Coleman Calls for Gonzales to Resign

Republican Sen. Norm Coleman called on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to resign Thursday, as two Democratic senators pushed for a non-binding vote of no confidence in the embattled head of the Justice Department.

“I don’t have confidence in Gonzales,” Coleman said, adding, “I would hope that the attorney general understands that the department is suffering right now, and he does the right thing, and that is allows the president to provide new leadership.”

As Coleman called for Gonzales to resign, Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., called for the Senate to express its lack of confidence in the attorney general.

“I think the time has come for the Senate to express its will,” said Feinstein.  “And that will is simply to say that we lack confidence in Attorney General Gonzales. I don’t like saying this. I very much regret saying it. I want to say exactly the opposite. But in view of what I know, I can’t.”Gonzales has been at the center of a swirling controversy regarding the firing of U,S. attorneys.  Gonzales was harshly criticized for his testimony before House and Senate committees, and has drawn fire for his inability to explain exactly why the attorneys were fired, or whether the White House had any direct role in the firings. 

The pressure on Gonzales does not appear to be lessening.  The attorney general was sharply rebuked Thursday for failing to provide subpoenaed documents to the Senate Judiciary Committee.  The chairman of the committee, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and the ranking member on the committee, Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Penn., sent Gonzales a tersely worded letter giving him until 10 a.m. Friday to comply, stating flatly, “The Committee intends to get to the truth.”

Also, Gonzales has been criticized for his actions as White House counsel in trying to pressure then-Attorney General John Ashcroft into approving a domestic spying program over the objections of Justice Department subordinates, allegedly going so far as to visit Ashcroft in the intensive care unit of a hospital after surgery to urge him not to listen to his staffers.

Minnesota’s other senator, Democrat Amy Klobuchar, called for Gonzales’s resignation in March.