senate judiciary committee preparing subpoenas. . .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
U P D A T E D:
@4:31 p.m., e.d.t.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i was hoping to have definitive
word on whether the subpoenas
might actually be placed for
service on or after monday,
april 9 [yet stayed -- held in
abeyance -- until it is known whether
alberto gonzales will comply with the
"48-hours prior to april 17"
deadline set forth in sen. leahy's
letter], all as contemplated by the
standing rules of the senate committee. . .

but, alas, i have no such word. . .

i will return to this post if,
and/or when, i do. . .

that is all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
END UPDATE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

the stakes have been raised
in the stand-off between alberto
gonzales' office and the senate
judiciary committee -- with democrats
canceling his appearance before another
committee of the senate, on april 12th
(he was to appear in a request for
more funding -- not!), and demanding
he "clear the air" on purge-gate, before
he is even allowed to make a pitch for
any additional budget allocation.

now, that makes sense. . .

apparently, there are another almost 700
pages of documents not yet produced to the
judiciary committee -- that committee in-
vestigators have been allowed to view,
but not copy. this won't do. the subpoenas
may ultimately issue -- if just to get the
entire, unredacted, truth out.

quoth this morning's washington post:

. . .trust in Gonzales among Capitol Hill
Democrats has evaporated amid revelations
from the almost 4,000 pages of documents
the Justice Department has released to date,
some of which have contradicted a string of
statements from the attorney general about
the dismissals. Gonzales first told the
Judiciary Committee, during a hearing 11
weeks ago, that there was no intent to
avoid Senate confirmation for the
replacements of the fired prosecutors. . .

[ed. side note: d. kyle sampson said
otherwise, and wrote contemporaneous
e-mails to document this -- all as he
testified under oath last week, before
the senate judiciary committee. . .]

Democratic investigators were upset to
learn about the additional batch of records
in recent visits to the department, according
to a Senate aide who requested anonymity to
talk freely about the standoff. . .

. . .the Senate Judiciary Committee
"has lodged objections several times"
about not being given the new documents. . .
They were discovered over the past two weeks
as staff investigators for the House and
Senate judiciary panels, working in a special
office inside the Justice Department,
reviewed the censored portions of e-mails
and other records thathad already been
sent to Capitol Hill in redacted form,
according to Justice Department and Senate aides. . .

these latest developments have
greatly increased the chances for
a fairly-explosive show-down in
front of the judiciary committee
[to be broadcast by cspan] on april 17.

so -- i'd schedule a sick-day to watch
this moment in history unfold -- it will
be well-worth the time spent!


developing. . .

[go read the full article. . .
h/t firedoglake and
tpmuckraker!]