President Bush stood by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Wednesday but acknowledged that the Justice Department “mishandled” its explanation of the dismissals of eight U.S. attorneys.
Although the president said the firings were “entirely appropriate,” he criticized the Justice Department for failing to fully and accurately inform Congress of the firings.
“Mistakes were made, and I’m frankly not happy about them because there is a lot of confusion,” Bush said at a press conference in Mexico. “This issue was mishandled.”
Bush spoke with Gonzales on Wednesday and made it clear that he expects the attorney general to spend some time smoothing the lawmakers’ ruffled feathers. The president also said he has “confidence” in Gonzales.
BUSH-GONZALES HISTORY
For the last 13 years, Alberto Gonzales has been appointed to legal positions by George W. Bush, first as Texas governor and then as president.
» 1994: General counsel to Texas governor
» 1997: Texas secretary of state
» 1999: Texas Supreme Court
» 2001: White House counsel
» 2005: U.S. attorney general
The White House says the attorneys were fired for refusing to prosecute illegal immigration cases, for performing poorly on election fraud investigations and for other, unspecified reasons.
Bush flatly denied accusations by Democrats that the attorneys were dismissed for political reasons.
“It’s not true,” he said. “U.S. attorneys serve at the pleasure of the president. In other words, they’re appointed by the president; they can be removed by the president. What was mishandled was the explanation.”
The administration blames the miscommunication on Gonzales’ former chief of staff, Kyle Samson, who resigned Monday. Samson had consulted with the White House about the firings but did not fully brief Justice Department officials who were tasked with explaining the dismissals to lawmakers, according to administration officials.
Seeking to close off at least one avenue of potential attack by Democrats, Bush also emphasized that while he personally received complaints about individual attorneys and discussed those complaints with Gonzales, he did not get involved in the details of the dismissals.
“I never, you know, brought up a specific case, nor gave him specific instructions,” he said.
Democrats have called for investigations of the firings and have threatened to demand testimony from White House political strategist Karl Rove and former White House Counsel Harriet Miers.
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