Attorney Scott Horton: Gonzales Resignation Puts Torture, Guantanamo Back on Center Stage in Washington

Tuesday, August 28, 2007 : After months of calls for his resignation, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales finally resigned on Monday. He had been at the center of numerous Congressional investigations including the firing of nine U.S. attorneys, the overall politicization of the Justice Department and the Bush administration's secret warrantless domestic surveillance operation. We speak with House Judiciary Chair Rep. John Conyers.

After months of calls for his resignation, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales finally resigned on Monday - just two weeks after one of his chief backers in the administration Karl Rove stepped down.

Gonzales had been at the center of numerous congressional investigations including the firing of nine U.S. attorneys, the overall politicization of the Justice Department and the Bush administration's secret warrantless domestic surveillance operation.

Besides serving as Attorney General, Gonzales was one of Bush's closest allies in Washington. For the past 13 years Bush has been Gonzales's only boss.

In 1994 he was named general counsel to then-Texas Governor George W. Bush. Bush later appointed him to became Secretary of State of Texas and then to a seat on the Texas Supreme Court. Once Bush was elected president, he named Gonzales White House counsel. Then in 2005 Bush tapped him to replace Attorney General John Ashcroft.

On Monday, President Bush held a short news conference to announce that he reluctantly accepted Gonzales's resignation.

• President Bush: "After months of unfair treatment that has created a harmful distraction at the Justice Department, Judge Gonzales has decided to resign his position and I accept his decision. It's sad that we live in a time when a talented and honorable person like Alberto Gonzales is impeded from doing important work because his good name was dragged through the mud for political reasons."

An hour earlier Gonzales held one of the shortest news conference in recent memory. It lasted one minute and 41 seconds. He never said why he was resigning.

• Alberto Gonzales: "Yesterday I met with President Bush and informed him of my decision to conclude my government service as attorney general of the United States, effective as of September 17th, 2007. Let me say that it's been one of my greatest privileges to lead the Department of Justice. I have great admiration and respect for the men and women who work here. I have made a point as Attorney General to personally meet as many of them as possible, and today I want to again thank them for their service to our nation. It is through their continued work that our country and our communities remain safe, that the rights and civil liberties of our citizens are protected, and the hopes and dreams of all of our children are secured."

President Bush has named solicitor general Paul Clement to be the interim U.S. Attorney General. He has worked for former Attorney General John Ashcroft and Justice Antonin Scalia and is a former member of the Federalist Society. Three years ago he represented the government in the Supreme Court case Rumsfeld v. Padilla. He insisted the U.S. does not engage in torture.

• Rep. John Conyers (D - MI), chair of the House Judiciary Committee which has been investigating Gonzales role in the politicization of the Justice Department and the warrantless domestic spy program. He joins us on the phone from Detroit.

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Tuesday, August 28, 2007 : Speculation is growing that Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff will be tapped to replace outgoing Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. We speak with former Justice Department attorney, Jesselyn Radack, who charges that department officials under Chertoff improperly questioned John Waker Lindh and that her memos raising ethical concerns about his interrogation were purged.

President Bush has named Solicitor General Paul Clement to serve as acting Attorney General. Meanwhile there has been much speculation about who Bush will nominate to replace Gonzales.

Names mentioned in the press include Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff, former solicitor general Theodore Olsen, homeland security adviser Frances Fragos Townsend and former deputy attorney general Larry Thompson.

Jesselyn Radack joins us now. She is a former attorney in the ethics department of the Justice Department. She worked at the Justice Department after the Sept. 11 attacks and dealt with the John Walker Lindh case.

At the time Michael Chertoff headed the criminal division of the Justice Department.

Two years ago Radack was a vocal critic about Chertoff nomination as Homeland Security Director.

• Jesselyn Radack, former attorney in the ethics department of the Justice Department. She is author of the book "The Canary in the Coalmine: Blowing the Whistle in the Case of "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh."

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