Procedural questions (re: Gonzales' committee appearance)

[ljm2002]

So I'm trying to figure out a couple of things, hoping someone here can enlighten me.

Firstly, why do they defer every time Gonzales asks to see a copy of some testimony? They did that in the Senate committee hearing too. It seems to me that by giving him copies of the testimony they are simply helping him to avoid getting caught in a perjury trap. If he is being truthful then why should he have to look at anyone's testimony? This is not a court proceeding, right?

Secondly, can the chairman not insist that questioning remain on topic for this hearing? This hearing was about the firing of 8 (or 9) US AGs, and whether there was anything improper in how this was done. Yet the Republican committee members used their time to ask about other topics and to grandstand and serve softballs in service of the Gonzales and Bush Administration party line. Is there some House rule (written or un-) that prevented Conyers from keeping the hearing on topic?