Gonzales hearing puts new focus on White House
Observers say he seemed out of the loop and doubt he was behind firings.
WASHINGTON - The Senate Judiciary Committee's grilling Thursday of Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales was rich in human drama but failed to resolve Congress' central questions.
After thousands of pages of documents and hours of testimony from Justice Department officials, it remains unclear who in the Bush administration conceived the plan to fire eight U.S. attorneys and why.
Gonzales' testimony left senators convinced he was not behind the plan or its execution and in fact knew far less than a department head should have about the details. Former and current members of Gonzales' staff who have been interviewed by congressional investigators also have said their roles were limited or nonexistent.
Absent another explanation, observers say, the signs point to the White House and, at least in some degree, to the president's political adviser, Karl Rove.
David Iglesias, the former New Mexico U.S. attorney and one of the eight fired last year, said investigating the White House's role was the logical next step, one that would follow clues about Rove's involvement.
"If I were Congress," Iglesias said, "I would say: 'If the attorney general doesn't have answers, then who would?' There's enough evidence to indicate that Karl Rove was involved up to his eyeballs."
Iglesias said another clue that the White House might have been the driving force was the relative lack of Justice Department documentation for the firings in the 6,000 pages of documents turned over to Congress.
"If you want to justify getting rid of someone, you should have at least some paper trail," Iglesias said. "There's been a remarkable absence of that. I'm wondering if the paper trail is at the White House."
Even if Gonzales decides to step down - he says he will not despite widespread Republican disappointment with his performance - Democrats say they will continue their probe into whether politics inappropriately influenced the firings.
"The arrow points more and more to the White House," said Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D., N.Y.), a member of the Judiciary Committee. "The one thing I can assure you of: This is not over - far from it."
That's why some Republicans think Gonzales should stay on the job.
Sen. John Cornyn (R., Texas) told Gonzales in a telephone call yesterday that the worst was probably over for him and that stepping down would not necessarily help the president.
In a statement he released later in the day, Cornyn said: "Democrats see an opportunity to score a lot of political points, so I don't necessarily believe that the attorney general's resignation would quell the Democrats' desire to continue with a partisan fishing expedition."
Some Republicans want to know more about Rove's possible role.
Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, immediate past chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said after Gonzales' testimony: "Those questions are going to be outstanding to the White House people."
"I believe we will have an opportunity to question them," Specter predicted, but he added, "What the quality of the answers will be remains to be seen."
Others, however, suggest that they would prefer that Gonzales resign so the president and his inner circle would be spared further investigation.
Sen. Tom Coburn (R., Okla.) told Gonzales he should resign but added: "I disavow aggressively any implication that there was a political nature in this. I know that's the politics of the blood sport that we're playing. I don't think it had anything to do with it."
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.) told Gonzales, "You should have said no" to whomever wanted to fire the attorneys. Sessions said yesterday that Gonzales should "take the weekend" to reevaluate whether he should resign.