[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 83 (Monday, May 21, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H5515-H5516]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1915
                   THE MYSTERIOUS MURDER OF TOM WALES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Washington (Mr. McDermott) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, in recent months, the American people 
have been riveted by the disclosure surrounding the firing of eight 
U.S. Attorneys, including John McKay of my hometown of Seattle.
  The other day, the number two person at the Justice Department 
testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Even in jaded 
Washington, D.C., the revelations were so shocking that the Washington 
Post published an editorial, which I submit for printing in the Record. 
Let me read part of it.
  ``James B. Comey, the straight-as-an-arrow former number two official 
of the Justice Department, yesterday offered the Senate Judiciary 
Committee an account of Bush administration lawlessness so shocking it 
would have been unbelievable coming from a less reputable source.''
  The American people understand that political appointees are a fact 
of life when a new President takes office, but the American people 
demand that competence and integrity overrule political party 
affiliation.
  The Justice Department has thousands of dedicated public servants who 
know what it means to be respected and uphold the law. And then there 
is Gonzalez.
  The revelations began over the firing of eight U.S. Attorneys. Now 
there is a new revelation about Gonzalez trying to force the previous 
Attorney General to agree to anything the White House wanted. What else 
don't we know?
  For the last 6 years, congressional oversight was nonexistent. What 
cases were priorities and what cases were not? And why not? What did 
and did not happen following the murder of an Assistant U.S. Attorney 
in Seattle?
  My friend, Tom Wales, had been the Assistant U.S. Attorney in Seattle 
under the previous administration. He was a well-respected law 
enforcement officer known for his pursuit of white color criminals. He 
was also a vocal and strong advocate for gun control. Tom was shot and 
killed in his home while working at his computer one late night in 
October. If Tom was killed, as some suspect, because of those he 
brought to justice, then he died in the line of duty. No one has ever 
been charged, although there are news accounts that indicate 
authorities have a prime suspect.
  Now there is a new suspicion. Did the White House want its appointee 
in Seattle, John McKay, fired in part because he was vigorously 
pursuing the Tom Wales case?
  Someone sent me a blog recently asking the same fundamental question: 
Why would Justice not throw every available resource into finding Tom's 
killer? Why would they not want the investigation by their own U.S. 
Attorney in Seattle to proceed with every possible resource?
  Some bloggers say it is all because of Tom's advocacy for gun 
control, but the answer may be tragically simpler. Maybe Gonzalez 
wanted the Republican U.S. Attorney appointee in Seattle to spend all 
his time on something else; to find or, if necessary, invent voter 
fraud in a close Washington governor's race, narrowly won by the 
Democrat. Could they have been that arrogant, that uncaring about the 
death of a good man, an Assistant U.S. Attorney? Most people would have 
dismissed that notion until recently. Now the revelations about the 
Attorney General and the attitude he took toward cases, perhaps 
including the murder of a Federal officer in Seattle, cannot be 
adequately described by words like shocking.
  At this point, I believe there are two necessary mandatory actions 
that must be taken. The Attorney General must go, now. His allegiance 
to partisan political interests above his oath to uphold the laws of 
the United States is outrageous.
  Secondly, even if it requires the appointment of an outside 
independent prosecutor, the Justice Department should immediately, 
vigorously and conclusively investigate the murder of Tom Wales and not 
stop until the killer is charged and brought to justice. We owe that to 
Tom Wales, his family, and every law enforcement officer who risks his 
or her life every day in service to the American people.

                [From the Washington Post, May 16, 2007]

Mr. Comey's Tale: A Standoff at a Hospital Bedside Speaks Volumes About 
                       Attorney General Gonzales

       James B. Comey, the straight-as-an-arrow former No. 2 
     official at the Justice Department, yesterday offered the 
     Senate Judiciary Committee an account of Bush administration 
     lawlessness so shocking it would have been unbelievable 
     coming from a less reputable source. The episode involved a 
     2004 nighttime visit to the hospital room of then-Attorney 
     General John D. Ashcroft by Alberto Gonzales, then the White 
     House counsel, and Andrew H. Card Jr., then the White House 
     chief of staff. Only the broadest outlines of this visit were 
     previously known: that Mr. Comey, who was acting as attorney 
     general during Mr. Ashcroft's illness, had refused to 
     recertify the legality of the administration's warrantless 
     wiretapping program; that Mr. Gonzales and Mr. Card had tried 
     to do an end-run around Mr. Comey; that Mr. Ashcroft had 
     rebuffed them.
       Mr. Comey's vivid depiction, worthy of a Hollywood script, 
     showed the lengths to which the administration and the man 
     who is now attorney general were willing to go to pursue the 
     surveillance program. First, they tried to coerce a man in 
     intensive care--a man so sick he had transferred the reins of 
     power to Mr. Comey--to grant them legal approval. Having 
     failed, they were willing to defy the conclusions of the 
     nation's chief law enforcement officer and pursue the 
     surveillance without Justice's authorization. Only in the 
     face of the prospect of mass resignations--Mr. Comey, FBI 
     Director Robert S. Mueller III and most likely Mr. Ashcroft 
     himself--did the president back down.
       As Mr. Comey testified, ``I couldn't stay, if the 
     administration was going to engage in conduct that the 
     Department of Justice had said had no legal basis.'' The 
     crisis was averted only when, the morning after the program 
     was reauthorized without Justice's approval, President Bush 
     agreed to fix whatever problem Justice had with it (the 
     details remain classified). ``We had the president's 
     direction to do . . . what the Justice Department believed 
     was necessary to put this matter on a footing where we could 
     certify to its legality,'' Mr. Comey said.
       The dramatic details should not obscure the bottom line: 
     the administration's alarming willingness, championed by, 
     among others, Vice President Cheney and his counsel, David 
     Addington, to ignore its own lawyers. Remember, this was a 
     Justice Department that had embraced an expansive view of the 
     president's inherent constitutional powers, allowing the 
     administration to dispense with

[[Page H5516]]

     following the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. 
     Justice's conclusions are supposed to be the final word in 
     the executive branch about what is lawful or not, and the 
     administration has emphasized since the warrantless 
     wiretapping story broke that it was being done under the 
     department's supervision.
       Now, it emerges, they were willing to override Justice if 
     need be. That Mr. Gonzales is now in charge of the department 
     he tried to steamroll may be most disturbing of all.

                          ____________________