http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/i ... xml&coll=2

Sessions defends Gonzales'
3/16/07

WASHINGTON - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has not done anything that should cause him to lose his job, Sen. Jeff Sessions said Thursday, but neither does he oppose an investigation into whether federal prosecutors were fired improperly for political reasons on Gonzales' watch.

"I haven't studied all the facts out there right now, but based on what I've seen, I don't think he's compelled to resign," Sessions said in an interview on Capitol Hill. "Nobody has accused him of saying anything improper or untruthful."

While Sessions did not join the growing list of senators demanding Gonzales be fired, including one Republican, neither did he offer his usual full-throated defense of President Bush's administration when it is under attack by Democrats.

The Democratic-led Senate Judiciary Committee, where Sessions is a member, approved additional subpoenas Thursday for Justice Department officials to explain the firings of eight U.S. attorneys, some of whom have since complained of inappropriate political interference in their offices.

"I think either directly or through his staff indirectly or otherwise, (Gonzales) will have to be prepared to answer any questions that remain," said Sessions, himself a former federal prosecutor. "I don't think it's all been fully examined. Certainly Senator (Charles) Schumer has his partisan hat on as chair of the Senate committee (for electing Democrats), and he's pushing real hard and they're asking a lot of questions and he's going to have to answer them. That's just the way life is in the big city."

Sessions said he has not reviewed the e-mails that were released Tuesday outlining discussions between Justice Department officials and White House personnel about the removal of several U.S. attorneys, contradicting previous assertions that the White House was not deeply involved.

Gonzales' chief of staff, who was involved in much of the communication, has resigned. Sessions held out the possibility that the inaccurate testimony originally given to Congress was an honest mistake, rather than a deliberate intent to mislead.

As for the documents showing that all federal prosecutors were evaluated, in part, on their loyalty to the administration, Sessions said it could be a reference to whether those prosecutors were adequately carrying out the administration policies to bring more gun-related and illegal immigration cases.

When a new president takes office, it is common to replace U.S. attorneys if they were appointed under another political party. But the recent firings were of Bush's own nominees, and Democrats suspect they were dismissed to make room for closer White House allies, as was the case in one of the e-mails about an appointment in Arkansas.

"As an appointee of the president, U.S. attorneys by and large are supporters and they share the president's views or they wouldn't have gotten the job," Sessions said. "You can say that's politics. That is politics. But when they put that hat on and go in to that office and evaluate a criminal case it should be absolutely based on nothing more than what the law and facts calls for. And the evaluation of their performance should be based on nothing more than their competence."

E-mail: morndorff@bhamnews.com