{"id":2152,"date":"2007-08-27T08:04:00","date_gmt":"2007-08-27T14:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/08\/attorney-general-alberto-gonzales-resigns\/"},"modified":"2007-08-27T08:04:00","modified_gmt":"2007-08-27T14:04:00","slug":"attorney-general-alberto-gonzales-resigns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/08\/attorney-general-alberto-gonzales-resigns\/","title":{"rendered":"Attorney General Alberto Gonzales resigns"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Alberto Gonzales<\/a>, who as U.S.<\/st1:country-region> attorney general was responsible for the controversial firings last year of eight U.S.<\/st1:country-region><\/st1:place> attorneys and has been dogged by scandal for months, has resigned. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

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

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A series of scandals dogged the last few months of Gonzales\u2019 tenure, but the chain of events that led to his resignation was set in motion by the December firings of the U.S. attorneys<\/a> that included David Iglesias<\/a> of New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>. Iglesias was the most outspoken of those who were fired and certainly had a hand in forcing Gonzales out.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

A months-long investigation by Congress into the firings led Democrats and a number of high-profile Republicans to call for Gonzales\u2019 ouster either because they believed the firings were politically motivated or because they believed Gonzales\u2019 mishandling of the controversy revealed his incompetence.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

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\u2019 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.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy<\/a>, D-Vt., who led the Senate investigation, released this statement about today\u2019s news:<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cUnder 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,\u201d he said. \u201c\u2026 The Attorney General\u2019s resignation reinforces what Congress and the American people already know \u2013 that no Justice Department should be allowed to become a political arm of the White House, whether occupied by a Republican or a Democrat.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Gonzales is a longtime Bush friend who was once considered for an appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court. He\u2019s 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.<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> attorney scandal, he was under fire for his handling of the use of warrantless wiretaps.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The likely temporary replacement for Gonzales, the Associated Press is reporting, is Solicitor General Paul Clement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Gov. Bill Richardson<\/a> said in a statement released by his presidential campaign that Gonzales\u2019 resignation is \u201clong overdue.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cThe president must nominate an attorney general who is a lawyer for the American people and not a political arm of the White House,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The governor was one of the last Democrats to call for Gonzales\u2019 resignation, saying initially that, because Gonzales, like Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>, is Hispanic, he wanted \u201cto give him the benefit of the doubt.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> was immediately criticized, and quickly changed his position.<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 8:30 a.m.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers<\/a>, D-Mich., had this to say:<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a sad day when the attorney general of the United States<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> resigns amid a cloud of suspicion that the system of justice has been manipulated for political purposes. More than accountability, we need answers,\u201d he said. \u201cUnfortunately, 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid<\/a>, D-Nev., released this statement:<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cAlberto 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,\u201d he said. \u201cThis 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 8:45 a.m.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In an interview with the Albuquerque Tribune, Iglesias welcomed Gonzales\u2019 resignation, but said the investigation into the firings needs to continue.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cAlberto Gonzales is not solely responsible for my illicit firing,\u201d he told the newspaper. \u201cPeople like Pete Domenici<\/a> also were responsible.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Iglesias said Gonzales\u2019 replacement will have a tough job combating the low morale in the Justice Department, and also said Gonzales should have resigned \u201ca long time ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cHe should have stayed as White House counsel because the White House counsel\u2019s job is to protect the president and give him political advice. But the job of the U.S. Attorney General is law enforcement,\u201d Iglesias told the newspaper. \u201cHe never understood the core mission of his job as attorney general.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 8:55 a.m.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Gonzales\u2019 resignation is effective Sept. 17, he said at a brief news conference, which you can read about from CNN<\/a>. He gave no reason for his resignation but said he has \u201clived the American dream.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2152\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}