Gonzales's Candor, Judgment Questioned by Senators at Hearing James Rowley and Robert Schmidt
April 19 (Bloomberg) -- Senators of both parties questioned U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales's candor in describing as limited his role in the firings of eight U.S. attorneys. They warned he must restore his credibility to keep his job.
Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee subjected Gonzales to a rapid-fire barrage of questions that demanded detailed explanations of the firings and his role in them. The controversy has triggered calls from lawmakers in both parties for his removal. President George W. Bush has stood by Gonzales, saying he has confidence in him.
Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter (news, bio, voting record), the panel's top Republican, questioned an assertion in Gonzales's opening statement that he had only ``limited involvement in the process'' of replacing the prosecutors. Specter cited statements to Senate investigators by top Justice Department officials that Gonzales participated in detailed discussions.
``We have to evaluate whether you are really being forthright'' about the firings ``when the reality of your characterization of your participation is significantly, if not totally, at variance with the facts,'' Specter said.
``The Department of Justice is experiencing a crisis of leadership perhaps unrivaled'' in its history, said committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (news, bio, voting record), a Vermont Democrat. ``I fear that the Justice Department may be losing its way.''
`Serious Problems'
Democrats and Republicans chastised Gonzales for the way he handled the firings and questioned his fitness to remain in office.
``There are some very serious problems, Mr. Attorney General,'' Alabama Republican Jeff Sessions (news, bio, voting record) said. ``Your ability to lead the Department of Justice is in question.''
Sessions said Gonzales ``should have said no'' to recommendations the prosecutors be fired. ``I do not believe this was a necessary process,'' said Sessions, a former U.S. attorney. (Edit: Sessions as a former U.S. Attorney understands the dangers of overpoliticizing the Justice Department - and he's a Republican to boot!).
Gonzales stood by his decision to fire the prosecutors. Still, he said, ``Those eight attorneys deserved better. They deserved better from me and from the Department of Justice.''
Gonzales said he assigned his chief of staff, D. Kyle Sampson, to assemble recommendations from top Justice Department officials about which U.S. attorneys would be replaced. Sampson, who resigned last month, has disputed Gonzales's description of his own role, along with Associate Attorney General William Mercer and Michael Battle, former liaison to U.S. attorneys, Specter said.
`Not Being Candid'
By insisting that he didn't participate in discussions to pick candidates for firing, the attorney general was ``carrying forward this same pattern of not being candid,'' Specter told Gonzales during questioning that resembled cross-examination during a trial.
Specter, himself a former prosecutor, quoted statements by Sampson, Mercer and Battle that Gonzales attended meetings where the dismissals were discussed at length.
These included a June 2006 meeting to discuss the possible dismissal of Carol Lam, the U.S. attorney in San Diego, Specter said.
Sampson also told investigators that Gonzales was consulted about removing H.E.``Bud'' Cummins III, the U.S. attorney in Little Rock, Arkansas, who was replaced by an ex-aide to Karl Rove, Bush's top political advisers.
``Do you say it's a fair, honest characterization to say you had only a limited involvement in the process?'' Specter asked.
Knowledge of Process
``I don't want to quarrel with you,'' Gonzales replied. ``I had knowledge there was a process going on.'' He said he didn't view discussions about Lam's performance as part of Sampson's ``project'' to identify prosecutors for replacement.
``Were you involved in the process? Were you involved to a limited extent only?'' Specter said.
Gonzales said he didn't want to get in a ``debate'' with Specter.
Specter compared today's session to a confirmation hearing. ``You come to this hearing with a heavy burden of proof, to re- establish your credibility, to justify the replacement of these U.S. attorneys and to demonstrate that you can provide the leadership of the Department of Justice,'' he said.
Gonzales accused Democrats of attacking career Justice Department prosecutors by suggesting that the Bush administration was trying to politicize prosecutions.
``When you attack the department for being partisan, you're really attacking the career professionals,'' he said. ``That's not right.''
Gonzales confirmed that Rove late last year relayed complaints that three U.S. attorneys weren't vigorously prosecuting voter fraud. One of those mentioned by Rove was David C. Iglesias, the U.S. attorney in New Mexico who was fired in December.
Conversation With President
The attorney general said he couldn't recall a conversation with the president about the same complaints, which the White House said took place sometime in October. ``There was a meeting in October in which the president, as I understand it, relayed to me similar concerns,'' he said, citing an Oct. 11 calendar entry showing he had gone to the White House that day to meet with Bush.
Gonzales said he couldn't recall whether Iglesias's name was added to the list of prosecutors to be fired before or after the Nov. 7 election.
He said he had been aware of complaints that Iglesias was not aggressive enough pursuing public corruption as early as November 2005. That's when Pete Domenici (news, bio, voting record), New Mexico's Republican senator, complained to him that Iglesias was ``in over his head,'' Gonzales said. |
