have done so. Even if his people lacked subpoena power over White House personnel, Mukasey should have resigned when such people declined to cooperate, Whitehouse said. 
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Mukasey calling in a US Attorney from Corruptikut doesn't pass the smell test. If you want to know what passes for justice in Connecticut just google "Judencia"
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Mukasey calling in a US Attorney from Corruptikut doesn't pass the smell test. If you want to know what passes for justice in Connecticut just google "Judencia"
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