T
Too_Many_Tools
Guest
Gonzales is so screwed....couldn't happen to a nicer Republican.
"But the president expressed confidence in Gonzales, a longtime
friend, and defended the firings. "What Al did and what the Justice
Department did was appropriate," he said."
Does this remind you of Bush and Brownie of FEMA?
So do we get to prosecute this guy after he is fired? If so, get me
some tickets for the front seats.
The Republicans are making it so easy for the Democrats to get the
White House in 2008....
Laugh....laugh....laugh....
TMT
Republican says Gonzales should be fired By LAURIE KELLMAN, Associated
Press Writer
Sen. John Sununu (news, bio, voting record) of New Hampshire on
Wednesday became the first Republican in Congress to call for Attorney
General Alberto Gonzales' dismissal, hours after President Bush
expressed confidence in his embattled Cabinet officer.
Gonzales has been fending off Democratic demands for his firing in the
wake of disclosures surrounding the ousters of eight U.S. attorneys -
dismissals Democrats have characterized as a politically motivated
purge.
Support from many Republicans had been muted, but there was no
outright GOP call for his dismissal until now.
"I think the president should replace him," Sununu said in an
interview with The Associated Press. "I think the attorney general
should be fired."
Bush, at a news conference in Mexico, told reporters when asked about
the controversy: "Mistakes were made. And I'm frankly not happy about
them."
But the president expressed confidence in Gonzales, a longtime friend,
and defended the firings. "What Al did and what the Justice Department
did was appropriate," he said.
Still, Bush left himself room to sack the attorney general.
"What was mishandled was the explanation of the cases to the
Congress," Bush said. "And Al's got work to do up there."
The developments unfolded as presidential aides labored to protect
White House political director Karl Rove and former counsel Harriet
Miers from congressional subpoenas. The Senate Judiciary Committee was
considering seeking subpoenas for Rove, Miers, deputy White House
counsel William Kelley and five Justice Department officials.
The White House dispatched presidential counsel Fred Fielding to
Capitol Hill to negotiate the terms of any testimony by White House
aides in an institutional tug of war reminiscent of the Watergate and
the Iran-Contra scandals.
Sununu has long been a critic of what he has said were the White
House's disregard for civil liberties in its war on terrorism and
played a large part in forcing the administration to accept new curbs
on its power during the reauthorization of the Patriot Act last year.
On Tuesday, he said firings of the prosecutors, together with a report
last Friday by the Justice Department's inspector general criticizing
the administration's use of secret national security letters to obtain
personal records in terrorism probes, shattered his confidence in
Gonzales.
"We need to have a strong, credible attorney general that has the
confidence of Congress and the American people," said Sununu, who
faces a tough re-election campaign next year. "Alberto Gonzales can't
fill that role."
The White House response was curt.
"We're disappointed, obviously," said White House spokesman Tony Snow.
A Justice Department spokeswoman refused to comment on Sununu's
remarks.
Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), R-Ariz., in an interview
with The Associated Press while campaigning in Iowa for the GOP
nomination for president, said Gonzales shouldn't be forced out and
that he should be given ample time to defend himself. Asked if
Gonzales should resign, McCain said: "I don't think so. But there
certainly are a lot of questions that need to be answered. There are
problems here, and I think he should be made to answer for them."
Some of the dismissed prosecutors complained at hearings last week
that lawmakers tried to influence political corruption investigations.
Several also said there had been Justice Department attempts to
intimidate them.
E-mails between the Justice Department and the White House, released
Tuesday, contradicted the administration's earlier contention that
Bush's aides had only limited involvement in the firings.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record), D-Nev.,
predicted Wednesday that Gonzales would soon be out.
"I think he is gone. I don't think he'll last long," Reid said in an
interview with Nevada reporters. Asked how long, Reid responded:
"Days."
Fielding, the White House counsel negotiating with lawmakers over
possible administration testimony, is a veteran of the Nixon and
Reagan administrations. He was hired by Bush this year to handle just
these kinds of demands by the Democratic-controlled Congress.
It was unclear whether Bush would grant Democratic requests for his
own aides to tell their stories under oath.
For his part, Gonzales, in a brief hallway interview with reporters,
said he intended to cooperate where his aides are concerned.
"We want Congress to know, to understand what happened here," he said.
"We'll work it out."
Republicans weren't immediately piling behind Sununu's call for
Gonzales' firing.
"I don't believe the attorney general should resign over this," said
Sen. Judd Gregg (news, bio, voting record), R-N.H. "I don't believe
his ability to pursue the terrorist threat has been compromised to the
extent that he should resign."
