Breaking: Gonzales Apologizes To Prosecutors

By Marisa Taylor and Margaret Talev
McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales apologized to the nation's 93 U.S. attorneys in a conference call Friday as he tried to hold on to his job amid the scandal over the firings of eight federal prosecutors.

In another move to repair his credibility, Gonzales named a respected U.S. attorney from Virginia, Chuck Rosenberg, as his interim chief of staff to replace Kyle Sampson, who stepped down because of his involvement in the controversy.

Gonzales apologized to the prosecutors not for the firings but for their execution, including for inaccurate public statements about poor job performance, according to people familiar with the afternoon conference call.

"It shouldn't have happened," Gonzales said, according to one lawyer familiar with the conversation. The lawyer, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the matter, said Gonzales acknowledged that he'd seemed too detached during his news conference earlier this week. He told the prosecutors that he "should have known" about the dismissal planning by his former chief of staff.

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White House Delays Action in Inquiry on Attorneys

By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
Published: March 17, 2007

WASHINGTON, March 16 — The White House has delayed until next week a decision on whether to release additional documents and to permit top aides to President Bush, including Karl Rove, the chief political adviser, to testify in a Congressional inquiry into the dismissal of federal prosecutors.

Fred F. Fielding, the chief White House counsel, spent Friday evaluating the request and conferred with President Bush about it before Mr. Bush left for Camp David, a White House official said.

Mr. Fielding had initially told Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee that he hoped to have an answer by Friday, but he now expects to report back to the panel after the weekend....

Democrats expressed disappointment with the delay, and Representative John Conyers Jr., Democrat of Michigan, the committee chairman, said he would move forward with subpoenas for Mr. Rove and other top officials, including Harriet E. Miers, the former White House counsel, and Scott Jennings, a deputy to Mr. Rove.

Still, Mr. Conyers and Senator Charles E. Schumer, the New York Democrat who is spearheading the inquiry in the Senate, seemed inclined to give the administration a few more days. Separately, the committees expect to receive additional documents from the Justice Department on Monday....

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