The fallout from the firings continues to grow in Washington, and sources tell CBS News that it looks like Attorney General Alberto Gonzales will take the fall.
Republicans close to the White House tell CBS News chief White House correspondent Jim Axelrod that President Bush is in "his usual posture: pugnacious, that no one is going to tell him who to fire." But sources also said Gonzales' firing is just a matter of time.
The White House is bracing for a weekend of criticism and more calls for Gonzales to go. One source tells CBS News he's never seen the administration in such deep denial, and Republicans are growing increasingly restless for the president to take action.
This story is interesting for two reasons. First, the Bush White House was caught firing these eight attorneys for political reasons. All the Bush PR-spin about how the attorneys had receiving bad performance reviews, it was the president's prerogative, or even claiming that President Clinton fired attorneys, turned out to be either outright lies, or complete falsifications.
The second important factor about this story is really Alberto Gonzales. The administration has been caught stacking the U.S. Attorney's Office with political appointees--especially in a way that circumvents the Senate's approval. Because of this, the scandal has taken a life of its own here. The Bush White House is unable to contain this scandal, not with the congressional Democrats issuing subpoenas to Bush administration officials in their own investigations. Gonzales was caught lying, under oath, to Congress. Gonzales assured the Senate Judiciary Committee in January that the eight replacement attorneys would be confirmed by the Senate. According to Gonzales:
I am fully committed, as the administration’s fully committed, to ensure that, with respect to every United States attorney position in this country, we will have a presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed United States attorney.
And while assuring the Senate Judiciary Committee that that these replacement attorneys would be confirmed by the Senate, Gonzales had already testing the administration's newfound interim appointment powers by selecting Karl Rove's aid Tim Griffin to replace Bud Cummings. Gonzales is becoming the Bush administration's scapegoat for this scandal--perhaps also to protect Karl Rove. The problem here is that Gonzales is not just the attorney general here, but also a close, personal friend of President Bush. This makes it especially tough for a president, who both demands and provides a close personal loyalty to aids, to even fire Gonzales. This may be why Bush is in "his usual posture: pugnacious, that no one is going to tell him who to fire." But the bigger problem here with the Bush White House isn't that this attorney scandal can be defined as a conflict between congressional Democrats and the Republican White House--not when Republicans are now demanding Gonzales' head. So it becomes a question of time here. How long can the Bush White House stave off both Democratic and Republican demands for Gonzales' resignation, how long can they fight the congressional Democrats' subpoenas for documents and congressional testimony from Karl Rove and other officials on this scandal, and even continue its own domestic and foreign policy agenda while this latest scandal casts a dark, gray cloud over the Bush White House? Will President Bush be forced to make Gonzales a scapegoat on this scandal in order to protect Karl Rove?
More to come.
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