Gonzales: Firings were not improper

Now, of course, ultimately at the end of the process or near the end of the process, the recommendations were — were presented to me.  There had been a lot of work done to review the performance of the United States attorneys.  And recommendations were presented to me that reflected the recommendations of Kyle Sampson and of others in the department.  And so there was obviously a discussion with respect to that — that recommendation.

And, of course — having decided there will be changes, there was — there was a discussion about how do we implement this change?  And so that is in — in essence — the context of my involvement and the substance of my comments on March 13th.

Williams: So you didn't get into the decision about specifically which U.S. attorneys to include on this list until the very end?

Gonzales: Absolutely.  Now, that's not to say that during the process I may not have heard about the performance — or particular matter with respect to the United States attorney.  For example — we've already confirmed that Senator Domenici did call me about the performance of the United States attorney in New Mexico.

The president — the White House has already confirmed that there was a conversation with the president, mentioned it to me in a meeting at the Oval Office — in terms of concerns about — about the commitment — to pursue voter fraud cases in — in three jurisdictions around the country.  I don't remember that conversation, but what I'm saying is during the process there may have been other conversations about specifically about the performance of US attorneys.  But I wasn't involved in the deliberations as to whether or not a particular United States attorney should or should not be asked to resign.

Williams: By the way, do you —

Gonzales: I don't recall being involved.  Let me — let me be more — more precise because I know that — with respect to this particular topic, people parse carefully the words that I use. (LAUGHTER) And — and I wanna be careful about what I say.  And, of course, at the end of the day, I will have the opportunity to present my story to the Congress, as will other DOJ officials — Department of Justice officials.
  
Williams: You mentioned the conversations with the president.  What role did they play in deciding which U.S. attorneys would be on the list?

Gonzales: As far as I know, Pete — they did not play a role in — in adding names or taking off names.  Now, obviously these are — appointees of the president.  The White House was involved in placing them in their position.  The White House would have to be at least informed if a decision was going to be asked — to ask for people's resignation.

There's nothing improper about that.  And, of course, there's nothing improper about the White House communi- communicating, as a general matter, complaints about Department of Justice employees.  I want to know if, in fact, the White House has received a complaint or has con-- concerns about the performance of a department employee, I would wanna know about it.  And I'd like to hear — I'd like to hear it from the White House.
  
Williams: The — so the list came to you toward the end for you to sign off on.  But you were not involved in deciding who should be on or off the list during the process.
  
Gonzales: I was not involved in the deliberations during the process as to who-- who should or should not be — asked to resign.

Williams: If that —
  
Gonzales: I depended on the people who knew about how those United States attorneys — were performing — people within the department — who — who would have personal knowledge of — about these individuals, who would have, based upon their experience, would know what — what would be the appropriate standards that a United States attorney should be asked to — to achieve.

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