NYTimes link

 

By STEVEN LEE MYERS

Published: August 27, 2007

WACO, Tex., Aug. 27 ? Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, whose tenure has been marred by controversy and accusations of perjury before Congress, has resigned. A senior administration official said he would announce the decision later this morning in Washington.

 

Mr. Gonzales, who had rebuffed calls for his resignation, submitted his to President Bush by telephone on Friday, the official said. His decision was not immediately announced, the official added, until after the president invited him and his wife to lunch at his ranch near here.

 

Mr. Bush has not yet chosen a replacement but will not leave the position open long, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the resignation had not yet been made public.

 

Mr. Bush had repeatedly stood by Mr. Gonzales, an old friend and colleague from Texas, even as Mr. Gonzales faced increasing scrutiny for his leadership of the Justice Department, over issues including his role in the dismissals of nine United States attorneys late last year and whether he testified truthfully about the National Security Agency?s surveillance programs.

 

Earlier this month, at a news conference, Mr. Bush dismissed accusations that Mr. Gonzales had stonewalled or misled a congressional inquiry. ?We?re watching a political exercise,? Mr. Bush said. ?I mean, this is a man who has testified, he?s sent thousands of papers up there. There?s no proof of wrong.?

 

Mr. Gonzales?s resignation is the latest in a series of high-level departures that has reshaped the end of Mr. Bush?s second term. Karl Rove, another of Mr. Bush?s close circle of aides from Texas, stepped down two weeks ago.

 

The official who disclosed the resignation today said that the decision was Mr. Gonzales?s and that the president accepted it grudgingly. At the same time, the official acknowledged that the turmoil over Mr. Gonzales had made his continuing as attorney general difficult.

 

?The unfair treatment that he?s been on the receiving end of has been a distraction for the department,? the official said.

 

As recently as Sunday afternoon, Mr. Gonzales was denying through his press spokesman, Brian Roehrkasse, that he intended to leave.

 

Mr. Roehrkasse said Sunday afternoon that he had telephoned Mr. Gonzales about the reports circulating in Washington that a resignation was imminent, ?and he said it wasn?t true, so I don?t know what more I can say.?

 

White House spokesmen also insisted on Sunday that they did not believe that Mr. Gonzales was planning to resign. Aides to senior members of the Senate Judiciary Committee said over the weekend that they had received no suggestion from the administration that Mr. Gonzales intended to resign.

 

Senator Charles Schumer, the New York Democrat who sits on the committee and has been calling for Mr. Gonzales?s resignation for months, said this morning: ?It has been a long and difficult struggle, but at last the attorney general has done the right thing and stepped down. For the previous six months, the Justice Department has been virtually nonfunctional, and desperately needs new readership.?

Gonzalez was incompetent as hell, good riddance.

Finally, an end to the tenure of the worst Attorney General in the history of the United States. Thank the Lord...

It's mystifying why he wouldn't have done this earlier. Even if he & Bush had this great relationship that went back decades or whatever, do you think you're doing the President a favor by staying on and prolonging this circus?

 

 

That story that keeps popping up about the hospital visit to Ashcroft is a little chilling if you buy James Comey's story (deputy AG under Ashcroft), which Robert Mueller recently also testified to I believe.

 

 

I've heard Chertoff's name as a possible replacement. :|

That story that keeps popping up about the hospital visit to Ashcroft is a little chilling if you buy James Comey's story (deputy AG for Ashcroft), which Robert Mueller recently also testified to I believe.

It appears that everyone else in that room who was not Alberto Gonzales has confirmed that story.

The interrogation he had to deal with after the U.S attorney dismissals was a joke/witch hunt/pointless exercise.

 

He still needed to step down though.

The interrogation he had to deal with after the U.S attorney dismissals was a joke/witch hunt/pointless exercise.

Oh come on. Not all of it was partisan. Even Republicans were appalled at how horrible a job he had done.

Did I say that?

 

The reason he had to appear (U.S attorney dismissals) was a joke.

 

The one good thing that did come from it though as I've said in this thread, is it exposed his incompetence.