U.S. probing testimony of Gonzales

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department's internal watchdog disclosed Thursday that he was investigating whether sworn statements to Congress by Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales were "intentionally false, misleading or inappropriate."

The first official confirmation that Gonzales is under investigation within the executive branch over the truthfulness of his testimony came in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee from Glenn A. Fine, the inspector-general at the Justice Department. The committee's chairman, Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., had requested the inquiry earlier this month.

For weeks, lawmakers from both parties have questioned whether Gonzales told the truth in sworn statements to Congress on a number of issues, including his involvement in efforts to preserve the National Security Agency's policy of wiretapping without warrants, as well as his role in last year's dismissals of several U.S. attorneys for what appeared to be political reasons.

It was not clear if the investigation by the inspector-general was tied to Gonzales' announcement on Monday that he was resigning from the Justice Department, effective next month. He has offered no details for the reasoning behind his resignation or its timing, and his announcement caught top aides by surprise.

A spokesman for Gonzales, Erik Ablin, said Thursday that the attorney general had no immediate comment on the inspector-general's inquiry. Nor would Ablin address the specific accusations of possible false statements by Gonzales that have been cited by Leahy and other Democrats.

Gonzales has insisted that he has always tried to be truthful in his congressional testimony. After his honesty was repeatedly challenged at a Judiciary Committee hearing last month, Gonzales declared: "The attorney general of the United States should try to meet the highest standard, and I have tried to meet that standard." Fine's letter gives no suggestion that he has evidence to show that Gonzales has made false statements. It does show that Fine, who has broad discretion to choose what issues to investigate, does not reject the questions about the attorney general's truthfulness out of hand and will continue to look into them after Gonzales leaves the department.

Congressional officials said it would have been unusual for Fine to refuse to investigate, given the interest of Leahy and other powerful lawmakers.

Gonzales was already known to be a focus of investigations by Fine into the propriety of the Justice Department's involvement in the National Security Agency's wiretapping program and the firing of U.S. attorneys last year.