US:The White House has reaffirmed its support for embattled attorney general Alberto Gonzales after senior Republicans joined Democrats in questioning the truthfulness of his statements about the firing of eight federal prosecutors ,writes Denis Stauntonin Washinton.
Fresh doubts about Mr Gonzales's role in the sackings emerged at
the weekend when newlyreleased documents showed that he attended an
hour-long meeting on the issue last November and approved a
detailed plan to fire the attorneys.
Mr Gonzales said on March 13th that he never participated in
discussions or saw any documents about the sackings. White House
spokeswoman Dana Perino said yesterday that, although the attorney
general "might be accused of being imprecise in what he was
saying," there was no evidence that he was
closely involved in the firings.
"I understand the concern. I understand that people might think that there are inconsistencies. "But as I read it, I think that he has been consistent," she said.
Republican senators Lindsay Graham and Chuck Hagel have accused Mr Gonzales of making inconsistent and conflicting statements about the sackings, which Democrats claim were politically motivated.
Democratic senator Bill Nelson yesterday became the latest public figure to call for the attorney general himself to be sacked.
"Unless he has a good explanation for not only what he knew and when he knew it, but also for the ineptitude of the department . . . he is a goner. "I think there might be enough Republicans who are calling for his resignation, even before he takes the witness stand," Mr Nelson said.
Republican Arlen Specter said he would wait until Mr Gonzales testifies before a senate committee next month before deciding whether to support the attorney general.
Mr Specter said, however, that the newly-released documents "appear to contradict" Mr Gonzales's earlier statements on the affair. "We have to have an attorney general who is candid, truthful. And if we find out he has not been candid and truthful, that's a very compelling reason for him not to stay on," Mr Specter said.
America's 93 US attorneys, the senior federal law officers in their districts, are political appointees who serve at the pleasure of the president. Previous presidents have replaced them all at a stroke, but Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton said yesterday that such a move was quite different from targeting individual prosecutors for political reasons.
"That's a traditional prerogative of an incoming president," she said.
Regardless of whether Mr Gonzales stays in office or resigns, the controversy over the sacked prosecutors has seriously damaged his authority.
If he resigns, Democrats will have scored a major political victory likely to embolden them to use their oversight function to battle the White House through the remainder of the current Congress.
But if Mr Gonzales stays in place, he will have to operate on Capitol Hill with his credibility undermined with legislators in both parties.