Prometheus 6

Files put Gonzales at meeting before prosecutors' firing
By Richard B. Schmitt, Tom Hamburger and Richard A. Serrano
Times Staff Writers
March 24, 2007

WASHINGTON — Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales convened a meeting to discuss firing a group of U.S. attorneys 10 days before they were terminated, according to Justice Department documents released Friday night that could indicate Gonzales was more involved in the process than he has said previously.

The documents show that Gonzales and a group of senior aides, including Deputy Atty. Gen. Paul J. McNulty, met Nov. 27, to review a plan for firing the prosecutors. The dismissals were carried out Dec. 7.

The materials were among 283 new documents the Justice Department turned over Friday to congressional investigators looking into the ouster of eight U.S. attorneys amid allegations that the dismissals were politically motivated.

Justice Department officials also announced Friday night that the agency's inspector general and its Office of Professional Responsibility had launched a joint investigation into the dismissals, including an examination of whether they were improper and whether any Justice Department officials misled Congress about the matter.

Gonzales has previously said that he was far removed from the dismissals, and that he had assigned his then-chief of staff, D. Kyle Sampson, with identifying and replacing U.S. attorneys across the country who were viewed as performing poorly.

"But that is in essence what I knew about the process; was not involved in seeing any memos, was not involved in any discussions about what was going on. That's basically what I knew as the attorney general," Gonzales said at a briefing with reporters March 13.

"I accept responsibility for everything that happens here within this department. But when you have 110,000 people working in the department, obviously there are going to be decisions that I'm not aware of in real time. Many decisions are delegated," he said at the time.

Justice Department officials said Friday that the fact that Gonzales attended the Nov. 27 meeting was not inconsistent with his prior statements. Whether or not he was involved in the process of selecting individual prosecutors to be replaced, he would have been involved in signing off on a final plan, they said.