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Gonzales Faces New Pressure to Resign
By Seth Stern and Keith Perine
Congressional Quarterly
April 20, 2007
Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales faced new pressure to resign Thursday as he testified before a skeptical Senate Judiciary Committee about the firings of several U.S. attorneys.
Tom Coburn told Gonzales it was time for him to resign. “I believe there’s consequences to mistakes,” Coburn, R-Okla., said.
Earlier, Gonzales said he could not recall a November 2006 meeting in which he and senior Justice Department officials discussed the firings of several U.S. attorneys.
Gonzales said although he has seen his calendar entry for the Nov. 27 meeting, “I have no recollection” it took place.
Kyle Sampson, Gonzales’ former chief of staff, told the panel last month that Gonzales attended the meeting and that Sampson and other Justice Department officials discussed a plan for firing federal prosecutors.
“I don’t know [that] a decision was made at that meeting,” Gonzales said, adding he does not recall precisely when he decided to fire seven of the eight U.S attorneys dismissed in 2006.
The embattled attorney general has been contrite and combative by turns during the hearing. His lack of ability to recall several details about the firings has left lawmakers on both sides of the panel, including some key GOP senators, scratching their heads.
One danger for Gonzales is that the more uninvolved he portrays himself in the firings, the more he looks like an attorney general who is not in charge of his own Justice Department.
Ranking minority member Arlen Specter bluntly warned Gonzales at the start of the hearing that he bore the burden of proving he could regain his credibility and remain in his job.
“This is as important a hearing as I can recall, short of the confirmation of Supreme Court justices; more important than your confirmation hearing. In a sense, it is a reconfirmation hearing,” Specter, R-Pa., said.
Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said he was “worried about” the fact that Gonzales could not recall the Nov. 27 meeting. Sessions, normally one of the most deferential members of the committee to Bush administration witnesses, was unusually blunt with Gonzales from the start.
“Your ability to lead the Department of Justice is in question,” Sessions said in his opening statement.
And Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Gonzales has a “tremendous credibility problem with members of the Congress.”
Gonzales apologized for the way the firings were handled but stood by the decision to replace the eight U.S. attorneys. He took responsibility for the decision to actually fire them, but repeatedly painted the compiling of a target list as wholly the work of other department officials.
Gonzales also made it clear he has no intention of leaving his post as the nation’s top law enforcement officer.
“I believe I continue to be effective as the attorney general of the United States,” he said.
Asked whether Bush “plans to stick with” Gonzales no matter how the hearing goes, White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino said, “I think — yes. I think the president has full confidence in the attorney general and whenever that changes for any public servant, we’ll let you know, and I see no indication of that.”
But Democrats on the judiciary panel have already made it clear that they think Gonzales is not performing well, despite the fact that he spent weeks preparing for the hearing.
“I thought the questions we asked were legitimate and I was disappointed in the answers,” said Chairman Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., after recessing the hearing for a lunch break.
New York Democrat Charles E. Schumer, who has spearheaded the committee probe and was the first senator to call for Gonzales to resign, said: “I think there is a growing and strong bipartisan consensus, even as of this moment, that he does not belong as attorney general.”
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