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Alberto Gonzales Files - Feingold Transcript - Doc Acslaw - Org-4.5.07.feingold - Transcript
Alberto Gonzales Files - Feingold Transcript - Doc Acslaw - Org-4.5.07.feingold - Transcript
Thank you, Tom. You are a great friend, and a wonderful mayor
for this city. We miss you in Congress, but as everyone here knows,
real force for change. There really was a need for an organization to
I will tell you that I hope I never see the day when membership
do look forward to the day when many public servants proudly list ACS
I’m here tonight just three months into the new Congress,
that the change in control after the 2006 elections makes a big
difference.
protect the President from scrutiny and accountability that was so very
much needed.
already, in three short months, you can see the results. For example,
know about the firing of the eight U.S. Attorneys without the power to
power, is extremely troubling. And I’m sure there are more revelations
to come.
ever make a change in the United States attorney position for political
Then we learned that most of the ousted U.S. Attorneys had received
stellar performance reviews right up until their dismissal. Former
Iglesias, one of the U.S. Attorneys who was fired, was [quote] “one of
our finest.” Others were similarly commended for their work before
Mr. Iglesias was conducting. The intrusion of partisan politics into the
U.S. Attorneys, I think it is clear that the Administration has not acted
As everyone knows, this issue has raised the question of whether Mr.
the Judiciary Committee, and again when his nomination came before
Just less than a year later, we found out that the Administration had in
believed that Alberto Gonzales did not have the proper respect for the
We still don’t know the whole story behind the U.S. Attorney firings.
wherever it leads.
recent weeks, and rightly so, I think in some ways even more
Congress means that Congress can explore these abuses and take
action.
reports. To issue NSLs, the government does not need to get any court
Congress gave the FBI very few rules to follow, and accordingly shares
broad authorities.
It’s bad enough that the law expanded the reach of these NSLs and
turns out that the FBI wasn’t even following those rules. Instead, they
basically made up their own rules, and the result is that they trampled
The Inspector General found, based on FBI records, that the FBI’s use
But the Inspector General also found that even those numbers are
inaccurate because the FBI had no policies in place with respect to the
But perhaps the most disturbing revelation in this report, among many
headquarters unit. This violated both the statute and internal FBI
policy.
There were earlier indicators that NSLs were being abused by the FBI
Post story described the mountain of National Security Letters that had
been issued by the FBI in recent years. But the Department of Justice
sent a letter strongly implying that the number was inaccurate, and
stating that it had robust internal controls in place to constrain the use
these were flaws waiting to happen. It should not have taken this type
might never have known how the NSL authorities were being abused
by the FBI. The FBI uses these NSL authorities in secret. And when,
asked questions about how these authorities were being used, we got
completely false.
The Inspector General report proves that “trust us” doesn’t cut it when
business without a court order and any suspicion that they are tied to
authorities and just keep its fingers crossed that they wouldn’t be
issuing NSLs. Not only that, but it left in place the automatic,
Already, there have been two hearings on the report in the Judiciary
problem.
action. The Inspector General report has shown both that current
problems and fix the mistakes it made in passing and reauthorizing the
Wiretapping/OPR Investigation
Of course, any discussion of the Administration flouting the law
Surveillance Act, the President ran roughshod over both of the other
wiretap orders.
why the illegal program went forward in the first place. One way we
could have learned more would have been if the Office of Personal
and approved the program. But that investigation was blocked when
Now, obviously, with all the public outcry about this program after it
was revealed in the New York Times, the idea that the President
A few weeks ago, however, there was a press report that the Attorney
General may have known that his own actions would be looked at as
President. This raised serious questions. And now, with control of the
Attorney General and asked him about this report. The Department of
Justice responded that the Attorney General did not know he was a
decision.
Congress must now get to the bottom of this. The American people
five years after the illegal NSA program started. Congress still has to
And that gets back to my larger point- with control of the Congress,
Democrats are finally able to make sure that Congress fulfills its
Katrina, Valerie Plame, Jack Abramoff, and the list goes on and on.
The lack of oversight and accountability not only kept the public from
irresponsibly in the mistaken view that the Congress would never hold
it to account.
In just three months, there are already unmistakable signs that things
have changed. Does anyone have any doubt that the U.S. Attorney
scandal would have been swept under the rug long ago if the results of
the November election had been different? Does anyone think that the
DOJ Inspector General report would have been much more than a one-
I am excited about the possibilities for the next two years, not because
points for the next election, but because Congress’ fulfillment of its
job not only to make laws, but to keep a close eye on the branch of
government is acting with the proper respect for the rule of law. And
that, in the end, is why the Constitution provides for checks and
which is why I am proud to be here with you today. Thank you very
much.