Welcome to Gonzales Watch - Blawging the Ex-Attorney General

What are ‘friends’ for? If you work for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, and he calls you his ‘friend,’ you could end up being a scapegoat and fall guy for a huge political and legally embaressing mess at the Justice Department.

That’s what happened to Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty when he announced his resignation yesterday.

Yesterday Gonzales praised McNulty, saying he was “valued here at the Department…as both a colleague and a friend.”

Today Gonzales stabbed McNulty in the back by telling a gaggle of reporters at the National Press Club that McNulty bore responsibility for the firing of U.S. Attorneys in what has become a politcal and legal entanglement of the highest proportions.

“At the end of the day,” Gonzales told reporters, “the recommendationon [on which U.S. Attorneys should be fired and lose their jobs] reflected the views of the Deupty Attorney General. He signed off on the names. He would know better than anyone else, anyone in this room. Anyone. Again, the Deputy Attorney General would know best about the qualification and experiences of the United States Attorney community, and he signed off on the names.”

One day after you tell your boss that you’re leaving, and he sings your praises, you end up being the fall guy for his mistakes.

Gee, with friends like that….

U.S. Attorney General said at this morning’s Q&A at the National Press Club that he was traveling today to meet with other U.S. Attorneys in San Antonio, Texas this afternoon.

His trip would also appear to be the perfect opportunity for the lawyer and former state judge to meet and greet behind the scenes with Texas law firms, and look for a new job as a rainmaking partner at a top tier law firm.

At his speech before the National Press Club this morning, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales answered prepared questions that were required to be submitted by attendees in advance if the Q&A.

He began his speech after snickering at a protestor who called for his resignation and had to be removed from the room.

One question involved the U.S. Attorney firings debacle: the query [from whom, we don’t know] asked “has the controversy over the u.s. attorneys distracted you and taken time away from time that you should have spent fighting crime and terrorism.”

Gonzales held fast to his denial of any wrongdoing — his “I’ve done nothing improper” defense — and denied failing to cooperate with Congress during its ongoing investigation of firing career employees at the agency.

“It’s been an unfortunate episode, as far as I’m concerned, for the Department. Obviously…uh, uh…I’m commited to working with the Congress to make information available about what happened here. Uh…in my judgment, we’ve been extremely cooperative in turning over documentation and making Deptartment employees available for testimony, and I want to reassure the American public that nothing improper happened here.”

In what has become his traditional response to queries about the U.S. Attorney firings scandal, Gonzales ended this question by saying that the country had to remain focused on catching terrorist, gang violence, and violent pedophiles.

One day after Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty announced his resignation, a protestor interrupted the introduction of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales at the National Press Club this morning just moments before he delivered a speech on “Safer Neighborhoods: A Plan for Partnership.”

CNN captured the video, and Yahoo! is showing it here.

The protestor calls out “Mr. Gonzales resign; you’ve dishonored your country.”

Gonzales then begins to speak from his prepared remarks: “Thank you and good morning.”

Before she is removed from the room by the Attorney General’s security detail, the middle-aged white-haired woman continues heckling Gonzales, shouting: “Resign, please, you’ve dishonored your country. You’ve destroyed the Constitution. You’ve dishonored your country, resign. You’ve dishonored your country.”

The Attorney General’s response at her removal? CNN’s video shows Gonzales snickering with apparent smugness.