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Attorney General Doesn't Satisfy Critics
By Laurie Kellman
The Associated Press
April 20, 2007
WASHINGTON -- Attorney General Alberto Gonzales came to Capitol Hill with only one mission: to placate Republican and Democratic senators dissatisfied with his account of how eight federal prosecutors were fired.
Apparently, he failed. For the first time, Republicans on the Judiciary Committee broke ranks and said it might be best if Gonzales stepped down.
"It is generous to say the attorney general's communications about this matter have been inconsistent," Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., told Gonzales in a packed hearing room Thursday. "The consequence should be the resignation of the attorney general."
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said in an interview after the hearing, "There are some problems that he just hasn't handled well, and it might just be best if he came to a conclusion that the department is better served if he's not there."
Some of the committee's biggest questions went unanswered: How exactly did the Justice Department settle on the eight prosecutors who were fired? Does Gonzales have command of his agency?
"You have been a forceful witness, and you have had a lot of staying power," Sen. Arlen Specter, the ranking Republican on the committee, said near the end of Gonzales' seven hours of testimony.
"But we haven't gotten, really, answers," added Specter, R-Pa. "I urged you to put on the record the details as to all the U.S. attorneys you asked to resign so that we could evaluate. And you have not done that."
Specter threw Gonzales a thin lifeline, declining to call for his resignation but making it clear that he thinks there's little argument for Gonzales keeping his post.
"His ability to manage the department has been severely undercut by the way he has handled these resignations and by the way he has handled his news conferences, his press statements and his testimony before the committee," Specter said.
Seventy-one times Gonzales claimed a faulty memory when members of the Senate committee asked such questions as who decided on the ousted eight, and whether Gonzales was or was not involved in the evaluation process.
It was not the performance President Bush seemed to be seeking when he said last March that "Al's got work to do up there." Still, White House officials said the president continued to support his longtime friend. Bush spokesman Tony Fratto said that Gonzales "can be effective going forward."
For his part, the attorney general insisted he had committed no wrongdoing.
"The moment I believe I can no longer be effective, I will resign," he said.
Gonzales faced a long day of challenges to his credibility from Democrats and Republicans, while behind him, protesters hooted and sometimes shouted, "Liar!"
Senators ticked off evidence - based on department documents and testimony from two former senior Justice officials - that Gonzales participated in discussions about at least three of the fired prosecutors: Carol Lam in San Diego, Bud Cummins in Little Rock, Ark., and David Iglesias in New Mexico.
Gonzales recalled an Oct. 11 conversation with Bush and White House political adviser Karl Rove about voter fraud concerns during which Iglesias, who was later fired, came up.
"I now understand that there was a conversation between myself and the president," Gonzales said.
Asked several times whether he was responsible for deciding whom to fire, Gonzales at times appeared to answer both yes and no. At one point he said, "I had everything to do with the decision." At others, he described the decision process as a consensus among top Justice officials, headed by former chief of staff Kyle Sampson and signed off on by Gonzales.
Democrats, many of whom have called for Gonzales' resignation, widely ridiculed his answers. But some of the sharpest criticism came from Republicans.
Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, like Gonzales a close Bush ally, called the handling of the firings "deplorable."
Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina called most of Gonzales' explanations "a stretch."
"It's clear to me that some of these people just had personality conflicts with people in your office or the White House and (they) just made up reasons to fire them," Graham said. "You have a tremendous credibility problem with the American people and the Congress."
At the end, Gonzales shook hands with the senators remaining in the room and strode out, ignoring reporters' questions. Protesters at the back of the room sang a rock tune popular with sports fans when a rival basketball player fouls out of a game: "Hey, hey, hey, goodbye."
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