WASHINGTON – Attorney General Alberto Gonzales left the scandal-scarred Justice Department yesterday, declaring himself hopeful about its mission of ferreting out crime and defending the truth.
Gonzales resigned after 2½ years at the department amid investigations into whether he broke the law and lied to Congress. He has denied any wrongdoing.
President Bush is expected to announce a nominee next week to replace his longtime friend and fellow Texan.
In a speech yesterday, Gonzales said his time at the Justice Department made him determined to fight terrorists and sexual predators and crack down on guns, drugs and gang violence plaguing the nation's neighborhoods.
“Over the past 2½ years, I have seen tyranny, dishonesty, corruption and depravity of types I never thought possible,” Gonzales said in prepared remarks at a Hispanic Heritage Month ceremony at Bolling Air Force Base. “I've seen things I didn't know man was capable of.
“But I will tell you here and now that these things still leave me hopeful,” he said. “Because every time I see a glimmer of the evil man can do, I see the defenders of liberty, truth and justice who stand ready to fight it.”
Later, Gonzales was feted at a standing-room-only Justice Department farewell ceremony attended by, among others, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and former White House chief of staff Andy Card.
Protesters who for months had dogged Gonzales at congressional hearings and other public appearances blew party horns and shook tambourines outside the Justice Department during the ceremony.
It was a furor over the firings of several U.S. attorneys, including Carol Lam of San Diego, that marked the beginning of the end of Gonzales' tenure as attorney general. The midterm firings, planned after the 2004 elections, were unprecedented in the department's recent memory and prompted Democrats to question whether they were politically motivated.
Gonzales' conflicting public statements about the ousters led Democrats and Republicans alike to criticize his honesty. Their charges were compounded by his later sworn testimony about the Bush administration's terrorist surveillance program, which was contradicted by FBI Director Robert Mueller and former senior Justice Department officials.
Meanwhile, former Justice Department White House liaison, Monica Goodling, told a House panel in May that she felt “uncomfortable” during a conversation with Gonzales shortly after the U.S. attorney firings were revealed. In sworn testimony, Goodling said Gonzales asked for her recollection of events about the firings.
Her account led to questions of whether Gonzales was coaching Goodling – illegally tampering with a witness in the ongoing inquiry. Gonzales has said he was merely trying to comfort Goodling at an awkward time.
The Justice Department has opened an internal investigation into both of the charges against Gonzales. Its conclusions are not expected until the end of the year at the earliest.
