posted on March 13, 2007 11:59:16 AM
Gonzales: Prosecutors Firings Mishandled
Updated 2:32 PM ET March 13, 2007
By LARA JAKES JORDAN
' WASHINGTON (AP) - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales acknowledged that mistakes were made and accepted responsibility Tuesday for the way eight federal prosecutors were fired.
At a news conference Tuesday, Gonzales said he would find out what went wrong but said he would not resign. "I acknowledge that mistakes were made here. I accept that responsibility," Gonzales said amid growing calls for his own termination.
Democrats in Congress have charged that the eight dismissals announced last December were politically motivated and some of those fired have said they felt pressured by powerful Republicans in their home states to rush investigations of potential voter fraud involving Democrats.
Justice Department officials, led by Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, told lawmakers under oath that the decision to fire eight U.S. attorneys in December was made solely by the Justice Department and said the decision was based on performance, not politics.
E-mails released Tuesday, however, revealed that the firings were considered and discussed for two years by Justice Department and White House officials.
"Obviously I am concerned about the fact that
information _ incomplete information was communicated or may have been communicated to the Congress,"
(GEE, sure happens a LOT in this administration !)
"""Gonzales said. "I believe very strongly in our obligation to ensure that when we provide information to the Congress, it is accurate and it is complete. And I very dismayed that that may not have occurred here."
Gonzales did not back away, however, from his assertion that the firings were appropriate.
"I stand by the decision and I think it was the right decision," he said.
Gonzales earlier accepted the resignation of his top aide, Kyle Sampson. Authorities said that Sampson failed to brief other senior Justice Department officials of his discussions about the firings with then-White House counsel Harriet Miers.
E-mail correspondence between Sampson and Miers indicate they began two years ago to consider individual U.S. attorneys for possible dismissal. As the list took shape, their correspondence indicated possible political backlash from the attorneys and their congressional allies.
