Four Senate Democrats have formally requested that Solicitor General Paul Clement appoint a special prosecutor to determine whether AG Alberto Gonzales perjured himself in testimony before the Senate.
“It has become apparent that the attorney general has provided at a minimum half-truths and misleading statements,” four members of the Senate Judiciary Committee wrote in a letter to Solictor General Paul Clement.
They asked Clement to immediately appoint an indepedent counsel from outside the Justice Department to determine whether Gonzales “may have misled Congress or perjured himself in testimony before Congress.”
…Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy of Vermont, in a separate letter Thursday to Gonzales, said he would give the attorney general eight days to correct, clarify or otherwise change his testimony “so that, consistent with your oath, they are the whole truth.”
And it’s not just Democrats:
Two former Republican chairmen joined Democrats in recent days in suggesting that the questions surrounding Gonzales be resolved by those outside the process.
Sen. Arlen Specter, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee and former chairman, on Tuesday told Gonzales during his appearance before the panel that a special prosecutor might be needed.
“I do not find your testimony credible, candidly,” Specter told Gonzales.
Specter’s counterpart on the House side, Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., suggested that the House file a civil suit against the administration’s executive privilege claim.
Specter tried to address the mess with Bush this morning, but it did no good. Bush is going to stand by his man, even if Gonzo destroys what’s left of the Justice Department.
“The hearing two days ago was devastating (for Gonzales). But so was the hearing before that and so was the hearing before that,” Specter said.