高中英语Gonzales to Make Crucial Appearance Before Senate Committee.doc

高中英语Gonzales to Make Crucial Appearance Before Senate Committee /res/2007-12-28/r291382.html 请点击此地址下载播放器播放英语听力 听力理解 U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is scheduled to testify before Congress on April 17 about his involvement in last years firing of eight U.S. attorneys. Gonzales’ testimony is seen as crucial to keeping his job since several Democrats and even a few Republicans have called for his resignation over the controversy involving the replacement of the federal prosecutors and suspicions they were fired for political reasons. VOA National correspondent Jim Malone has more from Washington. Attorney General Gonzales will be in the hot seat when he faces the Senate Judiciary Committee, including Democrat Charles Schumer of New York. “More than any other cabinet official, the attorney general must tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but, and the more the facts come out, the more it seems the attorney general is not coming clean with what went on in the Justice Department in regard to the firing of the eight U.S. attorneys.” Democrats are expected to press Gonzales about the extent of his involvement in the firing of the prosecutors and the Justice Department’s shifting explanations for their dismissal. “What I know is that there began a process of evaluating strong performers, not as strong performers and weak performers. And, so as far as I knew, my chief of staff was involved in the process of determining who were the weak performers.” But the attorney general’s former chief of staff told Congress that Gonzales signed off on the firings and that the federal prosecutors were dismissed because they did not sufficiently support President Bush’s priorities. Democrats say mixing politics with law enforcement is highly improper. Democrat Patrick Leahy of Vermont chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee. “I want the American people to have a Justice Department and U.S. attorneys’ offices to enforce the law without regard to political influence and partisa