Impeach AG Alberto Gonzales

The Washington Post has unearthed copies of internal FBI reports that prove that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales lied to Congress in testimony on 27 April 2005, well before the myriad current scandals broke last year. In testimony that day, the AG summed up his stance during questioning surrounding possible illegal FBI activity under the Patriot Act this way.

"There has not been one verified case of civil liberties abuse."

However…

In March, and again last month, the Justice Department's inspector general and internal FBI reviews found that the bureau repeatedly misused its Patriot-Act power to subpoena e-mail or financial records without court orders. But years before the reviews were completed -- and word of them became public -- Attorney General Gonzales knew that the abuses surrounding so-called National Security Letters existed.

Reports the Post:

The acts recounted in the FBI reports included unauthorized surveillance, an illegal property search and a case in which an Internet firm improperly turned over a compact disc with data that the FBI was not entitled to collect, the documents show. Gonzales was copied on each report that said administrative rules or laws protecting civil liberties and privacy had been violated.

The reports also alerted Gonzales in 2005 to problems with the FBI's use of an anti-terrorism tool known as a national security letter (NSL), well before the Justice Department's inspector general brought widespread abuse of the letters in 2004 and 2005 to light in a stinging report this past March.

And how severe were the civil liberties violations?

Some of the mistakes sent to Gonzales's attention were egregious. In May 2005, an NSL containing an incorrect phone number allowed the FBI to wiretap a U.S. citizen that had nothing to do with the target of the bureau's investigation. An earlier slip-up authorized surveillance on a phone line after a court ordered the wiretapping stopped. In June 2006, the FBI sought to cover-up an "over-collection": when a superior agent learned of the mistake, he recommended going to bureau lawyers to see if there wasn't language in the NSL "that would cover the extra material." Many of the reports were serious enough to be sent as well to President Bush's Intelligence Oversight Board, which monitors civil-liberties abuses. (Some the FBI decided it was best the board didn't know about.)

The Attorney General has been a blight on America in his time serving the Bush Administration in Washington. His service has indeed been only for Bush, not the nation. At every turn, he has worked in his role both as White House Counsel and as AG to curtail – not to protect – the rights of Americans held under both the law and the Constitution. He has repeatedly lied under oath to Congress. He has repeatedly lied to the American public. This is a man for whom there can be no defense. His actions speak for themselves.

The President has made it clear that he will stand by his man until the bitter end. This is in defense of his own repugnant actions, the nation be damned. It is clear now that there is only one recourse to remove this stain on the nation and begin to repair the damage that he has done to the institution sworn to uphold the law for all Americans regardless of their standing. Lying in fact to Congress regarding matters of such importance constitutes high crimes against both the Constitution and the people of this country.

I have come to the conclusion that Alberto Gonzales must be impeached by the House and that he should then be convicted by the Senate once impeached. His service to Bush is a blow to Liberty. His forced removal, when he will not step aside for the good of all, will help return Liberty to our lands.

I urge you to contact your Member of Congress and indicated to him or her that you want Articles of Impeachment to be filed against Gonzales, so that once upheld they can be forwarded to the Senate to consider his conviction. I do not call for this lightly. This is not an action to be taken for political gain in any way, shape, or form. Ultimately, however, it is the President and Gonzales himself that have forced this action and it is action that must now be taken.

Dear Representative XXX:

I call on you today as a citizen concerned by our government’s continuing, illegal curtailing of Constitutionally-protected civil liberties. Many of these abuses have happened at the behest of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales during his time at the head of the Department of Justice. The Attorney General has testified before both branches of Congress on many occasions and we now know that he has lied under oath many times while so doing. The damage that he has done to our country as a whole and specifically to the Department of Justice is unforgivable. The matters about which he has lied constitute high crimes under the Constitution.

President Bush has made it clear that he will not fire Gonzales and Gonzales himself has further made it clear that he will not resign. I, therefore, urge you to file Articles of Impeachment against Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, so that once upheld, they can be forwarded to the Senate to consider his conviction. I do not call for this lightly. This is not an action to be taken for political gain in any way, shape, or form. Ultimately, however, it is the President and Gonzales himself that have forced this action and it is action that must now be taken.

Respectfully,

John Q. Public
555 Main Street
Anytown TX 55555

10 July 2007

Postscript of 28 July 2007: Since this writing, additional evidence against Gonzales has come to light, much of which I have cataloged in this blog. I will continue to do so.

I believe that it would be helpful to send this letter not only to your Congressperson in the House of Representatives, but also to Speaker of the House, the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and the Minority Leader in the House. Contact information for the Speaker of the House includes the following:

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
United States House of Representatives
235 Cannon House Office Building
Washington DC 20515-0508
202-225-4965 (DC Phone)
202-225-4188 (DC Fax)
sf.nancy@mail.house.gov (DC E-mail)

Contact information for the Judiciary Committee Chairman includes the following:

The Honorable John Conyers, Jr.
2426 Rayburn Building
Washington DC 20515
202-225-5126 (DC Phone)
202-225-0072 (DC Fax)
John.Conyers@mail.house.gov (DC e-mail)

Contact information for the House Minority Leader includes the following:

The Honorable John Boehner
1011 Longworth H.O.B.
Washington DC 20515
202-225-6205 (DC Phone)
202-225-0704 (DC Fax)
No listed e-mail address.

Even if you have already done so, reiterating your convictions on this matter can only help. I will send out my call for this impeachment every month from now until either the call is answered or this man leaves office by another avenue. Please join me.

Postscript Two, 4 September 2007: On 27 August 2007, Alberto Gonzales announced that he was resigning his position as Attorney General of the United States. While I certainly hope that the criminal investigations of Gonzales both in Congress and elsewhere will continue, calls for his impeachment are no longer needed. I thank those of you who took up my challenge to call for his impeachment in the hope that justice would be done.