Bush says Gonzales erred; GOP senator calls for firing

WASHINGTON — The close relationship between President Bush and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales appeared strained Wednesday as Bush, in a rare public scolding, took Gonzales to task for his handling of the firing of U.S. attorneys.

The move added a new element to the intensifying debate over whether Gonzales should step aside, barely two years into his tenure.

Sen. John Sununu, of New Hampshire, on Wednesday became the first Republican to call for Gonzales to go.

Gonzales has been fending off Democratic demands for his firing after disclosures surrounding the ouster of eight U.S. attorneys, including Seattle's John McKay, dismissals Democrats have characterized as a politically motivated purge.

Support from many Republicans had been muted, but there was no outright GOP call for his dismissal until now.

"I think the president should replace him," Sununu said. "I think the attorney general should be fired."

The White House response was curt. "We're disappointed, obviously," said spokesman Tony Snow.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., predicted Gonzales would soon be out. Asked in how long, Reid responded: "Days."

The White House, meanwhile, sent counsel Fred Fielding to negotiate ground rules with Democratic leaders seeking documents and testimony of administration officials, including chief political strategist Karl Rove and former White House counsel Harriet Miers. It remained unclear if Rove and Miers would appear before Congress.

The moves followed the release of new e-mails Tuesday that exposed a two-year effort by officials at the Justice Department and White House to target several U.S. attorneys for dismissal. The disclosures were at odds with versions of events offered by Gonzales and other officials to lawmakers, touching off controversy and accusations that the administration had misled Congress.

Gonzales acknowledged that he was largely unaware of the effort to fire certain prosecutors and that "mistakes" had been made. His chief of staff resigned, and others may follow. But he said he could not be expected to be aware of "every bit of information that passed thought the halls" of an organization of 110,000 people.

"I do have confidence in Attorney General Al Gonzales," Bush told reporters in Mexico on Wednesday while defending the attorney firings.

"What Al did and what the Justice Department did was appropriate," he said. "What was mishandled was the explanation of the cases to the Congress," Bush said.

Bush added, "And he's right, mistakes were made. And I'm, frankly, not happy about it, because there is a lot of confusion over what really has been a customary practice by the presidents" of replacing U.S. attorneys.

Presidents commonly begin their first term by replacing most, if not all, U.S. attorneys. Presidents Clinton in 1993 and Bush in 2001 replaced nearly all U.S. attorneys in the Justice Department's 93 districts nationwide. But it's rare for these attorneys to be dismissed later in a president's term except in cases of malfeasance.

A Feb. 22 report by the bipartisan Congressional Research Service showed five cases in 25 years in which U.S. attorneys were forced to resign.

Sununu has long been a critic of what he has said was the White House's disregard for civil liberties in its war on terrorism. On Tuesday, he said firings of the prosecutors, together with a report Friday by the Justice Department's inspector general criticizing the administration's use of secret national-security letters to obtain personal records in terrorism probes, shattered his confidence in Gonzales.

"We need to have a strong, credible attorney general that has the confidence of Congress and the American people," said Sununu, who faces a tough re-election campaign next year. "Alberto Gonzales can't fill that role."

Material from Seattle Times staff is included in this report.