Conyers Calls for Special Counsel on U.S. Attorney Report
Judiciary Committee Hearing Scheduled for Friday

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. and Commercial and Administrative Law Subcommittee Chairwoman Linda Sánchez had the following response to today’s report from the Justice Department’s Offices of the Inspector General and Professional Responsibility Report, "An Investigation into the Removal of Nine U.S. Attorneys in 2006."

"Since last summer, my committee has warned that the Bush administration fired US attorneys for political reasons and tried to cover it up by misleading Congress, and today’s report confirms our very worst suspicions,” Conyers said. "This scheme – which the report makes clear was hatched in the White House -- was a fundamental betrayal of the American people and the men and women of the Department of Justice and it will be a long time before we can fully repair the damage."

"The report also makes clear that a number of central questions remain unanswered, largely because of White House stonewalling, and so it is all the more important that we continue our effort to obtain White House documents and testimony. We assume that Attorney General Mukasey will heed the report’s call for further investigation, including determining whether criminal offenses were committed, and urge him to appoint a special counsel from outside the Justice Department to work with the Inspector General so the investigation will have the credibility and independence that it needs. Finally, although Congress will soon adjourn, I believe that this matter is too important to await our return, and will hold a committee hearing on Friday to explore the issues raised by this report with the department’s Inspector General."

"I was disturbed by the findings by the Justice Department Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility that improper political considerations were an important factor in the removal of several of the fired U.S. Attorneys," said Sánchez. The report’s conclusion that Attorney General Gonzales and Deputy Attorney General McNulty's lack of supervision and general lack of knowledge of the removal process demonstrates that the top ranks of the Justice Department were asleep at the switch.

"I was also troubled by the White House's brazen snub of its own Justice Department. Because of the White House's refusal to cooperate with the Inspector General's investigation, we still do not know why the nine U.S. Attorneys were fired."