another "mistake", another apology... I love it! time to dance.
Gonzales: 'Mistakes were made' in U.S. attorneys' firings
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/03/13/fired.attorneys/index.html
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Tuesday that "mistakes were made" regarding the firing of eight U.S. attorneys and he accepts responsibility for the ordeal.
"My pledge to the American people is to find out what went wrong here," he said. "As we can all imagine, in an organization of 110,000 people, I am not aware of every bit of information that passes through the halls of justice, nor am I aware of all decisions."
However, despite calls for his resignation, Gonzales said he was not stepping down.
Democrats are examining e-mails they say prove the White House was far more involved in the firings of U.S. attorneys than it has acknowledged.
The e-mails between the Department of Justice and White House were handed on Tuesday to congressional committees investigating the firing of eight U.S. attorneys and whether there was political motivation behind the dismissals.
White House spokesman Tony Snow confirmed that it was former White House counsel Harriet Miers who came up with an idea to remove all the federal prosecutors and bring in "fresh blood" at the beginning of President Bush's second term. (Watch a congressman explain how e-mails suggest White House involvement in firings )
Meanwhile, the chief of staff to Gonzales has resigned, the Justice Department said Tuesday, as criticism grows over the firing of eight federal prosecutors last year.
D. Kyle Sampson, who also was a top lawyer under Gonzales' predecessor, John Ashcroft, has been at the center of the storm. His resignation was effective Monday.
U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, has said Gonzales should follow suit and tender his resignation.
"Just when we thought our faith could not be shaken any further, it has been," Schumer said. "At the very beginning, it was clear that something didn't smell right. But I had no idea how high it went."
He added: "The latest revelations proved beyond any reasonable doubt that there has been an unprecedented breach of trust, abuse of power and misuse of the Justice Department. And that is very serious and very important."
Schumer also warned the White House against making Sampson "the next fall guy."
"Today's staff resignation does not take heat off the attorney general. In fact, it raises the temperature. Kyle Sampson will not become the next Scooter Libby," the senator added, referring to Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff who was convicted of obstruction of justice and perjury last week over the outing of a CIA agent. (Watch Schumer call for Gonzales to step down )
Gonzales spoke highly of Sampson in a news release.
"Kyle Sampson has served as a key member of my team beginning at the White House and continuing here at the Department of Justice -- first as my deputy chief of staff and then as my chief of staff," Gonzales said in a statement.
"I am very appreciative for his service, counsel and friendship during the last six years, and I thank him for his service to the department."
The Bush administration has said the firings -- seven in December and one months earlier -- were routine personnel matters that were the result of poor performances.
However, Democrats accuse the administration of trying to dictate to the prosecutors, who are supposed to be nonpartisan.
Allegations of pressure
Snow told reporters traveling with the president in Mexico that made the proposal to fire all 93 U.S. attorneys at the beginning of Bush's second term.
Several of the prosecutors who were fired have said they were being pressured to move more quickly on investigations into voter fraud.
Miers resigned in January. President Bush had nominated her as a Supreme Court justice in October 2005 but she withdrew after conservatives and others questioned her credentials.
"We continue to believe that the decision to remove and replace U.S. attorneys who serve at the pleasure of the president was perfectly appropriate and within our discretion," said White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino.
"And we stand by the Department of Justice's assertion that they identified the seven U.S. attorneys who were removed [in December] for performance and managerial reasons."
Snow said Miers' proposal was a suggestion, not a recommendation, to fire all the federal prosecutors. Bush made "no recommendations on specific individuals," he said.
"We don't have anything to indicate the president made any calls on specific U.S. attorneys."