During the first line of questioning today, House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) tried to get Alberto Gonzales to answer the simply of question of who put the U.S. attorneys on the firing list and why they were put there. Gonzales replied as he has in the past, by saying that he’d initiated a “process” and that he trusted the process. Conyers summarized this response, “So you don’t know?”
Conyers also cited the testimony of a Justice Department official Matthew Friedrich, who told congressional investigators that he’d met with two New Mexico Republicans who had complaints about U.S. Attorney for New Mexico David Iglesias’ handling of voter fraud cases (i.e. Iglesias’ failure to indict Democrats). The two Republicans told Friedrich that they’d brought their complaints to Karl Rove and Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM). Iglesias, of course, was subsequently fired.
When Conyers asked if Gonzales was aware of that conversation, he replied, “I am certainly aware of it now.”
