Welcome to Gonzales Watch - Blawging the Ex-Attorney General

When Kyle Sampson worked in the White House Counsel’s Office under Alberto Gonzales, according to the Washington Post, “he was in charge of U.S. Attorney selections.”

In a Dana Perino-esque way of describing Sampson’s status, he was effectively “keep[ing] the President’s pleasure” by culling through potential U.S. Attorney applications and recommendations.

The Washington Post reviewed government records, and made a troubling — but somehow not so shocking — discovery. In the two-period following Kyle Sampson’s January 2005 “loyal Bushies”memo, the U.S. Attorneys who were “chosen as chief federal prosecutors on a temporary or permanent basis since early 2005 include 10 senior aides to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales.”

The “loyal Bushies” prerequisite is becoming clearer. Post reporters Amy Goldstein and Dan Eggen note that “several [prosecutors] came from the White House or other government agencies.” Even more troubling is that a number of U.S. Attorneys put into place by the Bush Administration “lacked experience as prosecutors.”

Choosing U.S. Attorneys who don’t have experience prosecuting criminal cases — especially high-profile policy issues like tobacco litigation, corporate governance, terrorism, and political corruption — is not a smart move.

How can Assistant U.S. Attorneys have confidence in a boss heading their office if the U.S. Attorney is seen as nothing more than a political hack?

Sen. Richard Durbin (Dem. - Ill.) asked perhaps the most salient question on the minds of Congress and the American public: “If we have eight U.S. attorneys dismissed because they were not ‘loyal Bushies,’ then how many of the remaining U.S. attorneys are?”

Here’s another look at Kyle Sampson’s ‘loyal Bushies’ January 2005 e-mail to Deputy White House Counsel David Leitch. The reference to ‘Judge’ is to Alberto Gonzales who was White House Counsel at that time. John Ashcroft was still U.S. Attorney General.

President Bush told reporters at Camp David today that embattled U.S. Attorney General still had his enthusiastic support:

“Attorney General Gonzales is an honorable and honest man, and he has my full confidence.    He is providing documents for Congress to find the truth. He will testify in front of Congress, and he will tell the truth…I will remind you, there is no credible evidence that there has been any wrongdoing.”

Bush has remained steadfast in standing by his lawman, despite GOP and Democratics calls for Gonzales’ resignation.