Whois
11-10-2004, 12:57 PM
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6451896/
Sources: Gonzales to replace Ashcroft
NBC says Bush will announce successor on Wednesday
NBC News and news services
Updated: 1:45 p.m. ET Nov. 10, 2004
WASHINGTON - President Bush has chosen White House counsel Alberto Gonzales, a Texas confidant and one of the most prominent Hispanics in the administration, to succeed Attorney General John Ashcroft, sources close to the White House said Wednesday.
“I would not rule out an announcement today,” White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Wednesday.
Separately, two administration officials told the Associated Press that the longtime Bush friend, who served with him in Texas, was the likely successor to Ashcroft. He would be the first Hispanic attorney general. Another leading candidate was Bush’s 2004 campaign chairman, former Montana Gov. Marc Racicot.
Ashcroft announced his resignation on Tuesday, along with Commerce Secretary Don Evans, a Texas friend of the president’s.
After a National Security Council meeting, Bush was sitting down Wednesday with Secretary of State Colin Powell, another figure being closely watched for signs of whether he will stay or go. Powell has been largely noncommittal when asked about his plans.
Gonzales, 49, has long been rumored as a leading candidate for a Supreme Court vacancy if one develops. Speculation increased after Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist announced he has thyroid cancer.
Controversial positions
Gonzales’ career has been linked with Bush for at least a decade, serving as general counsel when Bush was governor of Texas, and then as secretary of state and as a justice on the Texas Supreme Court.
Gonzales has been at the center of developing Bush’s positions on balancing civil liberties with waging the war on terrorism — opening the White House counsel to the same line of criticism that has dogged Ashcroft.
For instance, Gonzales publicly defended the administration’s policy — essentially repudiated by the Supreme Court and now being fought out in the lower courts — of detaining certain terrorism suspects for extended periods without access to lawyers or courts.
He also wrote a controversial February 2002 memo in which Bush claimed the right to waive anti-torture law and international treaties providing protections to prisoners of war. That position drew fire from human rights groups, which said it helped led to the type of abuses uncovered in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal.
The American Civil Liberties Union said it expected the Senate to closely examine those issues during confirmation hearings. The ACLU said it had no position on Gonzales, but added:
“Particular attention should be devoted to exploring Mr. Gonzales’ proposed policies on the constitutionality of the Patriot Act, the Guantanamo Bay detentions, the designation of United States citizens as enemy combatants and reproductive rights.”
Some conservatives also have quietly questioned Gonzales’ credentials on core social issues. And he once was a partner in a Houston law firm which represented the scandal-ridden energy giant Enron.
Lightning rod
Ashcroft also had his detractors, some of whom said thathe gave religion too prominent a role at the Justice Department — including optional prayer meetings with staff before each work day. he gospel-singing son of a minister, Ashcroft is a fierce conservative who doesn’t drink, smoke or dance.
Ashcroft championed many of the most controversial government actions following the Sept. 11 attacks, most notably the USA Patriot Act. It bolstered FBI surveillance powers, increased use of material witness warrants to hold suspects incommunicado for months and allowed secret proceedings in terrorist-related immigration cases. When there was a break in a terror case, he was the man at the lectern soberly informing the American people.
“The objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved,” Ashcroft said in his handwritten resignation letter to the president, dated Nov. 2 — Election Day. McClellan said Bush had received the letter that same day, before the results of the election were known.
“I believe that the Department of Justice would be well served by new leadership and fresh inspiration,” said Ashcroft, whose health problems earlier this year resulted in removal of his gall bladder. “I believe that my energies and talents should be directed toward other challenging horizons,” he said.
Evans, Bush’s 2000 campaign manager and close friend of more than three decades, said he longed to return to Texas.
“While the promise of your second term shines bright, I have concluded with deep regret that it is time for me to return home,” he wrote.
Bush issued statements of praise for both men, and for the policies they advanced.
