BREAKING: Gonzales Apologizes to Prosecutors and Names Interim Chief of Staff

[SlowDownFast]

Posted on Fri, Mar. 16, 2007

Gonzales apologizes to prosecutors
By Marisa Taylor and Margaret Talev
McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales apologized to the nation's 93 U.S. attorneys in a conference call Friday as he tried to hold on to his job amid the scandal over the firings of eight federal prosecutors.

In another move to repair his credibility, Gonzales named a respected U.S. attorney from Virginia, Chuck Rosenberg, as his interim chief of staff to replace Kyle Sampson, who stepped down because of his involvement in the controversy.

-snip-

Gonzales apologized to the prosecutors not for the firings but for their execution, including for inaccurate public statements about poor job performance, according to people familiar with the afternoon conference call.

"It shouldn't have happened," Gonzales said, according to one lawyer familiar with the conversation. The lawyer, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the matter, said Gonzales acknowledged that he'd seemed too detached during his news conference earlier this week. He told the prosecutors that he "should have known" about the dismissal planning by his former chief of staff.

more:
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/nation/16921226.htm?source=rss&channel=krwashington_nation

[OneBlueSky]

1. pathetic . . . trying to save his job and his ass . . . won't work, Al . . . n/t

.

[bananarepublican]

18. What is an apology from a scoundrel worth? n/t

[Ghost in the Machine]

2. Hey Gonzo, when you start apologizing for being complicit in the

usurping of our Country, the destruction of our Constitution and the raping of our freedoms and civil rights, then, and ONLY then, will I listen.... but you'll still be a piece of shit, something so vile that I would wipe you off the bottom of my shoe before stepping into a pile of pig shit, so I didn't contaminate the pig shit. Make yourself a martyr, you worthless scumbag.

Ghost

[CrazyOrangeCat]

7. tell it, ghost.

[cascadiance]

16. Gonzo's GONEZO! Literally!

[Patsy Stone]

3. Meet Chuck Rosenberg

http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/vae/usattorney.html

United States Attorney
Eastern District of Virginia
Chuck Rosenberg

Chuck Rosenberg was appointed by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in March 2006 to serve as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. He was subsequently nominated to that position by President George Bush and confirmed by the United States Senate, unanimously, on June 13, 2006.

As the chief federal law enforcement officer for the District, which includes offices in Alexandria, Newport News, Norfolk and Richmond, Mr. Rosenberg supervises the prosecution of all federal crimes, and the litigation of all civil matters in which the federal government has an interest.

Mr. Rosenberg has spent most of his professional career in public service. From June 2005 until March 2006, he served as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Texas. Prior to that, he served in several senior posts at the Department of Justice where his work focused on counterterrorism, counterintelligence, and national security matters, including as: Chief of Staff to Deputy Attorney General James B. Comey, Counselor to Attorney General John Ashcroft; and, before that, as Counsel to FBI Director Robert S. Mueller, III.

Before joining the FBI, Mr. Rosenberg was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia, in Norfolk and, subsequently, in Alexandria. There he prosecuted financial fraud crimes, violent crimes, and espionage cases. During the last two years of his tenure as a federal prosecutor in Alexandria, Mr. Rosenberg supervised that office's Major Crimes Unit - the unit that prosecuted numerous prominent spy cases. While in private practice with the law firm of Hunton & Williams, Mr. Rosenberg served as an NBC legal analyst, appearing frequently on television. He is a graduate of Tufts University (B.A.), Harvard University (M.P.P) and the University of Virginia (J.D.).

[napi21]

8. Ao man! Another Texan? It didn't say he was born there,but

US Atty for the Southern District of Tx.suregives him a black mark already!

[Patsy Stone]

9. And is this line good? Or bad?

"During the last two years of his tenure as a federal prosecutor in Alexandria, Mr. Rosenberg supervised that office's Major Crimes Unit - the unit that prosecuted numerous prominent spy cases."

Were these our spies? Other people's spies? :shrug:

[SlowDownFast]

4. "I want you to feel like you can be open with me"

"I want you to feel like you can be open with me," Gonzales told the attorneys....

Awwww. Ain't that sweet???

[Canuckistanian]

20. If they lie, they're harder to purge

It's GONZALES who needs to pledge to be open.

[CrazyOrangeCat]

5. This whole mis-administration . . .

. . . is hanging by Gonzo's fingernails.

Bastards thought they were invincible.

[aquart]

6. Is this real?

I have to ask because there's been too much cute stuff on the board lately and I know longer know what's real and what's meant to be satirical.

[SlowDownFast]

11. Linky supplied above.

Found it via TPM posted @11:29pm EST.

[Jack Rabbit]

10. He has no credibility to save

That is the way of all Bushies.

[EFerrari]

12. F3ck you, Torquemada. You yourself are now toast. n/t

[SlowDownFast]

13. USA Today: Gonzales Brings In New Chief of Staff

Gonzales brings in new chief of staff
Updated 7h 17m ago

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
Reuters

By Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Attorney General Alberto Gonzales reached into the ranks of U.S. attorneys for an interim chief of staff Friday to replace Kyle Sampson, who resigned earlier this week for his role in the Justice Department's abrupt dismissal of eight federal prosecutors.

Gonzales named Chuck Rosenberg, the chief federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria, to serve as his closest advisor at a time when several Democrats and some Republicans in Congress have called for the attorney general to resign over his handling of prosecutors' firings.

Rosenberg was chief of staff to former deputy attorney general James Comey. Other previous jobs included counselor to former attorney general John Ashcroft and counsel to FBI Director Robert Mueller.

Meanwhile, the Democrat-controlled Senate and House Judiciary committees continued to press for the testimony of several White House officials in their investigations of the matter.

At the top of that list of possible witnesses is White House political strategist Karl Rove, whose name surfaced Thursday in recently-disclosed e-mails in which he inquired in January 2005 about the administration's replacement plan for U.S. attorneys.

more:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-16-gonzales_N.htm?csp=34

[riverdeep]

14. Friday night news dump

Dump being the key word. Is he going to go into his poor hispanic boy routine again? Join the cabinet of the damned, Gonzo, along with Scooter, heckuva job Brownie, Rumsfeld, and the other bastids.

[johnnydrama]

15. oh boy

"He told the prosecutors that he "should have known" about the dismissal planning by his former chief of staff. "

Oh boy, he's still trying to peddle the claim that he had no idea what was going on?

8 USA's fired, and he had no idea.

Jeez.

[grasswire]

17. the new guy replaced McNulty in the Rocket Docket

The chances are, then, that he is a FIXER.

[Olney Blue]

19. Now, apologize to the country, and resign.