Yesterday’s news

As I reported in Scandal Fatigue, Democrats in the Senate asked the Attorney General if he stood by his earlier testimony in which he stated that there no substantial disagreements within the administration about the probity of the warrantless wiretapping program.

The Washington Post reports today:

The Justice Department said yesterday that it will not retract a sworn statement in 2006 by Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales that the Terrorist Surveillance Program had aroused no controversy inside the Bush administration, despite congressional testimony Tuesday that senior departmental officials nearly resigned in 2004 to protest such a program.

Big Mitch thinks he knows what the defense will be. Generalissimo ‘Fredo’ Gonzalez was very specific in his testimony in Congress. He said, “let me just say that I think the differing views that have been the subject of some of these stories does not – did not deal with the program that I am here testifying about today.”

My bet is that what he will say when this is explored further is that the program that he was testifying about at that time, was the program after it had made the changes obtained by the intervention of Comey and Mueller. After it was changed, it was a different program, the one that the President had confirmed, and about which there is was no substantial disagreement.

Of course, that’s yesterday’s news. Today, we learn (again from the Washington Post):

The Justice Department considered dismissing many more U.S. attorneys than officials have previously acknowledged, with at least 26 prosecutors suggested for termination between February 2005 and December 2006, according to sources familiar with documents withheld from the public.

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales testified last week that the effort was limited to eight U.S. attorneys fired since last June, and other administration officials have said that only a few others were suggested for removal.

Will Gonzalez stand by his testimony, again? Is this yet another scandal?

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s news.

“… and tell ’em Big Mitch sent ya!”