Amid a growing clamor for his resignation, Alberto Gonzales acknowledged Friday his confusion about his own role in firing eight U.S. attorneys.

But according to the New York Times, the Attorney General doesn’t “recall being involved in deliberations” over which prosecutors would be ousted.

“I believe in truth and accountability and every step that I’ve taken is consistent with that principle,” Alberto Gonzales said. “I am fighting for the truth as well.”

Gonzales, who George W. Bush continues to stand by, said he had his former chief of staff, Kyle Sampson (pictured) coordinated performance reviews for the 93 U.S. attorneys “to see where changes might be appropriate.”

“I signed off on the recommendations and signed off on the implementation plan, and that’s the extent of my involvement,” he told reporters after a holding a round-table discussion in the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington with state and federal law enforcement officials.

Sampson, testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, contradicted Gonzales’ earlier accounts of not being involved in the decision-making.

Calling them inaccurate, Sampson said he and Gonzales had talked several times about the firings and the process for carrying them out.

Continue reading in the Washington Post …

President George W. Bush plans to personally wade into the controversy over fired federal prosecutors today, returning to the White House to deliver a statement of confidence in Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

The Chicago Tribune reports that the president is also looking to make the argument that he is showing great cooperation with Congress.

But has offered up some of his closest advisers to talk about the firings of several U.S. attorneys whom one has dubbed “the USA Eight.”

The president’s statement in the Diplomatic Room of the White House, when he returns from a day-trip, is planned for 5:45 pm EDT.

The White House has offered to let Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove and former counsel Harriet Miers be interviewed by members of Congress about the firing of eight federal prosecutors - but only behind closed doors, with no transcripts and not under oath.

To that, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) responded:

“It is a unique offer with a lot of pitfalls [that Democrats] want to evaluate.”

Schumer said White House Counsel Fred Fielding “indicated he did not want to negotiate,” but that Democrats are going to push back anyway. A copy of Fielding’s letter to Democrats is here.

According to USA Today, Schumer has been leading Senate Democrats’ efforts to investigate the controversial Justice Department moves.

The threat of subpoenas over the prosecutor firings isn’t the only political fire that the White House is attempting to dampen on Capitol Hill.

With Democratic leaders calling for Gonzales’ resignation, Bush telephoned his attorney general, also a friend from Texas, shortly after dawn today with “a very strong vote of confidence.”

We’ll see how far that gets the A.G., or whether he soon joins Scooter Libby on the list of disgraced Bush Administration cronies fall guys.

It’s March in Washington, D.C.

That means it’s raining… fall guys.

It wasn’t always the case. During George W. Bush’s first term, Slate notes, you couldn’t oust a political appointee to save your life.

We Democrats know this, having predicted Donald Rumsfeld would go down long before he was finally, finally forced out.

Same with Paul O’Neill and Karl Rove (the latter of whom never left, although he has been tied to yet another recent scandal).

But nowadays, with Bush’s approval rating stuck in the 30-40-percent range, he’s a little more attentive to criticism. The replacement of White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card with the smarter, tougher Josh Bolton is likely another reason so many bodies are being thrown under the bus.

Who are the fall guys?

The most famous right now is Scooter Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney. Libby is shouldering the blame for Plamegate, even though Rove, Richard Armitage, and possibly Ari Fleischer were just as guilty of the underlying offense of outing a CIA employee.

Army Gen. George Weightman, who appears to have had very little to do with creating the outpatient scandal at Walter Reed Army Hospital, nonetheless was the first to go when news of the scandal hit the Washington Post. The seemingly more-culpable personnel soon followed.

Then there’s the scandal swirling around the dubious, politically motivated firings of eight U.S. attorneys, leading to the resignation of D. Kyle Sampson, chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

Continue reading this article …

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales (sort of) admitted at a news conference today that mistakes were made in the undo dismissals of several federal prosecutors.

Democrats are examining e-mails they say prove the White House was far more involved in the firings than it has acknowledged, and many are calling on Gonzales to resign as a result.

The Attorney General is the latest prominent Bush Administration official (Donald Rumsfeld, Scooter Libby, even Vice President Dick Cheney) to be mired in a storm of controversy.

E-mails exchanged between the Department of Justice and the White House were handed over Tuesday to congressional committees investigating the firing of eight U.S. attorneys. The results of that investigation could yield considerable fallout in the DOJ.

For now, here’s a brief recap of what’s transpired at his press conference:

– Gonzales concedes that “mistakes were made” and that “the responsibility” lies on him - yet effectively states he will not accept responsibility for his own actions or those who work under him. In other words, tough $h!t.

– After a tough question was posed - “How is it possible that your chief of staff was consulting with the White House and crafting a list of U.S. Attorneys to be fired and you not know about it - Gonzales does everything but physically duck for cover, offering up a softball answer. Something about having a lot of employees. Press Corps 1, Alberto 0.

– The Attorney General states that he believes that the mistake made was that information was not shared with Congress, completely neglecting to mention the fact that…

• There was ample partisan pressure put on U.S. Attorneys.
• These prosecutors were fired for those political and partisan reasons.

Later, when fielding follow up question, Gonzales continues to assert that this was a problem of communication, not corruption, and that he stands by his decision. In a word, weak. All we can say is that the more George W. Bush cronies go down, the better our candidates look.

For a full transcript of Gonzales’ answer, visit the Washington Post.