Don’t look this Alberto thing is getting ugly
First mad props to the Congress. We finally have some oversight. Now, we are seeing what is behind the cough. Man, there is some serious encrusted dirt back there.
So, Alberto told Congress what in essence would be a little fib less than 2 months ago. He said, (in front of the Senate Judiciary committee on Jan 18) that, “I think I would never, ever make a change in a United States attorney for political reasons or if it would in any way jeopardize an ongoing serious investigation. I just would not do it.”
He also said (I’m not sure if he said this to AP or in the Senate, I’m researching now.) “And so let me publicly sort of preempt perhaps a question you’re going to ask me, and that is: I am fully committed, as the administration’s fully committed, to ensure that, with respect to every United States attorney position in this country, we will have a presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed United States attorney.
I think a United States attorney who I view as the leader, law enforcement leader, my representative in the community — I think he has greater imprimatur of authority, if in fact that person’s been confirmed by the Senate.”
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From WaPo:
Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales took responsibility yesterday for “mistakes” related to the firing of eight U.S. attorneys last year but rejected calls for his resignation from Democrats who accuse him of misleading Congress.
“I acknowledge that mistakes were made here. I accept that responsibility,” Gonzales said. He said he did not know the details of the plan to fire the prosecutors, but he defended the dismissals: “I stand by the decision, and I think it was a right decision.”
The remarks came after the Justice Department released e-mails and other documents showing that, despite months of administration statements to the contrary, the White House more than two years ago initiated the process that led to the dismissals, and that the decisions were heavily influenced by assessments of the prosecutors’ political loyalty. President Bush and senior White House adviser Karl Rove also separately passed along complaints to Gonzales that prosecutors were not aggressively pursuing voter-fraud cases, officials said.
The revelations prompted another outcry on Capitol Hill over the firings and new demands for Gonzales’s resignation from key Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.), Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (Mass.). “It appears he’s over his head in this job,” Reid said.
Even Republicans who have supported the ousters sharply criticized the attorney general.
But Gonzales said he is “here not because I give up,” and White House counselor Dan Bartlett said Bush has “all the confidence in the world” in Gonzales, who has served Bush for more than 12 years in Texas and Washington. (more…)