The House and Senate Judiciary committees have invited Rove, Miers and
her deputy, Kelley, to testify voluntarily about their roles in the
firings. Gonzales has pledged to allow five of his aides involved in
the dismissals to testify. As insurance, the Senate panel is expected
to consider subpoenas for the whole group.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters after the meeting with
Fielding that the counsel promised a yes-or-no answer by Friday.
"He said it was his goal to get us both the documents and the
witnesses that we seek to question," Schumer said. The White House was
expected to issue some conditions, but Fielding "said his intention
was not to stonewall," Schumer added.
U.S. attorneys are the federal government's prosecutors and serve at
the pleasure of the president. They can be hired or fired for any
reason, or none at all.
However, when the White House dismissed eight federal prosecutors
without explanation, Democrats accused the administration of trying to
make way for political allies under a new Patriot Act provision that
permits the attorney general to appoint U.S. attorneys without Senate
confirmation.
The fired prosecutors are: Carol Lam and Kevin Ryan of California, Bud
Cummins of Arkansas, Paul Charlton of Arizona, John McKay of
Washington state, Daniel Bogden of Nevada, David Iglesias of New
Mexico and Margaret Chiara of Michigan.
Gonzales and the White House denied the charges of a political purge
and said they intended to submit the names of the replacements for
confirmation.
They initially said the White House had only limited involvement in
the firings. But e-mails released by the agency this week made clear
that the firings were the result of a two-year campaign to purge the
ranks of U.S. attorneys for various reasons, including chafing at the
administration's crime-fighting priorities.
The e-mail exchanges between Gonzales' chief of staff and Miers and
Kelley made clear the White House was deeply involved in the plan.
Miers, at that time White House counsel, at one point suggested firing
all 93 U.S. attorneys. That idea was rebuffed by Kyle Sampson,
Gonzales' top aide. Rove is mentioned in several of the e-mails as key
to the process. Kelley gave the green light for the firings in another
e-mail, saying the White House offices of legislative affairs,
political affairs and communications had signed off on it.
Sampson resigned on Tuesday. Mike Battle, who oversaw the U.S.
attorneys, announced his resignation last week in a departure the
agency said had been long planned.
Bush, and Gonzales a day earlier, used a phrase made famous in
previous scandals - "Mistakes were made" - and pledged to set things
right with Congress.
Appearing Wednesday on NBC's "Today" show, Gonzales said he had a
"general knowledge" of Sampson's conversations with Miers about the
prosecutors, but said, "I was obviously not aware of all
communications."
___
Associated Press writers Lara Jakes Jordan, Erica Werner and Terence
Hunt contributed to this report.
"But the president expressed confidence in Gonzales, a longtime
friend, and defended the firings. "What Al did and what the Justice
Department did was appropriate," he said."
Does this remind you of Bush and Brownie of FEMA?
So do we get to prosecute this guy after he is fired? If so, get me
some tickets for the front seats.
The Republicans are making it so easy for the Democrats to get the
White House in 2008....
Laugh....laugh....laugh....
TMT
Republican says Gonzales should be fired By LAURIE KELLMAN, Associated
Press Writer
Sen. John Sununu (news, bio, voting record) of New Hampshire on
Wednesday became the first Republican in Congress to call for Attorney
General Alberto Gonzales' dismissal, hours after President Bush
expressed confidence in his embattled Cabinet officer.
Gonzales has been fending off Democratic demands for his firing in the
wake of disclosures surrounding the ousters of eight U.S. attorneys -
dismissals Democrats have characterized as a politically motivated
purge.
Support from many Republicans had been muted, but there was no
outright GOP call for his dismissal until now.
"I think the president should replace him," Sununu said in an
interview with The Associated Press. "I think the attorney general
should be fired."
Bush, at a news conference in Mexico, told reporters when asked about
the controversy: "Mistakes were made. And I'm frankly not happy about
them."
But the president expressed confidence in Gonzales, a longtime friend,
and defended the firings. "What Al did and what the Justice Department
did was appropriate," he said.
Still, Bush left himself room to sack the attorney general.
"What was mishandled was the explanation of the cases to the
Congress," Bush said. "And Al's got work to do up there."
The developments unfolded as presidential aides labored to protect
White House political director Karl Rove and former counsel Harriet
Miers from congressional subpoenas. The Senate Judiciary Committee was
considering seeking subpoenas for Rove, Miers, deputy White House
counsel William Kelley and five Justice Department officials.
The White House dispatched presidential counsel Fred Fielding to
Capitol Hill to negotiate the terms of any testimony by White House
aides in an institutional tug of war reminiscent of the Watergate and
the Iran-Contra scandals.
Sununu has long been a critic of what he has said were the White
House's disregard for civil liberties in its war on terrorism and
played a large part in forcing the administration to accept new curbs
on its power during the reauthorization of the Patriot Act last year.
