Alberto R Gonzales

Republican presidential candidate Rudolph W. Giuliani, a former U.S. attorney in New York, said Thursday that Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales should get "the benefit of the doubt" in the uproar over the firings of federal prosecutors. "The president has addressed it," Giuliani, the former New York City mayor, said. "The attorney general's an honorable man. He's a decent man.

The White House reaffirmed its support Saturday for embattled Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales after a newly released Justice Department memo showing he joined in a meeting about plans to fire several U.S. attorneys. Gonzales' participation in the November meeting could indicate he played a larger role in the dismissal process than he has said. Some Democrats have therefore intensified calls that Gonzales resign.

During his confirmation hearing two years ago, U.S. Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales was confronted with a question about his fitness for office: How could he explain his involvement in setting administration policy authorizing the use of legally questionable interrogation techniques against terrorism suspects?

Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales, told by President Bush to repair relations with Congress over his handling of the U.S. attorneys affair, instead suffered new and withering criticism from senators of both parties Thursday, including questions about his judgment, candor and fitness to serve.

Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales has few fans these days among the power elite in the nation's capital, especially since his underwhelming appearance before a Senate panel last week. But he has at least one enthusiast left -- the only one who really counts.

A year ago, even Democrats in Congress viewed newly minted Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales as a breath of fresh air. After years of battling his hard-edged predecessor, John Ashcroft, the quiet, self-effacing former judge was seen as marking a new era of open and harmonious relations. Gonzales' appearance Monday before the Senate Judiciary Committee showed what a difference a year can make. Testifying about the domestic spying program that President Bush secretly approved after the Sept.

The government agency that enforces one of the principal laws aimed at keeping politics out of the civil service has accused the Justice Department of blocking its investigation into alleged politicizing of the department under former Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales. Scott J. Bloch, head of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, wrote Atty. Gen. Michael B.

When Bush administration officials at the Justice Department dismissed nine U.S. attorneys in 2006, there were various theories as to why the prosecutors were being let go. They were too soft on the death penalty. They did not prosecute enough illegal immigrants. They did not go after enough Democrats. On Monday, the Justice Department's internal watchdog hinted at perhaps the most sensational justification yet -- perceived homosexuality.

Atty. Gen. Michael B. Mukasey said Tuesday that the Justice Department had no plans to bring criminal charges in connection with hiring abuses that took place under his predecessor, Alberto R. Gonzales. Mukasey said the findings in two recent reports by Inspector General Glenn A. Fine -- that a group of influential Gonzales aides considered politics and ideology in hiring career employees and summer interns -- were "disturbing."

Alberto R. Gonzales misled Congress when as White House counsel he claimed that the CIA had approved information that ended up in the 2003 State of the Union speech about Iraq's alleged effort to buy uranium for its nuclear weapons program, a House Democrat said Thursday. In a memo to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, panel Chairman Henry A.