Bush Agrees `Mistakes Were Made,’ but Stands By Gonzales
WASHINGTON _ President Bush, his trip to Latin America disrupted by a firestorm over the dismissal of eight federal prosecutors, said Wednesday he is “not happy” with the Justice Department’s public explanation of the firings and added that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has “got work to do” to repair relations with Capitol Hill.
Bush insisted he had not lost confidence in Gonzales, but his attempt to deflect criticism of the White House’s involvement in the firing of the U.S. attorneys last year is likely to increase pressure on the attorney general, a longtime friend from Texas, who faces calls for resignation from leading members of Congress.
That pressure was ratcheted up late in the day when Sen. John Sununu of New Hampshire became the first congressional Republican to publicly urge Bush to fire Gonzales. “I think the president should replace him,” Sununu said in a statement issued Wednesday.
The president, who signed off on the Justice Department’s dismissal of the federal prosecutors, maintained that he did not get involved in whether to fire individual prosecutors. “U.S. attorneys and others serve at the pleasure of the president,” Bush said. “Past administrations have removed U.S. attorneys _ they’re right to do so.”
Critics concede that the president does have the right to fire U.S. attorneys. But doing so for political reasons, to aid an ally or because of displeasure with specific investigations _ as critics claim the Bush administration did _ could be politically volatile. And rarely have eight U.S. attorneys been dismissed at once during the middle of a presidential term, as opposed to when a new administration assumes office.
The clash is likely to escalate, as leading Democrats said Wednesday they plan to summon Karl Rove, Bush’s top political aide, to testify before Congress. Gonzales is expected to testify also.
Bush, during a press conference in Mexico at the close of a five-day Latin American tour, referred to Gonzales’ admission Tuesday that “mistakes were made.” Bush said, “He’s right, mistakes were made. And I’m, frankly, not happy about it, because there is a lot of confusion over what really has been a customary practice by the presidents.” Bush made it clear that while he was upset with the communication about the matter, he stood behind the firings themselves.
Although Bush denied any political motivation in the firing of the prosecutors, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., plans to subpoena Rove. But Sen. Dick Durbin, D.-Ill., Senate majority whip and a member of the Judiciary Committee, said both Gonzales and Rove should be compelled to testify before the committee about, not only their roles in the dismissals, but also the broader question of the Justice Department’s political interference with U.S. attorneys.
“There are two people who need to appear before Congress and very quickly: Attorney General Gonzales and Karl Rove. … All roads lead to Karl Rove when it comes to the political agenda,” Durbin said in an interview. “If Gonzales and Rove will not appear and testify under oath, they should be dismissed, period. … This goes to the integrity of our Department of Justice.”
Durbin added, “We know there was a political agenda for some of these U.S. attorneys, and if they didn’t play ball they were dropped from the team. … But there is a question we don’t know. How many U.S. attorneys were playing ball? How many were being contacted by the U.S. Justice Department about making political prosecutions before an election?”
The dispute showcases the new political muscle of the Democrats since they took control of Congress in January, allowing them to hold hearings and wield subpoena power. During their nearly uninterrupted six years in the minority, they could rail against the Bush administration but do little else; now the White House is being forced to contend with the Democrats in a new way.
Bush said Wednesday he had heard general complaints about U.S. attorneys from senators, but said he never “brought up a specific case” with the Justice Department, which recommended the eight firings to the White House. The White House, in turn, approved the list _ maintaining that the president neither added nor deleted any names from the list of prosecutors to be replaced.
The saga started after Bush’s re-election in 2004 with a recommendation to the Justice Department by Harriet Miers, then-counsel to the president, that all 93 of the nation’s federal prosecutors be replaced. The White House explained that Miers, whom Bush later offered and withdrew as a Supreme Court nominee, was looking for “fresh blood” in the prosecutors’ offices.
When a new president of a different party comes in, he has often replaced all or most of the U.S. attorneys. Bill Clinton did it more abruptly than most, replacing all 93 U.S. attorneys at the start of his first term. His wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., now is defending that action as the prerogative of a new president seeking to start with a clean slate of prosecutors.
Bush said he spoke with Gonzales by phone Wednesday morning. “I do have confidence in Attorney General Al Gonzales,” Bush said, standing alongside Mexican President Felipe Calderon. “We talked about his need to go up to Capitol Hill and make it very clear to members in both political parties why the Justice Department made the decisions it made, making very clear about the facts.”
Gonzales, who had admitted in a press conference Tuesday that “mistakes were made,” offered a more pointed admission Wednesday in an interview on CNN: “I think I did make some mistakes, and we’re going to take steps to ensure that that doesn’t happen again.” Asked about calls for his own resignation, he said: “That is a decision for the president of the United States to make. I’m focused on doing my job.”
Kyle Sampson, who was chief of staff to Gonzales and rejected Miers’ recommendation to replace all the prosecutors, resigned Monday after Gonzales blamed him for withholding information about the firings from Congress. But leading Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, are calling for Gonzales’ resignation.
“Simply apologizing and firing a fall guy is not enough,” Schumer, the Senate’s third-ranking Democratic leader, said in a statement Wednesday. “We need a full accounting from the White House as to what went on here, the resignation of the attorney general, and a clarification from the president of his role.”
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