A Top Democrat Calls for Attorney General’s Resignation
Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., the No. 3 Democrat in the Senate, said Sunday that Alberto Gonzales should step down "for the sake of the nation." Schumer pointed to the partisan firing of U.S. attorneys and the FBI's abuse of the Patriot Act as evidence that the Justice Department has become highly politicized under Gonzales' leadership.
Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., the No. 3 Democrat in the Senate, said Sunday that Alberto Gonzales should step down “for the sake of the nation.” Schumer pointed to the partisan firing of U.S. attorneys and the FBI’s abuse of the Patriot Act as evidence that the Justice Department has become highly politicized under Gonzales’ leadership.
WAIT, BEFORE YOU GO…Los Angeles Times:
U.S. Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales has so politicized the Justice Department that he should step down for the sake of the nation, the Senate’s third-ranking Democrat said Sunday.
Sen. Charles E. Schumer of New York — citing recent disclosures about the FBI’s improper use of administrative subpoenas to obtain private records and the controversy over the dismissal of eight U.S. attorneys in December — told CBS’ “Face the Nation” that Gonzales, who previously served as White House counsel, was “no longer just the president’s lawyer, but has a higher obligation to the rule of law and the Constitution.”
Schumer, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, charged that under Gonzales the Justice Department had become even more politicized than it was under President Bush’s first attorney general, John Ashcroft.
“And so,” Schumer said, “I think for the sake of the nation, Atty. Gen. Gonzales should step down.”
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