Beyond Gonzales: Scrutiny in US attorneys case may shift to Bush staff

The White House could become the new target in the controversy surrounding the dismissal of federal prosecutors.

By Peter Grier | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

from the June 13, 2007 edition

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Washington - Now that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales doesn't look like he's going anywhere, the focus of the controversy over fired federal prosecutors may shift to the White House itself.

That's the probable course of events in the wake of the Senate's failure to pass a symbolic no-confidence vote against Mr. Gonzales on June 11, according to some lawmakers and legal experts.

Yet the Bush administration is likely to resist congressional subpoenas for testimony on the issue from political adviser Karl Rove and others. The bottom line: The issue of the US attorneys could be headed toward a difficult struggle over executive privilege.

The main issue now is whether current or former White House officials will talk to Congress and under what terms, says Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond in Virginia.

Democratic congressional leaders had hoped that the no-confidence vote might pressure Gonzales into resigning his post. Even Sen. Arlen Specter (R) of Pennsylvania, current ranking minority member and former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, publicly predicted that Gonzales would probably step down rather than undergo such public censure.

Instead, the effort's failure may have emphasized the attorney general's tenacious grip on his sinecure. Democrats fell seven votes short of the 60 needed to end debate and move to a vote on the resolution. President Bush criticized the effort as political and said, "It's not going to make the determination about who serves in my government."

Democratic lawmakers vowed to press forward with their investigations, despite their Senate loss.

For instance, on June 19 Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, who has announced his resignation, will testify before a House subcommittee about his role in the attorney firings. Gonzales has said he relied on Mr. McNulty more than other aides when deciding who to dismiss. But McNulty's previous testimony, in addition to internal Justice Department documents, indicate this may not be the case.

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