On Tuesday, he said firings of the prosecutors, together with a report
last Friday by the Justice Department's inspector general criticizing
the administration's use of secret national security letters to obtain
personal records in terrorism probes, shattered his confidence in
Gonzales.
"We need to have a strong, credible attorney general that has the
confidence of Congress and the American people," said Sununu, who
faces a tough re-election campaign next year. "Alberto Gonzales can't
fill that role."
The White House response was curt.
"We're disappointed, obviously," said White House spokesman Tony Snow.
A Justice Department spokeswoman refused to comment on Sununu's
remarks.
Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), R-Ariz., in an interview
with The Associated Press while campaigning in Iowa for the GOP
nomination for president, said Gonzales shouldn't be forced out and
that he should be given ample time to defend himself. Asked if
Gonzales should resign, McCain said: "I don't think so. But there
certainly are a lot of questions that need to be answered. There are
problems here, and I think he should be made to answer for them."
Some of the dismissed prosecutors complained at hearings last week
that lawmakers tried to influence political corruption investigations.
Several also said there had been Justice Department attempts to
intimidate them.
E-mails between the Justice Department and the White House, released
Tuesday, contradicted the administration's earlier contention that
Bush's aides had only limited involvement in the firings.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record), D-Nev.,
predicted Wednesday that Gonzales would soon be out.
"I think he is gone. I don't think he'll last long," Reid said in an
interview with Nevada reporters. Asked how long, Reid responded:
"Days."
Fielding, the White House counsel negotiating with lawmakers over
possible administration testimony, is a veteran of the Nixon and
Reagan administrations. He was hired by Bush this year to handle just
these kinds of demands by the Democratic-controlled Congress.
It was unclear whether Bush would grant Democratic requests for his
own aides to tell their stories under oath.
For his part, Gonzales, in a brief hallway interview with reporters,
said he intended to cooperate where his aides are concerned.
"We want Congress to know, to understand what happened here," he said.
"We'll work it out."
Republicans weren't immediately piling behind Sununu's call for
Gonzales' firing.
"I don't believe the attorney general should resign over this," said
Sen. Judd Gregg (news, bio, voting record), R-N.H. "I don't believe
his ability to pursue the terrorist threat has been compromised to the
extent that he should resign."
The House and Senate Judiciary committees have invited Rove, Miers and
her deputy, Kelley, to testify voluntarily about their roles in the
firings. Gonzales has pledged to allow five of his aides involved in
the dismissals to testify. As insurance, the Senate panel is expected
to consider subpoenas for the whole group.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters after the meeting with
Fielding that the counsel promised a yes-or-no answer by Friday.
"He said it was his goal to get us both the documents and the
witnesses that we seek to question," Schumer said. The White House was
expected to issue some conditions, but Fielding "said his intention
was not to stonewall," Schumer added.
U.S. attorneys are the federal government's prosecutors and serve at
the pleasure of the president. They can be hired or fired for any
reason, or none at all.
However, when the White House dismissed eight federal prosecutors
without explanation, Democrats accused the administration of trying to
make way for political allies under a new Patriot Act provision that
permits the attorney general to appoint U.S. attorneys without Senate
confirmation.
The fired prosecutors are: Carol Lam and Kevin Ryan of California, Bud
Cummins of Arkansas, Paul Charlton of Arizona, John McKay of
Washington state, Daniel Bogden of Nevada, David Iglesias of New
Mexico and Margaret Chiara of Michigan.
Gonzales and the White House denied the charges of a political purge
and said they intended to submit the names of the replacements for
confirmation.
They initially said the White House had only limited involvement in
the firings. But e-mails released by the agency this week made clear
that the firings were the result of a two-year campaign to purge the
ranks of U.S. attorneys for various reasons, including chafing at the
administration's crime-fighting priorities.
The e-mail exchanges between Gonzales' chief of staff and Miers and
Kelley made clear the White House was deeply involved in the plan.
Miers, at that time White House counsel, at one point suggested firing
all 93 U.S. attorneys. That idea was rebuffed by Kyle Sampson,
Gonzales' top aide. Rove is mentioned in several of the e-mails as key
to the process. Kelley gave the green light for the firings in another
e-mail, saying the White House offices of legislative affairs,
political affairs and communications had signed off on it.
Sampson resigned on Tuesday. Mike Battle, who oversaw the U.S.
attorneys, announced his resignation last week in a departure the
agency said had been long planned.
Bush, and Gonzales a day earlier, used a phrase made famous in
previous scandals - "Mistakes were made" - and pledged to set things
right with Congress.
Appearing Wednesday on NBC's "Today" show, Gonzales said he had a
"general knowledge" of Sampson's conversations with Miers about the
prosecutors, but said, "I was obviously not aware of all
communications."
___
Associated Press writers Lara Jakes Jordan, Erica Werner and Terence
Hunt contributed to this report.
