""Senate Republican urges Bush to fire Gonzales
March 15th, 2007 · No Comments
Reuters
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sen. John Sununu of New Hampshire on Wednesday became the first Republican in the U.S. Congress to urge President George W. Bush to oust U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
“The president should fire the attorney general and replace him as soon as possible with someone who can provide strong, aggressive leadership,” Sununu said in a statement a day after Gonzales admitted mistakes were made in the firing of eight federal prosecutors.
Earlier on Wednesday, Bush gave a lukewarm endorsement to Gonzales and said the firings of the U.S. attorneys was mishandled.
“I’m frankly not happy about it,” Bush told a joint news conference with Mexican President Felipe Calderon in Merida, Mexico.
Several Democrats in Congress have called on Gonzales to resign or be fired. A number of congressional Republicans have voiced concerns about the attorney general, and Sununu was the first to publicly call for him to be replaced."
As everyone once knew but has tried to forget, Mr. Hubbell was a former partner of Mrs. Clinton at the Rose Law Firm in Little Rock who later went to jail for mail fraud and tax evasion. He was also Bill and Hillary Clinton's choice as Associate Attorney General in the Justice Department when Janet Reno, his nominal superior, simultaneously fired all 93 U.S. Attorneys in March 1993. Ms. Reno–or Mr. Hubbell–gave them 10 days to move out of their offices.
No question, the Justice Department and White House have botched the handling of this issue from start to finish. But what we don't have here is any serious evidence that the Administration has acted improperly or to protect some of its friends. If Democrats want to understand what a real abuse of power looks like, they can always ask the junior Senator from New York.
WASHINGTON (CNN) – The focus in the controversy over the firing of eight U.S. attorneys is turning increasingly to Alberto Gonzales' future as attorney general.
Sen. John Sununu of New Hampshire on Wednesday became the first Republican lawmaker to call for Gonzales' resignation.
"The president should fire the attorney general and replace him as soon as possible with someone who can provide strong, aggressive leadership," Sununu said in a statement released by his office.
Sununu told CNN that Gonzales has lost all credibility because of the firings, controversy over renewal of the Patriot Act, and a report last week that the FBI had underreported its use of national security letters to snoop on Americans.
"These failures have created a deep, widespread lack of confidence in the ability of the attorney general to effectively serve the president at a very important time," Sununu said."
Presidents–yes, even President Bush–have a right to shape a broad prosecutorial agenda, and to demand their appointees pursue those priorities. This isn't just acceptable, it's desirable. U.S. attorneys have few enough checks on their power, without also laboring under the delusion they don't have to answer to their boss. In this case, the administration had more than enough philosophical differences with the fired attorneys–on issues of voter fraud, the death penalty, obscenity–to justify replacement.
Mr. Bush is sticking with Mr. Gonzales for the moment, and that may make sense. For all the noise of this affair, there's still no there there, and Democrats will have to dig up dirtier dirt to force a resignation. But if the White House is smart it will learn from this and start taking the opposition to heart.
"WASHINGTON - Presidential hopeful Tom Tancredo has joined the growing chorus of lawmakers calling for U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to resign - only not for the usual reason.
Unlike others criticizing Gonzales over the recent firing of eight U.S. attorneys, the Colorado Republican said the embattled attorney general should go because of "a series of leadership failures" - chiefly his handling of illegal immigration prosecutions.
"Gonzales' legacy at the (Justice Department) has been one of misplaced priorities, political miscalculation, and a failure to enforce the laws which he has sworn to uphold," Tancredo said in a statement Tuesday. "I think that it is time for him to move on."
Republican Congressman Urges Gonzales to Step Down
WASHINGTON — A Republican congressman on Saturday urged Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to resign, citing what he said were Gonzales' contradictory statements about his role in the firing of eight federal prosecutors.
"I trusted him before, but I can't now," said five-term Rep. Lee Terry, whose district includes metropolitan Omaha.
….
"My views were that this was Democrat posturing and a witch hunt," Terry said. "My trust in him in that position has taken a hit because of these contradictory statements by him."
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Terry, asked whether he believed Gonzales' accounts, said: "I don't know … I don't think so. … I trusted him before, but I can't now."
He added, "Frankly, until these statements came out that contradicted his first statement, I was backing him, saying that he shouldn't resign. Now I think that he should."
