Leahy grills Gonzales

04/20/2007

By Erin Kelly
Burlington Free Press

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Patrick Leahy vowed to "get to the truth" Thursday as he led tough questioning of embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales about the controversial firing of eight U.S. attorneys.

Leahy, a former prosecutor who heads the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the Justice Department under Gonzales' leadership "seems to have lost its way."

"I cannot excuse the attorney general's actions and his failures from the outset to be forthright with us, with those (fired) prosecutors and with the American people," the Vermont Democrat said in an opening statement at a Judiciary Committee hearing.

Leahy called the hearing to press Gonzales about discrepancies between his earlier testimony and the testimony of his top aides over his role in the firings.

Gonzales, who faced harsh criticism from many of the panel's Republicans as well as Democrats, said he would not resign as long as he believes he can still be effective.

"And I still believe I can be," he said.

Gonzales has been under attack by Congress since January after fired prosecutors protested that they lost their jobs simply because they were not deemed loyal enough to President Bush.

Since then, the controversy has grown as some of Gonzales' own top aides contradicted his assertions that he had little involvement in deciding who would be fired.

"He cannot escape accountability for signing off on this plan to undercut effective federal prosecutors and to infect federal law enforcement with narrow political goals," Leahy said.

Democratic and Republican senators told Gonzales that his credibility has been damaged and his reputation is on the line.

The attorney general said questions about his truthfulness and "attacks on my integrity have been very painful to me."

"To be sure, I should have been more precise when discussing this matter," Gonzales told the senators.

"I understand why some of my statements generated confusion, and I have subsequently tried to clarify my words. My misstatements were my mistakes -- no one else's, and I accept complete and full responsibility," he said.

Gonzales apologized to the fired attorneys and their families for "allowing this matter to become an unfortunate and undignified public spectacle." However, he said he still believes the firings were justified and described some of the prosecutors as having poor management skills.

Under questioning by Leahy, Gonzales confirmed that presidential adviser Karl Rove spoke to him last fall about his concern that voter fraud was not being prosecuted aggressively enough in several states, including New Mexico. Shortly after that, in December, the U.S. attorney for New Mexico, David Iglesias, was fired along with other prosecutors.

Leahy said that shows that political considerations were paramount in deciding who should be fired. Gonzales denied that.

"The White House political operatives who helped spearhead this plan did not have effective and objective law enforcement as their principal goal," Leahy said. "They would be happy to reduce the United States attorneys offices to another political arm of the administration."

The Vermonter had to bang his gavel several times during the hearing to quiet anti-Gonzales demonstrators in the audience. At one point, a man who shouted at Gonzales was escorted out of the hearing room by a police officer.

"Nobody believes more in the First Amendment than I do, but we've got to maintain decorum," Leahy said.

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