Welcome to Gonzales Watch - Blawging the Ex-Attorney General

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (Dem. - Vt.) and Ranking Member Arlen Specter (Rep. - Penn.) sent U.S. Attorney General Gonzales a harshly worded letter late yesterday (inset, below) after Gonzales failed to comply with Committee’s the May 2, 2006 subpoena.

The Committee’s original subpoena gave Gonzales a deadline of yesterday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. EST to provide it with e-mails and attachments to, from, or copying White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove.

That subpoena sought e-mails and attachments from Rove’s: “(1) White House [e-mail] account, (2) Republican National Committee [e-mail] account, or [3] other account, in the possession, custody, or control of the Department of Justice” that related to the “hiring, firing, and decision-making of United States Attorneys.”

After giving the Justice Department’s top lawyer a ‘Tsk-Tsk’ for ignoring the Committee’s subpoena, they scolded him further: “You should at least have provided in writing the specific reasons for not producing any responsive documents, including any objections to the subpoena or privileges claimed by the Department.”

On behalf of the bipartisan Committee, today Leahy and Spector gave Gonzales a second chance to comply with the subpoena. He now has until Friday May 18, 2007 at 10:00 a.m. EST to provide the previously subpoenaed materials.

Yesterday Gonzales was busy snickering at the removal of a protestor who called for his resignation while he spoke talk National Press Club.

At the conclusion of his speech, Gonzales told reporters that he had more important priorities to deal with than the U.S. Attorney firings investigation, retreating to his usual defense that he remains too busy catching terrorists, working on gang violence, and hunting down pedophiles.