cross-posted at
http://firedoglake.blogspot.com
In a press conference in Chicago today, Alberto Gonzalez says that when his term as US attorney expires in October, he sees no reason why Patrick Fitzgerald would be out of a job:
The US attorney general, Alberto Gonzalez made it clear in Chicago Monday that a controversial and high-visibility justice department subordinate, US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, will probably be reappointed by President Bush when his four-year term expires in October.
"You'll have to ask the president as to whether or not he intends to find a new US attorney for this district. I will say from my vantage point as the attorney general, I have great confidence in Pat Fitzgerald," said Alberto Gonzalez, attorney general.
It's an interesting development, because unlike other members of the 1600 crew, Gonzalez has not chosen to hide behind a wall McClellan-esque "ongoing investigation" silence, but openly answered questions about his involvement in the 12 hour gap from Bob Schieffer on Face the Nation two weeks ago. He wasn't too happy about letting Frank Rich's assertions in the New York Times the day before go unanswered.
The article goes on to note that Dennis Hastert could probably give Fitzgerald the boot if he wanted to, but Hastert did a Pontius Pilate a couple of weeks ago too and said that Fitzgerald's future was up to Preznit Never Responsible. It sounds to me that Gonzalez is doing the same thing -- immunizing himself so that if there is a Saturday Night Massacre, he is not the one who is expected to wield the axe.
In other words, he ain't going down with the ship.
In other Plame news, James Carville appeared on Don Imus and said rumblings in the beltway are that Fitzgerald is (finally) going after Bill Keller and the editors of the NYT, who have steadfastly refused to answer questions about whether Judith Miller was even working on an assignment for the Times when she met with Scooter Libby.
Fitzgerald's appointment to the Chicago post has no bearing on his role in the Plame investigation.
Gonzalez appears to have another problem at the Justice Department with regard to Fizgerald -- who the heck is going to supervise him now that James Comey is gone? Both the #3 man McCallum, and the proposed #2 -- Timothy Flanigan -- have apparent conflicts of interest in the matter.
Flanigan recently had confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Chairman Arlen Specter reportedly can't stand him.
It sure would make me feel a whole lot better to know the Democrats intend to show up for these hearings and grill Flanigan about these conflicts. I don't want to see a Karen Hughes redux where everyone forgets to set their alarm clocks.