This morning at a Capitol Hill hearing, California Democrat Dianne Feinstein confronted Attorney General Alberto Gonzales about what she considers the forced departure of San Diego U.S. Attorney Carol Lam. Benjamin Shaw reports from Washington.
Feinstein suspects Lam – who helped prosecuted former North County Congressman Duke Cunningham – is being forced out for political reasons, and she confronted Gonzales on this question.
Feinstein: Do you deny that you have asked, that your office has asked U.S. attorneys to resign in the past year. Yes or no?
Gonzales: I don’t deny that. But that happens during every administration.
Gonzales says it could be called good management. Under the recently adopted Patriot Act Gonzales can appoint replacements without Congressional confirmation for the remainder of the President Bush’s term. Gonzales denies the changes are political motivated. From Capitol Hill, Benjamin Shaw, KPBS News.
