Attorney General Alberto Gonzales resigns

Alberto Gonzales, who as U.S. attorney general was responsible for the controversial firings last year of eight U.S. attorneys and has been dogged by scandal for months, has resigned.

The Department of Justice plans to make an official announcement at 8:30 a.m. Mountain Standard Time, the Associated Press is reporting, and President Bush is expected to comment on the resignation later today. The New York Times, which broke the story, reported that Gonzales submitted his resignation in a telephone conversation with the president on Friday.

A series of scandals dogged the last few months of Gonzales’ tenure, but the chain of events that led to his resignation was set in motion by the December firings of the U.S. attorneys that included David Iglesias of New Mexico. Iglesias was the most outspoken of those who were fired and certainly had a hand in forcing Gonzales out.

A months-long investigation by Congress into the firings led Democrats and a number of high-profile Republicans to call for Gonzales’ ouster either because they believed the firings were politically motivated or because they believed Gonzales’ mishandling of the controversy revealed his incompetence.

Gonzales and other Department of Justice officials repeatedly contradicted each other in testimony about the firings, and many members of Congress were unsatisfied both with their testimony and Gonzales’ explanations for the contradictions. But Gonzales was repeatedly defended by Bush, who acknowledged that the attorney general did not do a good job of explaining the firings but said he still had his full confidence.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who led the Senate investigation, released this statement about today’s news:

“Under this attorney general and this president, the Department of Justice suffered a severe crisis of leadership that allowed our justice system to be corrupted by political influence. It is a shame, and it is the Justice Department, the American people and the dedicated professionals of our law enforcement community who have suffered most from it,” he said. “… The Attorney General’s resignation reinforces what Congress and the American people already know – that no Justice Department should be allowed to become a political arm of the White House, whether occupied by a Republican or a Democrat.”

Gonzales is a longtime Bush friend who was once considered for an appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court. He’s the fourth Bush Administration official to leave since voters gave Democrats control of Congress in November. In addition to being dogged by the U.S. attorney scandal, he was under fire for his handling of the use of warrantless wiretaps.

He also drew the ire of Democrats for, as attorney general and before that as White House counsel, pushing for the expanded wiretap powers and drafting controversial rules for terror suspects that critics said deprived them of their rights.

The likely temporary replacement for Gonzales, the Associated Press is reporting, is Solicitor General Paul Clement.

Gov. Bill Richardson said in a statement released by his presidential campaign that Gonzales’ resignation is “long overdue.”

“The president must nominate an attorney general who is a lawyer for the American people and not a political arm of the White House,” he said.

The governor was one of the last Democrats to call for Gonzales’ resignation, saying initially that, because Gonzales, like Richardson, is Hispanic, he wanted “to give him the benefit of the doubt.”

Richardson was immediately criticized, and quickly changed his position.

Update, 8:30 a.m.

House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., had this to say:

“It is a sad day when the attorney general of the United States resigns amid a cloud of suspicion that the system of justice has been manipulated for political purposes. More than accountability, we need answers,” he said. “Unfortunately, the continued stonewalling of the White House in the U.S. Attorney scandal has deprived the American people of the truth. If the power of the prosecutor has been misused in the name of partisanship, we deserve a full airing of the facts. The responsibility to uncover these facts is still on the Congress, and the Judiciary Committee in particular.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., released this statement:

“Alberto Gonzales was never the right man for this job. He lacked independence, he lacked judgment and he lacked the spine to say no to Karl Rove,” he said. “This resignation is not the end of the story. Congress must get to the bottom of this mess and follow the facts where they lead, into the White House.”

Update, 8:45 a.m.

In an interview with the Albuquerque Tribune, Iglesias welcomed Gonzales’ resignation, but said the investigation into the firings needs to continue.

“Alberto Gonzales is not solely responsible for my illicit firing,” he told the newspaper. “People like Pete Domenici also were responsible.”

Iglesias said Gonzales’ replacement will have a tough job combating the low morale in the Justice Department, and also said Gonzales should have resigned “a long time ago.”

“He should have stayed as White House counsel because the White House counsel’s job is to protect the president and give him political advice. But the job of the U.S. Attorney General is law enforcement,” Iglesias told the newspaper. “He never understood the core mission of his job as attorney general.”

Update, 8:55 a.m.

Gonzales’ resignation is effective Sept. 17, he said at a brief news conference, which you can read about from CNN. He gave no reason for his resignation but said he has “lived the American dream.”