Gonzales acknowledges role in attorney firings

[maddezmom]

Source: LA Times

Gonzales acknowledges role in attorney firings
By Richard B. Schmitt - The Los Angeles Times

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Washington — Saying he wanted to be “more precise” about what he had done, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales acknowledged Monday that he had a role in approving an aide’s recommendation to dismiss several U.S. attorneys last year, but he denied that he was involved in the process of identifying which individual prosecutors should be replaced.

His remarks, in an interview with NBC News, were the first by Gonzales seeking to reconcile his public statements about his involvement in the firings with internal e-mails made public by the Justice Department on Friday.

The differences between his public words and the private e-mail traffic have added to concerns about Gonzales among members of Congress, a growing number of whom are losing confidence in his management of the Justice Department and are urging him to resign.

But the White House has said that Gonzales continues to enjoy the backing of the president. Gonzales also has said that Justice Department officials will fully cooperate with congressional investigators to show that the firings were not politically motivated, as some Democrats have alleged.



Read more: http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2007/mar/27/gonzales_acknowledges_role_attorney_firings/

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Gonzales: Firings were not improper
The attorney general talks to NBC's Pete Williams in an exclusive interview
March 26: NBC's Pete Williams sits down with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales for an exclusive interview on his role in the firings of eight U.S. attorneys.

Pete Williams: Mr. Attorney General, what is it that you would like people to know about this controversy?


Attorney General Alberto Gonzales: Let me begin with the attacks on my credibility, which really have pained me and my family. You know, I have grown up — I grew up with nothing but my integrity. And someday, when I leave this office, I am confident that I will leave with my integrity. The United States attorneys that were asked — to resign — were appointed by this president, they serve, like me, at the pleasure of the president.

I asked for their resignation not for improper reasons. I would never have asked for their resignations to interfere with a public corruption case or in any way to interfere with an ongoing investigation. I just wouldn't do that. And if you look carefully at the documentations we've provided to Congress, there's no evidence of that.

more:http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17801927/

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Well, I'll give him this

fredo is trying to save his job

But alas this may be closer to him leaving than he expects

[wake.up.america]

2. If somebody accusses me of doing something wrong, I am very specific about what really happened.

Growing up with nothing does not not change his lack of veracity.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Correct, but this is SOP for the administration

the first two times it shoked me... after that... SOP

[radfringe]

4. his story seems to change a bit every day

I think the best thing for him to do is to testify in a public hearing, under oath and with a transcript.

If this is just an innocent misunderstanding blown out of proportion - then he has nothing to hide. :eyes:

[justgamma]

5. He didn't pick the ones

that were fired and he wouldn't fire anyone to interfere with an investigation.

Maybe he didn't. Maybe he wouldn't, but Rove would.

Well let's see, Rove was at a convention of Puke lawyers bragging about getting lawyers into 9 out of 11 states that he had picked to target.

[Demeter]

6. Alberto Confuses Precision with Accuracy

And accuracy (otherwise known as Truth) is what he's been asked for.

[Thor_MN]

8. And he hasn't been too precise either, as his story keeps changing

At this point, he may as well ask "What's the minimum amount of truth that's going to make this go away?" Admitting to his crimes bit by bit actually make it worse in my mind. This asshole is supposed to be representing me, I wouldn't hire him to shovel snow from my driveway.

[humbled_opinion]

7. I did, no on second thought I didn't, or well maybe I did...

Mombo Jumbo.... So Gonzales was for telling the truth before he was aginst it? lol.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

9. You know it's bad...

...when the Attorney General is the one in trouble for misleading Congress!!

[LizW]

10. "Justice Department officials will fully cooperate...

...to show that the firings were not politically motivated."

Seriously? He's still trying to cling to that? Even CNN has already pretty much accepted that the firings were politically motivated.

And officials are NOT cooperating, they're claiming executive priviledge and hiding behind Bush and Cheney, and now, taking the Fifth.

Is he delusional?

[Solly Mack]

11. Changing his tune to fit the facts coming out

adapting his story as more and more information comes out...

it's the "what have they got on me" tactic...I'll tell my story based on what you know...and nothing more...and I'll shape my story around what you know ...and nothing more

and it is fair to say, it's a tactic of the guilty.

[tanyev]

12. "I grew up with nothing but my integrity"

It sounds nice, Gonzo, but we all know that's not why Gov. Bush hired you.

Alberto Gonzales was a dirt lawyer, remember -- a real estate specialist.

Granted, he worked on sophisticated financial deals, including a project to reshape 16 blocks of downtown Houston. But even though he had studied constitutional law at Rice University, even though he graduated from Harvard's law school, even though he made partner at a huge Houston law firm, the first half of Gonzales' professional career hardly prepared him for the biggest trials of the second half.

When the newly elected Gov. Bush hired Gonzales, a neophyte to politics and government, as his legal counsel in the mid-1990s, it turned out that one of his most important tasks would be to get Bush excused from jury duty in a drunken driving case. As described in Bill Minutaglio's 2006 book "The President's Counselor", it was little known at the time that Bush once had been arrested for drunken driving, but that information could have come out during the defense lawyer's questioning of prospective jurors.

http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/142591.html

[Doctor_J]

14. And now I have everything except my integrity. Ain't life ironic?

[maddezmom]

21. sure is..he may have started with integrity

but as far as I can see, he sold it to the highest bidder.

[Doctor_J]

13. So he lied twice, I guess

or maybe just the second version was a lie, and the first and thrid were the truth, or at least fact-based.

OTOH, this latest admission is chock full of lies - "I would never have asked for their resignations to interfere with a public corruption case or in any way to interfere with an ongoing investigation.

That's either a lie, or a convoluted way of saying that he was just doing what Rove ordered him to do.

[gratuitous]

15. It only took two weeks

And we go from "no involvement whatsoever" to "yeah, okay, I was there from the get-go."

Now, tell me again how extraordinarily "generous" the "offer" is to have Rove and Miers appear before committee in a closed session, without transcripts and a list of pre-provided questions, and no follow-up. Because it looks more and more like a recipe for lying and getting away with it, if the Attorney General of the United States can't be trusted to tell the truth the first time around.

[woodsprite]

16. Did you watch him today on either GMA or another one of those

morning talk shows. It was the one with Viera on it. The little bit I heard sounded like he was throwing his subordinates under the bus. Then they were talking about Monica Gooding and how she's pleaded the fifth. EXCEPT, when they were reporting it the reporter said "Monica Lewinsk....Gooding".

I turned it off after that and decided I'll stick to DU for my updates.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

17. Gonzales: I was lying, but only a little

And by "a little," I mean that right now, I'm lying a little bit less than I was last week. But this time my lies are really mostly inconsequentional things, unless somebody releases more e-mails to prove that they aren't. In which case I'm lying a lot, but confessing a little, which is more than I was last week.

[BigDDem]

18. "more precise" = fine tuning the lie

[MurrayDelph]

19. Hey, Fredo! Here's a little advice for next time

go with the truth; it's easier to remember.

[Demeter]

20. And It Totally Confounds Everyone

[durtee librul]

22. "me and my family?"

Last time I went to school proper grammar was, 'my family and I'....which just proves my point, he has as good a degree as his boss.

Sorry, lil Al....too late. You have lied so much lately, you don't even know what the truth is. (cut to Jack Nicholson yelling at the camera)