Matt Ortega

In the New York Times on Sunday, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is unable to find a job after he was forced to resign from his post last year.

He has, through friends, put out inquiries, they said, and has not found any takers. What makes Mr. Gonzales’s case extraordinary is that former attorneys general, the government’s chief lawyer, are typically highly sought.

The Times report states that Gonzales has not held a full-time job since he left the Bush administration in utter disgrace over the politicized firings of U.S. attorneys, warrantless domestic surveillance, and institutionalized torture. Instead, Gonzales is living off paid speeches and the lecture circuit — speaking engagements that often draw protests.

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) revealed at a press conference that during the Republican-led 109th Congress, Vice President Dick Cheney informed Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee that they were not allowed to issue subpoenas.

Amanda Terkel of Think Progress notes:

In fact, the Senate Judiciary Committee in the conservative-led 109th Congress, chaired by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) also attempted to ask questions about the [domestic surveillance] program’s legal justifications. But Vice President Cheney personally barred him from issuing subpoenas:

In fact, we were about to issue subpoenas then and one of the senators came to our meeting and said that the vice president had met with the Republican senators and told them they were not allowed to issue subpoenas.

Not quite sure that’s my understanding of the separation of powers, but it seemed to work at that time.

Revelations that Vice President Dick Cheney, who essentially declared himself the fourth branch of government in recent weeks, interfered in the investigative processes of the Legislative branch constitutes a major breakdown in the constitutional separation of powers.

Watch the video from C-SPAN, courtesy of Think Progress:

Documents obtained by the Associated Press show that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales may have perjured himself while testifying under oath before the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday. (Tony Snow, White House Press Secretary, says that the these hearings have produced “bupkis.”)

Senator Charles Schumer (D-New York) pressed the attorney general on a March 2004 briefing of eight Congressmembers regarding the reauthorization of the domestic surveillance program and the objections from the Department of Justice. Gonzales stated that the briefing was about “other intelligence activities.” Activities that the Bush administration never sought approval for, according to Congressman Jane Harman (D-Venice, Calif.), the current House Intelligence Committee chair who was the ranking minority member in 2004.

Instead, Gonzales said, the emergency meetings on March 10, 2004, focused on an intelligence program that he would not describe.

Gonzales, who was then serving as counsel to Bush, testified that the White House Situation Room briefing sought to inform congressional leaders about the pending expiration of the unidentified program and Justice Department objections to renew it. Those objections were led by then-Deputy Attorney General Jim Comey, who questioned the program’s legality.

“The dissent related to other intelligence activities,” Gonzales testified at Tuesday’s hearing. “The dissent was not about the terrorist surveillance program.“

“Not the TSP?” responded Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y. “Come on. If you say it’s about other, that implies not. Now say it or not.”

“It was not,” Gonzales answered. “It was about other intelligence activities.“

However, the Associated Press reports that documents show that was not the case at all. In fact, the objections were about the domestic surveillance program unearthed in a December 2005 New York Times article.

A four-page memo from the national intelligence director’s office shows that the White House briefing with the eight lawmakers on March 10, 2004, was about the terror surveillance program, or TSP.

Congress, led by the Democrats, must not let this pass. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committe, showed some encouraging signs in recent hearings and declared “I don’t trust you” to the attorney general’s face.

Even former committee chair, Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pennsylvania), jumped onboard when plainly said, “I do not find your testimony credible.”

Though he used the Washington-speak for “lying,” Senator Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin) suggested Gonzales was not forthcoming with Congress. Senator Schumer reamed Gonzales as well.

John Aravosis says “enough with the hearings” seeking testimony from Gonzales on Gonzales’ previously misleading testimony.

Democrats: Do something about it.