Dismissal of U.S. Attorneys Controversy - Congressional Hearings

Congressional Hearings

See: Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy documents for released documents and hearings transcripts

The United States Congress's House Committee on the Judiciary and the Senate Committee on the Judiciary have oversight authority over Department of Justice (DOJ). In 2007 the two committees conducted a number of public and closed-door oversight and investigative hearings on the topic of the dismissal of U.S. attorneys, and DOJ's interactions with the White House and with staff members of the Executive Office of the President. A routine oversight hearing on January 18, 2007, by the Senate committee with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was the first public congressional occasion that Gonzales responded to questions about the dismissed attorneys. Through the winter and spring, appearing in more than eleven public committee hearings were a number of key players in the controversy, past and continuing DOJ officials, dismissed U.S. Attorneys, and others. Some individuals appeared at the invitation of the committees, and some appeared only under the compulsion of committee-issued subpoena. One former DOJ official Monica Goodling testified in May 2007, only after the grant of a limited "use" immunity, after reserving the right to not incriminate herself. The two committees made public through their web sites thousands of pages of documents and correspondence that had been subpoenaed from the Department of Justice, individuals, and other organizations.