At Least He Doesn't Say "I Don't Recall" A Lot!

by dday

So while the Senate was legalizing warrantless wiretapping and granting Bush and the telecoms immunity yesterday, that nice Mr. Mukasey had a meeting with the Judiciary Committee on the Hill. Thought you'd like to know what he said:

• He wouldn't admit that Alberto Gonzales politicized the Department of Justice, contradicting his own agency's recent Inspector General report that has put former DoJ officials in so much trouble that independent organizations are trying to get them disbarred. He also refused to allow for any accountability to those officials, probably because he wouldn't admit they did anything wrong.

• He argued that those Administration officials who authorized and directed torture at Guantanamo Bay and throughout US detention sites worldwide "cannot and should not be prosecuted," nor should any CIA agents who participated in the torture.

• He didn't want to involve himself in the investigation over Karl Rove's involvement in the prosecution of Don Siegelman, and appeared to deny that the Office of Professional Repsonsibility had any role in such an investigation, even though it was reported just yesterday that the OPR contacted the Siegelman camp for documents in the probe.

• He decided, essentially, that it was okay for Fourthbranch Cheney to have outed Valerie Plame, and that he wouldn't step into that investigation either. He's already risking a contempt citation from the House Oversight Committee for refusing to turn over Cheney's FBI interview transcripts.

But, you know, Sens. Feinstein and Schumer are right, this guy IS an improvement over Alberto Gonzales!


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