Gonzales: Firings were not improper

Williams: Given that, then how can you be certain that none of these U.S. attorneys were put on that list for improper reasons?

Gonzales: What I can say is this:  I know the reasons why I asked you — these United States attorneys to leave.  And it — it was not for improper reasons.  It was not to interfere with the public corruption case.  It was not for partisan reasons.

I also — we also know that there's nothing in the documents that indicates that they were asked to leave for improper reasons.  But all — but lastly, just to be sure, I have asked for an internal — review by the Office of Professional Responsibility, working with the Office of Inspector General.  And, of course, the Congress is going to be doing its own review because I want to know as well if, in fact, there were improper reasons, we — we should know about it.  And there will be accountability.

Williams: To put this question another way — if you didn't review their performance during this process, then how can you be certain that they were fired for performance reasons?
  
Gonzales: I — I've given — I've given the answer to the question, Pete.  I know — I know the reasons why I made the decision.  Again, there's nothing in the documents to support the allegation that there was anything improper here.  And there is an internal — department review to answer that question, to reassure the — the American people that there was nothing improper that happened here.
  
Williams: Given that, how difficult is it going to be — you just said there's a shortage of documentation here.  How hard is it going to be to make the case to Congress that they were not fired for improper reasons if there isn't a lot of documentation on the reasons they were put on the list?

Gonzales: I didn't — I don't think that I said there was a shortage of documentation.  Listen, what I will say is this.  The — the — the evaluations of individual United States attorneys is — is not solely contained within the documents.

Obviously, people have personal observations, personal views that may not be reflected in those documents.  Those will — will be presented — to the Congress at the appropriate time.

Williams: Obviously you're — you've chosen to stay and — and fight this issue.  Why?
  
Gonzales: I think that every Cabinet official has to ask themselves — every day — Is it still appropriate for me to lead a Cabinet department?  It's something that I've been asking myself more (LAUGHTER) lately than perhaps others.  Because at the end of the day, it's not about Alberto Gonzales.  It's about this great Department of Justice — that does so many wonderful things for the American people.  And our record here in the past two years in the area of civil rights, in the area of protecting our kids against child predators, protecting the country against terrorism, making our neighborhoods safe from drugs and gangs has really been outstanding.

Also about public corruption.  Our public corruption record has been tremendous.  So we've done some great things.  I believe that that can still continue.  Obviously have — I — we have to deal with this situation with the Congress.  We have to reassure the American people that nothing improper happened here.

And I'm confident that — that we'll be able — be able to do that.  But I also believe that — hat we can still move forward and still continue to do great things for the American people.  And as long as I have the confidence of the president, I intend to do just that.

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