WASHINGTON — Congressional Democrats and the Bush administration hit an impasse Friday in the probe into the firing of eight U.S. attorneys, with White House officials delaying decisions to turn over documents or allow officials to testify and the House Judiciary Committee threatening subpoenas to force them to comply.
As speculation mounted that Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales' job was in jeopardy, another Republican suggested it would be best if he stepped down. "It is ultimately the president's decision, but perhaps it would benefit this administration if the attorney general was replaced with someone with a more professional focus rather than personal loyalty," said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach). He also said there had been "a pattern of arrogance in this administration."
White House and Justice Department officials said no announcement was imminent on Gonzales' status.
Also Friday, a lawyer for D. Kyle Sampson, Gonzales' former chief of staff who has been at the center of the controversy, issued a statement seeking to dispel the notion that Sampson had withheld from superiors information about plans to fire U.S. attorneys.
"The fact that the White House and Justice Department had been discussing the possible replacement of several U.S. attorneys since approximately 2005 was well known to a number of other senior officials at the department, including others who were involved in preparing the department's testimony to Congress," Bradford Berenson said.
Berenson also took issue with the explanation that Gonzales offered Tuesday for Sampson's resignation. Gonzales told reporters that "the mistake" Sampson had made was "that information that he had was not shared with individuals within the department" who were going to testify before Congress.
Some members of Congress have criticized the Justice Department over what they said was misleading or incomplete testimony about the fired prosecutors.
"Kyle did not resign because he had misled anyone at the Justice Department or withheld information," Berenson said. "He resigned because, as chief of staff, he felt he had let the attorney general down in failing to appreciate the need for ... a more effective political response to the unfounded accusations of impropriety."
On Capitol Hill, Democrats said they were losing patience with the administration, especially as the release of a separate batch of documents from the Justice Department, expected Friday, was postponed until Monday.
