Welcome to Gonzales Watch - Blawging the Ex-Attorney General

U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales shelved his Spring Break family vacation plans. A trip to Florida, Padre Island, or Cancun? Fuggedaboutit!

The country’s top prosecutor has a lot of prep work ahead before he testifies at Senate Judiciary Committee hearing about his role in the U.S. Attorney firings scandal.  The political embroglio has all the makings of a sordid TV mini-series — one that should likely play out over a network’s whole season. The West Wing had nothing on the dysfunctional state of affairs in the Justice Department and the White House.

The View From Congress: Gonzales’ Credibility Is Sorely Lacking

Gonzales will certainly have a lot of explaining to do at the upcomign Senate hearing.  His presence at an hour-long meeting to discuss U.S. Attorney appointments on November 27, 2006 was documented in an e-mail from Kyle Sampson, his former Chief of Staff.  The meeting was with Gonzales’ top aides in the Attorney General’s own conference room — how could his memory fail him about the basics of this meeting?

Then there is Gonzales’ March 13th statement when, he was caught lying to reporters about his knowledge and involvement in firing eight U.S. Attorneys, telling them: “I never saw documents. We never had a discussion about where things stood” about terminating U.S. Attorneys.

His former Chief of Staff says that Gonzales’ memory is inaccurate, that he was highly involved in the decision-making process (along with the White House) in firing eight career prosecutors, many of whom were investigating high-profile political corruption cases.