<font size="5"><center>Attorney General Alberto Gonzales Resigns</font size></center>
Alberto Gonzales
By Howard Schneider
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, August 27, 2007; 10:19 AM
Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales has resigned from his post, according to an administration official, ending a controversial cabinet tenure that included clashes with Congress over the firing of nine U.S. attorneys and over the use of warrantless wiretaps in the war on terror.
The official said Gonzales told President Bush of his decision on Friday, but the announcement was withheld until he met with Bush at the president's Crawford ranch. His resignation will be announced at a press conference scheduled for 10:30 today.
Gonzales' decision was first reported by the New York Times on its Web site.
Gonzales' resignation marks the loss of another Bush loyalist at a time when the president's support in public opinion polls has been lagging and amid a fight with Congress over the future of Iraq war policy. Although Bush consistently expressed confidence in Gonzales, a longtime ally from Texas, the attorney general's support in Congress had withered after a series of run-ins that prompted some lawmakers to allege he had committed perjury.
His testimony on issues such as a federal wiretap program required follow-up explanations and was contradicted by documents or the statements of other federal officials. At hearings on the U.S. attorney firings, Gonzales frequently said he could not remember details about key events -- frustrating members of Congress who felt he was trying to minimize his role in what politically motivated dismissals.
The departure leaves Bush with a key cabinet opening nearing the end of his second term. As controversy around Gonzales mounted, so has speculation about possible replacements. Among the names mentioned by lawmakers and their aides in recent weeks: Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff; former deputy attorney general James Comey and former deputy attorney Larry Thompson.
Gonzales came to Washington in 2001 to serve as Bush's first White House counsel, touted as an American success story. The son of migrant workers in San Antonio, he attended the Air Force Academy and studied law at Harvard, joining Bush's Texas gubernatorial staff as general counsel and eventually being appointed to the Texas Supreme Court.
But his nomination as attorney general was clouded from the start. In the White House, he wrote a memo that seemed to condone some forms of torture, a sensitive point as the nation debated the treatment of terror suspects. Only six Democrats voted in favor of his confirmation, an unusually low level of minority support for a cabinet member who serves as the nation's top law enforcement officer.
Gradually, opposition to him spread from the Democrats to include key Republicans.
"I do not find your testimony credible," Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) told him flatly in a July hearing on the surveillance program.
"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," Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), said as news of Gonzales' resignation circulated. "I hope the Attorney General's decision will be a step toward getting to the truth about the level of political influence this White House wields over the Department of Justice and toward reconstituting its leadership."
Gonzales' departure follows that of political adviser and strategist Karl Rove and other top White House aides who have left in recent months. White House Chief of Staff Joshua B. Bolten recently told senior aides that if they were not planning to stay until the end of Bush's second term, they should leave by Labor Day.
Staff writer Dan Eggen contributed to this report.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/27/AR2007082700372.html?hpid=artslot
Alberto Gonzales
By Howard Schneider
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, August 27, 2007; 10:19 AM
Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales has resigned from his post, according to an administration official, ending a controversial cabinet tenure that included clashes with Congress over the firing of nine U.S. attorneys and over the use of warrantless wiretaps in the war on terror.
The official said Gonzales told President Bush of his decision on Friday, but the announcement was withheld until he met with Bush at the president's Crawford ranch. His resignation will be announced at a press conference scheduled for 10:30 today.
Gonzales' decision was first reported by the New York Times on its Web site.
Gonzales' resignation marks the loss of another Bush loyalist at a time when the president's support in public opinion polls has been lagging and amid a fight with Congress over the future of Iraq war policy. Although Bush consistently expressed confidence in Gonzales, a longtime ally from Texas, the attorney general's support in Congress had withered after a series of run-ins that prompted some lawmakers to allege he had committed perjury.
His testimony on issues such as a federal wiretap program required follow-up explanations and was contradicted by documents or the statements of other federal officials. At hearings on the U.S. attorney firings, Gonzales frequently said he could not remember details about key events -- frustrating members of Congress who felt he was trying to minimize his role in what politically motivated dismissals.
The departure leaves Bush with a key cabinet opening nearing the end of his second term. As controversy around Gonzales mounted, so has speculation about possible replacements. Among the names mentioned by lawmakers and their aides in recent weeks: Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff; former deputy attorney general James Comey and former deputy attorney Larry Thompson.
Gonzales came to Washington in 2001 to serve as Bush's first White House counsel, touted as an American success story. The son of migrant workers in San Antonio, he attended the Air Force Academy and studied law at Harvard, joining Bush's Texas gubernatorial staff as general counsel and eventually being appointed to the Texas Supreme Court.
But his nomination as attorney general was clouded from the start. In the White House, he wrote a memo that seemed to condone some forms of torture, a sensitive point as the nation debated the treatment of terror suspects. Only six Democrats voted in favor of his confirmation, an unusually low level of minority support for a cabinet member who serves as the nation's top law enforcement officer.
Gradually, opposition to him spread from the Democrats to include key Republicans.
"I do not find your testimony credible," Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) told him flatly in a July hearing on the surveillance program.
"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," Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), said as news of Gonzales' resignation circulated. "I hope the Attorney General's decision will be a step toward getting to the truth about the level of political influence this White House wields over the Department of Justice and toward reconstituting its leadership."
Gonzales' departure follows that of political adviser and strategist Karl Rove and other top White House aides who have left in recent months. White House Chief of Staff Joshua B. Bolten recently told senior aides that if they were not planning to stay until the end of Bush's second term, they should leave by Labor Day.
Staff writer Dan Eggen contributed to this report.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/27/AR2007082700372.html?hpid=artslot
