Gonzales admits ‘mistakes’ over firings
Gonzales admits ‘mistakes’ over firings
By Caroline Daniel in Washington and Brooke Masters in New York
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
Published: March 13 2007 19:58 | Last updated: March 13 2007 19:58
Alberto Gonzales, US attorney-general, on Tuesday took responsibility for “mistakes” in the way the Justice Department handled the sacking of eight US attorneys, but said he stood by his decision to remove them.
His comments came as the Bush administration scrambled to limit the fall-out from newly released internal e-mails that showed senior White House officials played an active role in the forced resignations.
Mr Gonzales said the White House had asked two years ago about removing all 93 top prosecutors, but said he “rejected” the proposal because, “I felt that that was a bad idea and it was disruptive”.
The plans were eventually scaled back and in December seven prosecutors were told to resign for what the Justice Department insisted were performance reasons. An eighth was pushed out to make room for a protégé of Karl Rove, presidential adviser.
President George W. Bush also complained personally in October to Mr Gonzales that some prosecutors had not aggressively pursued voter fraud.
Five of the eight people fired were heading some form of political corruption probe, Democrats said.
Kyle Sampson, Mr Gonzales’ chief of staff and the Justice Department’s go-between with the White House, resigned late on Monday night, becoming the first political casualty of the affair. In an e-mail, released yesterday, Mr Sampson ranked the US attorneys in March 2005 according to their degree of loyalty. Some were ranked “bold...exhibited loyalty to the administration” while others who were “weak...chafed against administration initiatives”.
The new evidence contradicts earlier Justice Department testimony that the White House was only minimally involved. Mr Gonzales said he knew Mr Sampson had been charged with improving the quality of US attorneys but said he was unaware of the e-mails and contacts with the White House.
Senators on both sides of the aisle stepped up their criticism.
“There has been unprecedented breach of trust, abuse of power and misuse of the Justice Department,” said Democratic senator Chuck Schumer, renewing his call for Mr Gonzales to step down. “This was a longstanding plan to exact political vendettas or to make political pay-offs.”
Senator John Ensign, a Republican from Nevada, defended the fired prosecutor from his state and said the administration had given him no warning. “I was flabbergasted when I heard this. I cannot tell you. I’m not a person who raises his voice very often...[the firing] was completely mishandled by the attorney-general.”
Patrick Leahy, the Democratic chairman of the Senate judiciary committee, promised additional hearings and the House judiciary committee will seek to interview Mr Rove.
Tony Fratto, spokesman, denied the White House role had been extensive. “It was pretty limited. Karl has a recollection that Harriet Miers [former White House counsel] had mentioned the idea to him. His response was that it was ill-advised. The DoJ compiled this list and went through a lengthy process. We saw the list but at no time did we add names to it or delete names from it.”
Paul Light, a professor at New York University, said the firings reflected a tightening of White House control over agencies by installing chiefs of staff loyal to Mr Rove. “The White House used chiefs of staff all across government to force through their agenda for the last six years,” he said.
By Caroline Daniel in Washington and Brooke Masters in New York
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
Published: March 13 2007 19:58 | Last updated: March 13 2007 19:58
Alberto Gonzales, US attorney-general, on Tuesday took responsibility for “mistakes” in the way the Justice Department handled the sacking of eight US attorneys, but said he stood by his decision to remove them.
His comments came as the Bush administration scrambled to limit the fall-out from newly released internal e-mails that showed senior White House officials played an active role in the forced resignations.
Mr Gonzales said the White House had asked two years ago about removing all 93 top prosecutors, but said he “rejected” the proposal because, “I felt that that was a bad idea and it was disruptive”.
The plans were eventually scaled back and in December seven prosecutors were told to resign for what the Justice Department insisted were performance reasons. An eighth was pushed out to make room for a protégé of Karl Rove, presidential adviser.
President George W. Bush also complained personally in October to Mr Gonzales that some prosecutors had not aggressively pursued voter fraud.
Five of the eight people fired were heading some form of political corruption probe, Democrats said.
Kyle Sampson, Mr Gonzales’ chief of staff and the Justice Department’s go-between with the White House, resigned late on Monday night, becoming the first political casualty of the affair. In an e-mail, released yesterday, Mr Sampson ranked the US attorneys in March 2005 according to their degree of loyalty. Some were ranked “bold...exhibited loyalty to the administration” while others who were “weak...chafed against administration initiatives”.
The new evidence contradicts earlier Justice Department testimony that the White House was only minimally involved. Mr Gonzales said he knew Mr Sampson had been charged with improving the quality of US attorneys but said he was unaware of the e-mails and contacts with the White House.
Senators on both sides of the aisle stepped up their criticism.
“There has been unprecedented breach of trust, abuse of power and misuse of the Justice Department,” said Democratic senator Chuck Schumer, renewing his call for Mr Gonzales to step down. “This was a longstanding plan to exact political vendettas or to make political pay-offs.”
Senator John Ensign, a Republican from Nevada, defended the fired prosecutor from his state and said the administration had given him no warning. “I was flabbergasted when I heard this. I cannot tell you. I’m not a person who raises his voice very often...[the firing] was completely mishandled by the attorney-general.”
Patrick Leahy, the Democratic chairman of the Senate judiciary committee, promised additional hearings and the House judiciary committee will seek to interview Mr Rove.
Tony Fratto, spokesman, denied the White House role had been extensive. “It was pretty limited. Karl has a recollection that Harriet Miers [former White House counsel] had mentioned the idea to him. His response was that it was ill-advised. The DoJ compiled this list and went through a lengthy process. We saw the list but at no time did we add names to it or delete names from it.”
Paul Light, a professor at New York University, said the firings reflected a tightening of White House control over agencies by installing chiefs of staff loyal to Mr Rove. “The White House used chiefs of staff all across government to force through their agenda for the last six years,” he said.
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