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 Attorney General Alberto Gonzales (Photo: CBS ) |
Although the prosecutors serve at the pleasure of the President, critics claimed the dismissals were either motivated by desire to install attorneys more loyal to the Republican party or as retribution for actions or inactions damaging to the Republican party. At least six of the eight had positive internal Justice Department performance reports.
There were various hearings and testimony offered early in 2007. Criticism increased when e-mails by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' chief of staff Kyle Sampson showed extensive communication between Sampson and White House Administration official Harriet Miers. Sampson resigned, but the e-mails indicate that a number of statements from the Justice Department, including statements made by Gonzales himself, were possibly inaccurate. According to the Attorney General, "incomplete information was communicated or may have been communicated to Congress."
Despite insisting that he was not involved in the "deliberations" leading up to the firing of the attorneys, newly released e-mails suggest that Gonzales had indeed been notified and that he had given ultimate approval.
In prepared testimony to Congress, Gonzales insisted he left the decisions on the firings to his staff. However, an internal department e-mail showed that Gonzales urged the ouster of Carol Lam, one of the fired attorneys, six months before she was asked to leave. During actual testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on April 19, 2007, Gonzales stated 71 times that he couldn't recall events related to the controversy. His responses angered Democrats on the committee, and frustrated several Republicans.
Gonzales resigned Aug. 27, 2007, ending a months-long standoff with Republican and Democratic critics who called for his ouster over the firing of the U.S. attorneys and the Justice Department's botched handling of FBI terror investigations.