WASHINGTON — The House Judiciary Committee issued a broad subpoena Tuesday for new documents related to the firing of eight U.S. attorneys, with panel Chairman John Conyers Jr. warning Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales that time had run out for disagreements over how much material would be handed over.
"We have been patient," said Conyers, a Michigan Democrat, but the Justice Department had not shown "any meaningful willingness" to cooperate with the widening investigation by congressional Democrats.
More than 3,400 pages of e-mails and other documents were released to the committee last month. The panel wants more information about other prosecutors who were considered for removal, as well as whether politics played a role in deciding who was terminated and who was retained.
"This information is clearly relevant," Conyers wrote to Gonzales in a letter accompanying the subpoenas.
He said the investigation was turning to whether prosecutors were fired or kept "based on improper considerations, including their willingness to make decisions as to prosecution of public corruption cases based on whether it helped, or hurt, partisan political objectives."
The subpoena gives Gonzales until Monday to provide the material -- the day before he is to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee in what many observers consider a make-or-break session for the nation's top law enforcement officer.
Bush administration officials say they have been cooperating.
"The Justice Department has been working very hard to be fully responsive to the request, as the president asked them to do," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.
Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said: "We have provided an extraordinary amount of information to the Congress so that they and the American people understand the process behind the decision to replace eight of 93 U.S. attorneys."
He said some Justice Department officials had testified about the firings, and others had given private, on-the-record interviews with committee members. This morning, William W. Mercer, acting associate attorney general, is to meet with the panel.
Roehrkasse said there were many privacy concerns about the release of other documents, particularly those dealing with personnel, and department officials "still hope and expect that we will be able to reach an accommodation with the Congress" about the materials.
