Editorial: Lack of credibility

Sunday, April 1, 2007 | 7:34 a.m.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., called the Justice Department's inept and politically motivated firing of eight U.S. attorneys a "Keystone Kops" operation last week, and that was being kind.

Despite his denials, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was clearly involved in the administration's ham-handed cover-up of the hatchet job. He and the Bush administration have misled the public and Congress.

Last week, after the release of damning Justice Department documents, Gonzales' former chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, told the Senate Judiciary Committee that Gonzales had been briefed and was involved in the plan.

"I don't think the attorney general's statement that he was not involved in any discussions of U.S. attorney removals was accurate," Sampson testified. "I remember discussing with him this process of asking certain U.S. attorneys to resign."

Schumer said Sampson's testimony put "major holes in the credibility of the attorney general." It also further underlined the lengths to which this administration will go to deceive the public.

"In the last seven weeks, we've learned that Attorney General Gonzales was personally involved in the firing plan, after being told that he wasn't," Schumer said. "We've learned that the White House was involved, after being told that it wasn't. We've learned that (White House political strategist) Karl Rove was involved, after being told that he wasn't.

"And we have learned that political considerations (for the firings) were very important, after being told that they weren't."

We have previously called for Gonzales' resignation, and since then the situation has gotten worse as it became clear that he improperly allowed politics to taint federal law enforcement.

White House and top Justice Department officials plotted to get rid of several U.S. attorneys who were not prosecuting cases favorable to Republicans. They also wanted to groom future candidates for political office. To avoid scrutiny, the administration planned to use a Patriot Act provision that allows the attorney general to appoint interim U.S. attorneys for an indefinite term without Senate approval.

Congress is still pressing its investigation, as it should, and it is frightening to think of what lawmakers might find next. What they have found so far is unconscionable, and the Justice Department is tarnished.

To restore credibility to the Justice Department, Gonzales must go.