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Politics

Support for Gonzales appears shaky

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published March 20, 2007

WASHINGTON- Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' hold on his job grew more uncertain Monday as the Justice Department released e-mails with new details about the firings of eight federal prosecutors. The White House said it hoped Gonzales would survive the tumult.

Asked if the attorney general had contained the political damage from the dismissals of eight federal prosecutors, White House spokesman Tony Snow said: "I don't know."

Documents released Monday night by the Justice Department show that Gonzales was unhappy with how Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty explained the firings to the Senate Judiciary Committee in February.

"The Attorney General is extremely upset with the stories on the US Attys this morning," Justice spokesman Brian Roehrkasse, who was traveling with Gonzales in South America at the time, wrote in a Feb. 7 e-mail.

In a statement Monday night, Roehrkasse said he was referring to Gonzales' concerns over the firing of Bud Cummins in Little Rock, who he believed was dismissed because of performance issues. At the hearing, McNulty indicated Cummins was being replaced by a political ally.

Gonzales initially had said the firings were performance-related, not based on political considerations. But e-mails between the Justice Department and the White House have contradicted that assertion.

About 3,000 pages of new e-mails and other documents were delivered to the House and Senate Judiciary committees Monday.

Snow declined Monday to predict how long Gonzales would stay in his job but reiterated President Bush's support of him. "No one's prophetic enough to know what the next 21 months hold," Snow said. "We hope he stays."

McClatchy Newspapers reported Monday night that the White House had begun floating the names of possible replacements for Gonzales. McClatchy said a prominent Republican said he expected both Gonzales and Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty to resign soon.

On Capitol Hill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., joined a chorus of lawmakers who are calling for Gonzales to leave the administration.

[Last modified March 20, 2007, 02:10:58]