Jan 13, 2009 9:15 am US/Pacific
Obama To Receive Report On Fired U.S. Attorneys
House Judiciary Committee Requested Documents As Part Of Investigation Of Former Attorney General
WASHINGTON (AP) ―
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Tuesday's order by U.S. District Judge John Bates is a minor victory for the House Judiciary Committee's effort to get the documents as part of an investigation that led to the resignation of former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. (File)
AP
A federal judge says the incoming administration of Barack Obama must be given copies of documents the Bush White House has been withholding from Congress on the firings of nine U.S. attorneys.
Tuesday's order by U.S. District Judge John Bates is a minor victory for the House Judiciary Committee's effort to get the documents as part of an investigation that led to the resignation of former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
Bates agreed with the committee that if Congress wins its court fight over the documents that they would not be readily available once they were shipped to the National Archives when President George W. Bush leaves office on Jan. 20.
In addition to the fight over documents, Congress is pressing for former White House officials Karl Rove and Harriet Miers and current White House chief of staff Josh Bolten to testify about the firings. Bush has refused to let his former aides testify in public.
The House responded by finding Miers and Bolten in contempt. The Senate Judiciary Committee found Rove and Bolten in contempt for refusing to cooperate with a similar inquiry into the dismissal of nine U.S. attorneys.
Questions over the prosecutor firings led to the resignation of Gonzales, a longtime ally of the president, and the departure of dozens of top officials at the Justice Department.
Internal Justice Department investigations found that Gonzales' aides broke the law by letting Bush administration politics dictate the hiring of prosecutors, immigration judges and other career government lawyers.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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