Gonzales Hires High-Powered Criminal Defense Lawyer

Newsweek:

No sooner did Alberto Gonzales resign as attorney general last month than he retained a high-powered Washington criminal-defense lawyer to represent him in continuing inquiries by Congress and the Justice Department.

Gonzales's choice of counsel, George Terwilliger--a partner at White & Case--is ironic if not surprising. A former deputy attorney general under the first President Bush, who later helped oversee GOP lawyers in the epic Florida recount battle of 2000, Terwilliger had been a White House finalist to replace Gonzales--only to be aced out at the last minute by retired federal judge Michael Mukasey.

The top concern for Gonzales, and now Terwilliger, is the expanding investigation by Glenn Fine, the Justice Department's fiercely independent inspector general, according to three legal sources familiar with the matter who declined to speak publicly about ongoing investigations. Originally, Fine's internal Justice probe--conducted in conjunction with lawyers from the department's Office of Professional Responsibility--focused on the mass dismissal of U.S. attorneys late last year. The investigation has since broadened to include, among other matters, charges that Gonzales lied to Congress about the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance program and the circumstances surrounding his late-night March 10, 2004, visit to the hospital room of then attorney general John Ashcroft. At the same time, Congress is continuing to pursue more documents on harsh CIA interrogation techniques approved by Gonzales.

Read the whole story: Newsweek

Comments

[speakingtruth2power]

01:11 PM on 10/11/2007

It truly was a time of great peril for our country!

The fascist cabal the neocons launched and the GOP enabled was running full steam ahead and without their rejection in November of 2006, they likely would have succeeded.

The danger now is that the next administration will opt for political healing instead of vigorous prosecution of these traitors to America.

[TJTelecaster]

12:46 PM on 10/11/2007

Alberto needs Bruce Cutler..

Bada Bing Bada Boom..

[JimGroom]

12:33 PM on 10/11/2007

If he has done nothing wrong and served his country so well, as pointed out by Bush, why does he need an attorney? As the right always yells about 'if you have done nothing wrong, you have nothing to fear.' Me wonders!

[getoffmedz]

11:20 AM on 10/11/2007

Bush/Cheney handlers forced out Alberto Gonzalez because of his lack of creativity and low intelligence.

The Gonzalez mess clearly shows the shambles inside of the worst administration in history.

Even Poppy can't fix this pile of shit?

Better get that property in Mariscal Estigarribia, Paraguay whipped into shape? The golf courses are getting a little brown.

LMAO

[Nyla785]

10:46 AM on 10/11/2007

One senses Gonzales is going to need that high powered lawyer. Let's rock & roll.

[squareyellowpaper]

10:18 AM on 10/11/2007

It will be good to see a war crimes commission come out of da Hague through the U.N.

Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rove and others need to be punished for inavding Iraq, occupying Iraq, and killing tens of thousands of Iraqis.

[Roafer]

11:29 AM on 10/11/2007

Yep. war criminals they are!
Powell, Wolfy, Gonzo are some of the others.

Some of the worst criminals in the history of this country, funny thing how it may take an international court to hold them accountable for their obvious crimes.

[Colmore]

10:18 AM on 10/11/2007

My wish is to see every last one of them have to spend their "blood money" from Iraq on lawyers. Trying to keep themselves out of prison should cost them ALL their wealth. Someone in government should see about annuling the agreement with Paraguay about extradition. Georgie would lose his smirk in a hurry if that were voided. He thinks he is safe, with a spread in Paraguay to run to. Close off his "exit strategy"

[BrickSykes]

12:55 PM on 10/11/2007

You know, Col, they've stolen so much wealth that I really don't think much of it will come back. The way I figure is that every politician in Texas, Florida and DC that "helped" Bush/Cheney pull off this MegaHeist was promised at least one million dollars each. My wildass guess is there were maybe ten thousand of these traitors, so that's a lot of money.

Just think of it...There are plenty of people here at HuffPo who would probably do the same things they've done for that million. Look at Tom DeLay...what kind of chance would that bum have of pulling a cool million out of his level of commerce? None! So he helps some Big Shots pull off the Greatest Travesty since Christ was nailed to the Cross! And, Bingo! This two-digit misfit has his Million! Ten thousand New Millionaires is what, about Ten Billion? That's pocket change!

Of course, the rest of the Money went to the Rockefellers and Bushes, and Halliburtons, and The Bank of London, etc. They are the big "Winners" in all this.

Damn Right, Let's Go Get'em!

Brick

[squareyellowpaper]

10:14 AM on 10/11/2007

There will be a line of Bush Neocons hiring lawyers after the president leaves office. I think we are going to find a lot of members of the Bush Administration behind bars.

There is a big purge coming.

