Gonzo Gotta Go

Former Justice spokesman under Bush calls for Gonzales to resign

Published: Thursday April 5, 2007 - A former Justice Department spokesman who served under the Bush Administration is calling for Alberto Gonzales to step down from his post as Attorney General, according to USA Today. 

Mark Corallo, who served as Public Affairs Director for the Justice Department from 2002 to 2005, told USA Today that it was only Bush's sense of loyalty that was keeping Gonzales in his current post. 

"Some Republicans, including former Justice Department spokesman Mark Corallo, say Lone Star loyalty 'is the only reason Gonzales is still around,'" USA Today reported. "He says Gonzales should step down over mismanagement of the U.S. attorneys flap." 

"Alberto Gonzales' loyalty to George Bush has got to trump George Bush's loyalty to Alberto Gonzales," Corallo was quoted as saying. 

At TPMMuckraker, Paul Kiel observes, "Now the calls for Alberto Gonzales' resignation are coming from veterans of Bush's own Justice Department." 

Corallo has recently come out as a forceful defender of Kyle Sampson, Gonzales' chief of staff, who resigned after news reports of the firing of eight US Attorneys -- which some have dubbed "Attorneygate" -- broke last month. Corallo believes that his friend Sampson has been scapegoated. 

"I think it is absolutely appalling that the senior leadership of the Justice Department decided to scapegoat Kyle Sampson," Corallo told the Boston Globe in March. "This is a good guy who didn't do anything wrong." 

Corallo went even further in a March USA Today article, telling the paper that Sampson had been "smeared and slimed by people who should have treated him better."  - Raw Story / USA Today

Gonzales should weigh quitting

Former Speaker of the house Newt Gingrich addresses the National Federation of Republican Women's directors meeting in Washington on March 31, 2007.

WASHINGTON -- Joining a growing list of Republicans, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Sunday that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should consider resigning. The possible presidential candidate said the botched firing of U.S. attorneys has destroyed Gonzales' credibility as the nation's top law enforcer. 

"I think the country, in fact, would be much better served to have a new team at the Justice Department, across the board," Gingrich said. "I cannot imagine how he is going to be effective for the rest of this administration. ... They're going to be involved in endless hearings." 

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., who is helping lead the investigation into the firing of eight federal prosecutors, said Gingrich's comments pointed to building bipartisan support for a new attorney general. 

"This is another important voice who believes that the attorney general should step down for the good of the country and the good of the department," Schumer said in a statement. "We hope both the attorney general and the president heed Speaker Gingrich's message."

On Sunday, Gingrich harshly criticized Gonzales' judgment in allowing the firings to escalate into such a political scandal.

Gingrich noted that a president has every right to fire U.S. attorneys for any reason. Therefore, he said, all Gonzales had to do was to say that Bush wanted new people. Instead, Gingrich said, the attorney general made a series of misstatements from which he was forced later to backtrack. 

"This is the most mishandled, artificial, self-created mess that I can remember in the years I've been active in public life," Gingrich said. "The buck has to stop somewhere, and I'm assuming it's the attorney general and his immediate team."

In recent weeks, several Republicans have joined Democrats in saying Gonzales should consider resigning, including Sens. John Sununu of New Hampshire and Gordon Smith of Oregon and Reps. Dana Rohrabacher of California, Tom Tancredo of Colorado and Lee Terry of Nebraska.

Other Republicans, including administration allies Jon Kyl of Arizona and John Cornyn of Texas, have acknowledged that Gonzales badly mishandled the matter and needed to explain himself quickly. 

"I think the confusion and the ham-handed way that these firings was done certainly undermines the confidence of the Justice Department," Kyl said Sunday. "And part of his effort to come up and testify before the Hill will be to restore some of that confidence."

Schumer said the controversy is the latest evidence of a leadership failure at the department. 

"The gravity of this situation is shown by the fact that several Republicans have called for the attorney general to resign," he said. "The fact that the attorney general is the president's friend and was the president's counsel for years does not alone make him qualified to be attorney general." Gingrich and Schumer appeared on "Fox News Sunday," and Kyl spoke on ABC's "This Week."