Democrats Grill Gonzales on Firings
Gonzales cool under pressure as House Committee criticizes attorney general.
May 10, 2007 — -- Attorney General Alberto Gonzales faced another congressional oversight hearing Thursday, but unlike in his Senate testimony, the embattled attorney general didn't seem flustered despite continued scrutiny over how he runs the Justice Department and the controversy over the U.S. attorney firings.
Gonzales told the committee, "I want to assure the American public that nothing improper happened here."
Compared to the verbal beating he took before the Senate Judiciary Committee in April, Gonzales appeared more confident in staying on as the attorney general.
Republican members of the committee indicated their support for Gonzales, a much different atmosphere from the Senate committee hearing, where he faced bipartisan calls for him to resign.
The Washington Post reported Thursday that former Kansas City U.S. attorney Todd Graves was asked to step down in January 2006 -- months before the eight federal prosecutors were removed, taking the total number of fired U.S. attorneys to nine.
Graves told the Post he was told to resign to "give another person a chance," and said he didn't oppose the request because he was planning to return to private practice.
"Contrary to repeated assurances that the eight U.S. attorneys, whose circumstances we have been examining for the past few months, were the entire list, makes us wonder when we will get the full story," House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., said.
Graves had been looking at a voter fraud case in Missouri.
U.S attorney Bradley Schlozman, Graves' interim replacement, proceeded with the case and brought indictments weeks before the 2006 election, which angered some state Democrats.
Gonzales told the committee that he asked the head of the Civil Rights Division, Assistant Attorney General Wan Kim, who oversaw aspects of the investigation, if he fully supported the indictment. Kim told the attorney general he did, according to Gonzales' testimony.
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