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The Firing of US Federal Prosecutors
Faced with allegations the Bush administration fired U.S. federal prosecutors for political reasons, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales Tuesday acknowledged that "mistakes were made" but rejected Democratic Party calls for him to resign.
Gonzales defended the Bush administration's dismissal of eight U.S. attorneys last year, pointing out that the U.S. president has the power to appoint prosecutors.
But he hinted at tensions with Bush's closest aides, saying he agreed to a performance review of federal prosecutors nationwide after blocking a White House initiative to replace all of them with Bush appointees, which he viewed as disruptive and "a bad idea."
The review led to the eight dismissals. At issue is whether Gonzales' chief of staff, who handed in his resignation Monday, fully disclosed the extent of his White House contacts in the matter to Washington lawmakers investigating the firings.
"I acknowledge that mistakes were made here. I accept that responsibility," Gonzales told reporters. But he insisted he was not informed of all details of the process that led to the dismissals.
"I was not involved in any discussions, any memos," he said.
Gonzales rejected calls for his resignation by majority Democrats in the U.S. Congress, saying "I am committed to doing my job."
Democrats have sharply stepped up congressional scrutiny of Bush's Republican administration since winning control of both chambers in 2006 elections.
Congress is investigating whether the prosecutor firings had partisan political motives, an allegation raised by some of the dismissed officials. The White House says the firings were related to performance, mainly lax investigations of voter fraud.
The Justice Department said Tuesday that Gonzales' chief of staff, D Kyle Sampson, has resigned.
Sampson decided to go after acknowledging he did not tell Justice officials about the full extent of his exchanges with the White House, the Washington Post reported.
Charles Schumer, a Democratic member of the Senate's Judiciary Committee, said Gonzales' explanations fell short.
"If he didn't know, he shouldn't be attorney general, plain and simple. That is a sorry excuse," Schumer said on the Senate floor. "And then of course if the attorney general knew, that doesn't work either."
Source: Copyright 2007 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH
Abogados March 14, 2007 11:47 PM | Preguntas Para Abogados
