Welcome to Gonzales Watch - Blawging the Ex-Attorney General

The results of today’s Senate vote on the no-confidence resolution co-sponsored by Senate Democrats are:

For the Resolution (’Yeahs’): 53

Against the Resolution (’Neahs’): 38

There was a length Senate debate on the resolution.

Noteworthy votes included:

Sen. Arlen Specter, the Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, voted for the no-confidence resolution.

* Sen. Joseph Lieberman (Dem. - Conn.), voted against the resolution. He argued that the resolution was a waste of time, and defended his vote by saying that “[i]t is an expression of opposition to spending any more time on a resolution that will accomplish nothing, instead of going ahead with the next item of business, which is energy legislation.”

Glenn Fine, the Justice Department’s Inspector General, just informed the Senate Judiciary Committee this morning that the joint probe launched by his office and the DOJ’s Office of Professional Responsibility investigating the firings of career U.S. Attorneys is expanding.

Other issues that they now “intend to investigate [include] allegations regarding Monica Goodling’s and other’s actions in DOJ hiring and personnel decisions; allegations concerning hiring for the DOJ Honros Program and Law School Intern Program; and allegations concerning hiring practices in the DOJ Civil Rights Divisions.” (Inset, below)

That means the question asked by Gonzales Watch several weeks ago — whether Goodling’s limited grant of immunity would have any affect on the DOJ’s investigation of her — has just been answered. The answer is a resounding “No.”

This should please President Bush, who said at a press conference last week that the “internal investigation taking place at the Justice Department…will be an exhaustive investigation. And if there’s wrongdoing, it will be taken care of.”

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (Dem. - Vt.) and Ranking Member Arlen Specter (Rep. - Penn.) asked Karl Rove’s lawyer Robert Luskin yesterday to voluntarily turnover his hard disk(s) and e-mails that were “sent or received using political Republican National Committee accounts.”

In its ongoing investigation of to what extent U.S. Attorney’s were pressured into being political tools of the White House for partisan purposes, the Committee appears to have been stonewalled when it comes to obtaining e-mails thought to have been sent or received by White House Chief of Staff Rove to evade compliance with the Presidential Records Act. That’s the federal law requiring sitting Presidents and their White House staff to keep personal communications and records separate from Presidential records.

Last week this blog reporterd that the Justice Department’s belated response to the Committee’s May 2, 2007 subpoena served upon Attorney General Gonzales seeking Rove’s e-mail communications with the DO turned up “nothing. Nada. Rien. Niente. Zilch. ничего. אפס .لا شي. Nichts. 何も.”

This week’s House Committee on the Judiciary hearing and testimony from former DOJ White House liaison Monica Goodling did not reveal any e-mail communication between Rove and Goodling on U.S. Attorney firings. In fact, Goodling went so far as to testify that she “never had a conversation with Karl Rove or Harriet Miers while I served at the Department of Justice. And I’m certain that I never spoke to either of them about the hiring or firing of any U.S. attorney.”

Speculation and rumor has been rampant on this issue.

What does that mean? Without the ‘teeth’ that a court order mandating Rove to turnover what is essentially electronic discovery with a forensic investigation of Rove’s hard disk, the Committee is simply making nice with opposing counsel. There’s no legal obligation whatsoever for Rove’s lawyer to comply with the Committee’s request. And the Senators know it.

It was a foolish move to make, since it lacks any clout.

The Committee had better hope that Rove, or others working for him, are not using electronic security tools like Evidence Eliminator to get rid of any potentially incriminating, damaging, or questionable material on his RNC-supplied hard drive(s).

Senator Arlen Specter (Rep. - Pennsylvania), the GOP’s Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, predicted that U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales will resign.

He made the prediction at the Committee’s Executive Business Meeting today.

The former district attorney explained that he has “a sense that when we finish our investigation, we may have the conclusion of the tenure of the attorney general…I think when our investigation is concluded, it’ll be clear even to the attorney general and the president that we’re looking at a dysfunctional department which is vital to the national welfare.”

Last month Specter grilled Gonzales when he testified before the Committee when the Attorney General attempted to explain his position and role in the firing of U.S. Atorneys.

The Vegas casinos must be taking bets and wagers on the ongoing question of whether Gonzales will resign, and if so when.