The Embattled Attorney General
Gonzales still has the president's support, for now
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales stood behind a crimson-draped table inside a packed hearing room on Capitol Hill last week, right hand raised, swearing to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. It was the sort of political theater that Washington specializes in, and there were supporting actors and bit players galore. Senators of both parties, angered by Gonzales's firing of eight U.S. attorneys, prepared to deliver a tongue-lashing. Protesters garbed in orange and pink lined the hearing room, while two dozen photographers clicked away in unison. In the midst of the throng was Gonzales, reinforced by a battalion of staffers armed with fact-filled binders, but nevertheless looking like the loneliest man in Washington.
Perception is reality here, at least to a point. Gonzales, who followed his mentor, President George W. Bush from Texas, has been an outsider throughout his tenure in Washington, both as White House counsel and attorney general; he has little political capital at the Capitol, perhaps less now than ever. Indeed, he has generated enormous criticism for his role in crafting Bush's "war on terror" policies. But at Thursday's hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, despite blistering criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike, it seemed Gonzales might just survive, at least for a few more days, for one reason alone: In this high-stakes game of political poker, Gonzales holds the most powerful card of all, his boss, who-at least on paper-continued to provide what one White House official described as "unwavering" support. "That says to me that the president's loyalty," says former Justice Department spokesman Mark Corallo, "is the single most important factor here."
But for how long? Gonzales had gone to the hearing, hat in hand, with a mission impossible: to assuage angry senators who feel hoodwinked by the many shifting explanations for the mass prosecutor firings and Gonzales's seeming inability to get a grip on the facts. But in this all-important performance, Gonzales didn't garner any rave reviews.
Instead, the AG settled on a shopworn mea culpa, acknowledging that the prosecutors "deserved better," and saying he regretted how they were treated. He stood by his decision to fire them, maintaining that he "firmly" believes "nothing improper occurred," though conceding that he had acted in a most unlawyerly fashion by failing to check internal E-mails, memos, and documents, or even his own calendar, before rushing to provide answers to Congress, the press, and the public.
Lapses. Even more troubling was Gonzales's cloudy memory. As the hearing lurched on, he grew increasingly enmeshed in endless loop-the-loops of "I don't recall," "I can't recall," and "I seem to recall" that made the follicle-challenged senators want to tear out what was left of their bipartisan hair. Seventy-one times in all, the attorney general fell back on a misfiring memory. Had Gonzales discussed the firings with the president in advance? asked Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy, who chairs the Judiciary Committee. "I now understand," intoned Gonzales, "there was a conversation with myself and the president." Leahy also wanted to know when New Mexico prosecutor David Iglesias was added to the list of those to be fired. "Senator," Gonzales said, "I have no recollection of knowing when that occurred."
Democrats like Leahy and New York's Charles Schumer had been lambasting Gonzales over the U.S. attorney firings for weeks. What seemed more worrisome for Gonzales and the White House was the eroding support in the GOP. Before the hearing, among Republicans, only New Hampshire's John Sununu had called for Gonzales to go. But now that's changing. "I believe," said Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn at the hearing, "that the best way to put this behind us is your resignation." Others wouldn't go that far, but few Republicans had much nice to say. Sen. Lindsey Graham called the attorney general's explanations of the firings "a stretch." Pennsylvania's Arlen Specter, the committee's ranking Republican, said Gonzales's answers "did not stick together."
A stoic Gonzales vowed to press on. He conceded mistakes were made but promised to fix them. "I believe," he said "that I continue to be effective as the attorney general of the United States."
And there's much more to do. Gonzales has said he hopes to move past the acrimony to push through some of his top priorities-stemming the spike in violent crime in some areas of the country, going after violent international gangs, targeting illegal prescription drug sales over the Internet, protecting kids from pedophiles and sexual predators, and beefing up immigration laws to make the borders less porous. "I will conclude with one final, and I believe urgent request," Gonzales told the Judiciary Committee at an oversight hearing in January. "Please give the president's judicial nominees an up-or-down vote."
But a determination on Gonzales's fate may come first. "As a general rule of thumb, whoever attacks wins; whoever defends loses. And Gonzales is in the defense position," says crisis management consultant Eric Dezenhall, who served in the Reagan White House. "I think the Bush administration is on a downswing, and he's caught in that larger vortex."
Some in the GOP believe that getting rid of Gonzales, and trying to get a new attorney general confirmed with just 20 months left for the Bush administration, would be more trouble than it's worth. But other Republican legislators are grumbling privately that Gonzales has become a net liability for the 2008 campaign. They don't think he has the credibility, the competence, or the communication skills to defend GOP policies on issues ranging from domestic surveillance to Guantánamo Bay, and they want a stronger advocate during campaign season. So, despite Bush's avowed loyalty, Gonzales's fate would seem to hang in the balance as the White House keeps a sharp eye out for more Republican defectors calling for the resignation of this most embattled and isolated attorney general.
With Kenneth T. Walsh
This story appears in the April 30, 2007 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.