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Dems want internal DOJ probe findings made public |
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By Jeremy Jacobs
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Posted: 04/30/07 04:21 PM [ET] |
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Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) demanded Monday that Solicitor General Paul Clement make public the findings of his investigations into the firings of eight U.S. attorneys. In a letter to Clement, the senators sought the assurance that the results of the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) and Office of Professional Responsibility’s (OPR) joint investigation into the firings “will be made available to the Congress and to the American people.” The letter comes after Whitehouse, a former U.S. attorney, asked Attorney General Alberto Gonzales at an April 19 Judiciary Committee hearing whether the results of the OIG and OPR investigations would be made public. Gonzales referred Whitehouse to Clement, noting that he and Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty had recused themselves from overseeing the investigation. The OIG and OPR investigation will seek to “examine the propriety of the dismissals” and the accuracy of statements from Department of Justice (DOJ) officials regarding the firings. “While we are hopeful that this joint investigation will help us to understand the truth of what occurred with these dismissals, the results of the investigation will only be useful if they are accessible to Congress and to the public,” the senators said in their letter. “The Congress and the public have a right to know whether DOJ officials have behaved improperly — and whether they have been truthful.” |