[Rand]

09:49 AM on 10/11/2007

I guarantee you his lawyer did not graduate from a "Christian" law school!

[Alvin4NY]

12:26 PM on 10/13/2007

The more that comes to pass from speculation to confirmed fact regarding the war in Iraq, pushes me to believe that maybe Bush himself really had no idea how he was being set up in this Administration, when he agreed to run. He clearly has aged 15 years in the last two, and I'd bet a million bucks he's drinking to cope. Believe it or not, what I see in his face now, (more than anything in Press Conferences) is a man in a battlefield, out of answers, facing the firing squad, and PISSED off, seething with rage just beneath the surface. The cocky, smug attitude is not what it was. In the first few years of his administration, I think he was just reading copy and attending photo ops. Because things went ok, he didn't falter. But now, the cut and dried answers that were once so clear-have been proved false, daily, for years-and are now choking the war in Iraq, ruining the GOP, and everyone is looking at Bush. This is not what he signed up for. (and yet, from Cheney, there have been no significant character changes-other than he allowed his wife to leave the house to promote her book.) George Bush looks like a man on the brink. This must be what it feels like right before you jump into the flaming pits of hell.

[A Meat Beetle]

09:43 AM on 10/11/2007

It says "First Gay Man Elected in Alabama" and there is a picture of Alberto Gonzales. I was confused. I knew Alberto was gay--virtually all conservatives are closeted gays--but I didn't know he was running for office in Alabama.

[Not Blind]

09:30 AM on 10/11/2007

It's sad that the the "JUSTICE" department, and now our Supreme Court have utter contempt for the Rule of Law: Geneva Convention or our Constitution.
Gonzalez found ways to manipulate and circumvent every law to deny the rights and freedoms of thousands of people (at Abu Grahib, Guantanimo and elsewhere) for political gain.
What's puzzling, is that he hired legal counsel before any charges have been brought against him. If he has nothing to hide, why is he so worried? It's ironic he will invoke every legal right and privilege to evade punishment for his own trechery, treason and perjury.

[dadw5boys]

09:25 AM on 10/11/2007

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power. Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

What power has law where only money rules.
Gaius Petronius (~66 AD)

The death-knell of the republic had rung as soon as the active power became lodged in the hands of those who sought, not to do justice to all citizens, rich and poor alike, but to stand for one special class and for its interests as opposed to the interests of others. Theodore Roosevelt (1858 - 1919)

Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun. Mao Tse-Tung (1893 - 1976)

Power always has to be kept in check; power exercised in secret, especially under the cloak of national security, is doubly dangerous. William Proxmire

The provision of the Constitution giving the war-making power to Congress was dictated, as I understand it, by the following reasons. Kings had always been involving and impoverishing their people in wars, pretending generally, if not always, that the good of the people was the object. This, our Convention understood to be the most oppressive of all Kingly oppressions; and they resolved to so frame the Constitution that no one man should hold the power of bringing this oppression upon us.
Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

[progressivegreg]

09:37 AM on 10/11/2007

dad, I always have like T.R. that quote is faulous

[americanwhocares]

09:12 AM on 10/11/2007

No mystery here folks, the repug party has most likely set up a "legal defense fund" for this “ lying under oath (perjury) “ loyal Bushie. The good news is, justice is slow (like the Tom DeLay indictment) , so Bush will be out of office when Gonzo is convicted and will not get a commutation of his sentence (like scooter) or a pardon. It will be fun to see a former AG in the SUPERMAX in Colorado. Maybe they can try out some of the "robust interrogation" techniques he said were legal on him. What a hoot.

[wsblake]

08:02 AM on 10/11/2007

I hope for Gonzales' sake his lawyer doesn't think the US Constitution is just a quaint, old and outdated piece of paper.

[americanwhocares]

10:02 AM on 10/11/2007

I agree wsblake, also hope they do not use the robust interrogation on him.

[Purple Girl]

07:37 AM on 10/11/2007

Hey Alberto- time to start talking if you want to save your ass- Comprehendi. Weknow you've been avery bad boy- but give US Cheney and we'll take treason of the table. We'll just go for the corruption and deriliction of duty. If you're really good we'll get you one of the nicer prisons (not Pelican, or Sing Sing...- maybe we should be prepared and remodel Alcatraz for those smart enough to roll on the Architects- isolate but a nice view for a life sentence). Otherwise face treaon and espionage charges and sentences.

[armadillious2002]

09:05 AM on 10/11/2007

Yep gonzo - looks like bush and cheney have thrown you under the bus. Time to snitch them out and save your ass while teaching them a lesson.

[godlessclif]

09:17 AM on 10/11/2007

They will give Gonzo a pardon next year. Gonzo sees Iran Contra felons with big jobs in the George W administration. He knows the syndicate will take care of it's own.