July 27, 2007	Friday	Rajab 11, 1428

WASHINGTON: A senior US senator is threatening to request a perjury inquiry into President George W. Bush's attorney general amid accusations his sworn testimony before Congress contradicted an account from a top intelligence official.

The threat comes amid an escalating battle between Congress and the White House over the conduct of embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who is accused of purging prosecutors for political reasons and of dodging queries by lawmakers.

Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy said on Wednesday he is giving Gonzales until late next week to amend his testimony or he will request the Justice Department's inspector general to launch a perjury probe. “I'll ask the inspector general to determine who's telling the truth,” said Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, US media reported.

The Democrat spoke a day after Gonzales faced a tough grilling before Leahy's committee with lawmakers saying they did not trust him and accusing him of sidestepping questions. After the hearing, lawmakers pointed to documents that seemed at odds with Gonzales' version of a White House meeting in March 2004 with lawmakers.

According to a letter form the former director of US intelligence, John Negroponte, the White House meeting was a briefing on a controversial domestic spying program involving warrantless surveillance, the Washington Post and other papers reported.

But Gonzales has maintained the purpose of the meeting was to address “intelligence activities” that were under legal dispute and has denied the session focused on the warrantless wiretapping programme. A Justice Department spokesman said that Gonzales “stands by his testimony,” the Post reported.—AFP