Gonzo Gets Served with Subpoena

Embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales got smacked with a subpoena today from the House Judiciary Committee. The subpoena (.pdf) covers documents, including emails, that Gonzales has yet to hand over in a growing scandal over the firing of eight U.S. attorneys.

Gonzales -- whose days as the nation's top lawman appear numbered (check out Slate's Gonzo-meter) -- has been busy preparing to testify in front of Congress about the dismissal of the federal prosecutors, a move that may have been politically motivated. Many of the discussions about the firings by political appointees at the Justice Department and the White House took place on outside email networks in an attempt to avoid a paper trail.

But Rep. John Conyers (D-Michigan), the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, made sure to include those extra-governmental emails in the subpoena:

"I am asking...for complete electronic information, including embedded data and metadata....all document and data file productions, whether from word processing, spreadsheet, email or instant messaging applications, or from other electronic data repositories, all in native file format so that the metadata accompanies each electronic document or data file."

Conyers also demanded:

"Complete and unredacted versions, including complete paper and electronic versions, of any and all documents created by or sent to anyone at the Department,. referring or otherwise relating in any way to the termination of [the eight former U.S. Attorneys]...or the consideration or selection of their possible replacements..."