March 13, 2007

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales accepted responsibility for mistakes

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales accepted responsibility Tuesday for mistakes in the way the Justice Department handled the dismissal of eight federal prosecutors but he rejected calls for his resignation.
At a Justice Department news conference, Gonzales said he would find out why Congress was not told sooner that the White House was involved in discussions of who would be fired and when. He did not, however, back away his stance that the dismissals that did take place were appropriate.
Democrats in Congress have charged that the eight dismissals announced last December were politically motivated and that some of those ousted have said they felt pressured by powerful Republicans in their home states to rush investigations of potential voter fraud involving Democrats.
Justice Department officials, led by Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, told lawmakers under oath that the decision to fire eight U.S. attorneys in December was made solely by the Justice Department and said the decision was based on performance, not politics.
E-mails released Tuesday, however, revealed that the firings were considered and discussed for two years by Justice Department and White House officials.
Schumer, D-N.Y., said Gonzales repeatedly has shown more allegiance to President Bush than to citizens' legal rights since taking his job in early 2005.Gonzales earlier accepted the resignation of his top aide, Kyle Sampson. Authorities said that Sampson failed to brief other senior Justice Department officials of his discussions about the firings with then-White House counsel Harriet Miers.
Meanwhile the Senate's No. 3 Democrat said Sunday that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should resign because he is putting politics above the law. Sen. Charles Schumer cited the FBI's illegal snooping into people's private lives and the Justice Department's firing of federal prosecutors. He branded Gonzales, a former White House counsel, as one of the most political attorneys general in recent history.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

So, Congress will hold hearings and subpeona WH staff to hear testamony. They have likely heard the truth, but mr. rove & co. won't be forthcoming with anything else. It will only stop when mr. bush is gone. The Dems should move to impeach mr bush & co, even if it never happens...it will bring a halt to his political antics of this administration squashing them like a bug. Fire the CIA director for abuse against the United States. Put gasoline at $2.00 gal and freeze it in place. They have raised prices more than $0.40 in 1 month, not for a hurricane, not for a rusted pipeline, just plain old greed.