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Title: 93 prosecutors receive apology from Gonzales
Source:
http://www.mercurynews.com
URL Source: http://www.mercurynews.com/politics/ci_5465080
Published: Mar 18, 2007
Author: Deb Riechmann
Post Date: 2007-03-18 11:01:03 by robin
Keywords: None
Views: 62
Comments: 3
93 prosecutors receive apology from Gonzales By Deb Riechmann Associated Press Article Launched: 03/18/2007 01:51:42 AM PDT WASHINGTON - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has offered a mea culpa to the nation's 93 U.S. attorneys for the way the Justice Department fired eight of their colleagues. In a conference call Friday, planned as a pep talk to raise morale at the Justice Department after the firings and the FBI's misuse of the Patriot Act, Gonzales apologized for how the dismissals were handled and for suggesting there were problems with the prosecutors' job performances, according to an official familiar with the conversation. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose details of the call, said Gonzales did not apologize for firing the eight U.S. attorneys, a decision he and President Bush have defended. Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrhasse said Saturday that the call was set up to allow Gonzales to reiterate "how important the U.S. attorneys are to him as his representatives in the communities they serve and as prosecutors charged with protecting their communities from violent criminals, drug dealers and predators." The call was made the same day that his former top aide, who resigned last week amid the controversy, denied that he purposefully withheld information from Justice Department officials who misled Congress about the firings. Kyle Sampson, the attorney general's former chief of staff, said in a statement released by his attorney that several senior officials were aware Advertisement the Justice Department and the White House "had been discussing the subject since the election." E-mail exchanges involving Sampson and others, including officials at the White House, support Sampson's assertion, which contradicts claims by Gonzales that he had been in the dark about the way his former top aide had carried out the dismissals and that there were not political motives behind the firings. The e-mails indicate discussions about the dismissals involved Gonzales while he was still White House counsel in late 2004 or early 2005.
Poster Comment: I'm Sorry
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#1. To: robin (#0)
I can imagine my first day in Iraq, and my Hummer gets hit, and I lose both my legs. Later, as I'm sitting in my wheelchair, some politician comes by and says, just like Maxwell Smart, "Oops, sorry about that, chief." Apologies, they mean nothing.
#2. To: YertleTurtle (#1)
Focus on those 5 star hotels in Dubai and the beautiful offshore bank accounts that a few, the chosen, those brave chickenhawks are growing even as we write this.
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