Critics: Gonzales Has Some Explaining to Do
March 24, 2007 — -- Embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales may have been more involved in the firing of eight U.S. Attorneys than he previously admitted.
Among the 280 documents released by the Justice Department to congressional investigators is an e-mail detailing a meeting between Gonzales and senior aides on Nov. 27, 2006 -- 10 days before the dismissals were carried out.
Last week, Gonzales said he was not involved in the details of the plan, saying, "I never saw documents. We never had a discussion about where things stood."
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., challenged that claim at a press conference today.
"How could the attorney general say he never had a discussion about where things stood when he attended an hour-long meeting on that very subject?" asked Schumer. "Today, I'm renewing my call for Attorney General Gonzales to step down. More than any other cabinet official, the attorney general must tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but, and the more facts come out, it seems the attorney general is not coming clean with what went on in the Justice Department."
The Justice Department insists there is no contradiction. It says Gonzales was not involved in choosing who would be fired, but did sign off on the final list.
In his weekly radio address, President Bush renewed his support for Gonzales and challenged Senate Democrats to accept his offer to let White House officials answer questions about the controversy in private.
"Members of Congress now face a choice, [of] whether they will waste time and provoke unnecessary confrontation," Bush said, "or whether they will join us in working to do the people's business."
Democrats say they won't settle for anything less than sworn testimony. That's something they'll get from Gonzales' former chief of staff Kyle Sampson on Thursday.
"Sampson's testimony is now more crucial than ever," said Schumer. "He was at the center of it all. He can tell us what the attorney general knew and when he knew it."
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