“John Ashcroft has worked tirelessly to help make our country safer,” the president said. “John has served our nation with honor, distinction and integrity.”
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., was less flattering.
“We wish John Ashcroft good health and a good retirement, and we hope the president will choose a less polarizing attorney general as his successor,” Schumer said.
Bush’s farewell to Evans was effusive and personal. They have been friends for more than three decades, dating back to the oil business in Midland, Texas, where they would attend church together and meet every day for a three-mile jog. Evans was CEO of Tom Brown Inc., an independent energy company, when Bush picked him to head Commerce.
Evans partied with Bush the night the president says he swore off drinking. It was 1986 and both men were celebrating their 40th birthdays. The lingering hangover from that night prompted Bush to abandon the bottle altogether, Bush has said.
Evans has been part of Bush’s political career from the start: a fund-raiser for Bush’s losing congressional campaign in 1978 and chairman of Bush’s successful gubernatorial campaigns in 1994 and 1998. He raised more than $100 million for Bush’s 2000 presidential campaign.
“Don Evans is one of my most trusted friends and advisers,” Bush said. “Don has worked to advance economic security and prosperity for all Americans. He has worked steadfastly to make sure America continues to be the best place in the world to do business.”
Evans has told aides he was ready for a change.
Bush was considering this year’s campaign money man, Mercer Reynolds, for Evans’ job at Commerce. As national finance chairman for the Bush campaign, Reynolds raised more than $260 million to get him re-elected.
Meanwhile, three high-ranking Bush administration officials said they would like to remain on the job. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, Interior Secretary Gale Norton and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Leavitt all said they want to continue.
Sources: Gonzales to replace Ashcroft
NBC says Bush will announce successor on Wednesday
NBC News and news services
Updated: 1:45 p.m. ET Nov. 10, 2004
WASHINGTON - President Bush has chosen White House counsel Alberto Gonzales, a Texas confidant and one of the most prominent Hispanics in the administration, to succeed Attorney General John Ashcroft, sources close to the White House said Wednesday.
“I would not rule out an announcement today,” White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Wednesday.
Separately, two administration officials told the Associated Press that the longtime Bush friend, who served with him in Texas, was the likely successor to Ashcroft. He would be the first Hispanic attorney general. Another leading candidate was Bush’s 2004 campaign chairman, former Montana Gov. Marc Racicot.
Ashcroft announced his resignation on Tuesday, along with Commerce Secretary Don Evans, a Texas friend of the president’s.
After a National Security Council meeting, Bush was sitting down Wednesday with Secretary of State Colin Powell, another figure being closely watched for signs of whether he will stay or go. Powell has been largely noncommittal when asked about his plans.
Gonzales, 49, has long been rumored as a leading candidate for a Supreme Court vacancy if one develops. Speculation increased after Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist announced he has thyroid cancer.
Controversial positions
Gonzales’ career has been linked with Bush for at least a decade, serving as general counsel when Bush was governor of Texas, and then as secretary of state and as a justice on the Texas Supreme Court.
Gonzales has been at the center of developing Bush’s positions on balancing civil liberties with waging the war on terrorism — opening the White House counsel to the same line of criticism that has dogged Ashcroft.
For instance, Gonzales publicly defended the administration’s policy — essentially repudiated by the Supreme Court and now being fought out in the lower courts — of detaining certain terrorism suspects for extended periods without access to lawyers or courts.
He also wrote a controversial February 2002 memo in which Bush claimed the right to waive anti-torture law and international treaties providing protections to prisoners of war. That position drew fire from human rights groups, which said it helped led to the type of abuses uncovered in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal.
The American Civil Liberties Union said it expected the Senate to closely examine those issues during confirmation hearings. The ACLU said it had no position on Gonzales, but added:
“Particular attention should be devoted to exploring Mr. Gonzales’ proposed policies on the constitutionality of the Patriot Act, the Guantanamo Bay detentions, the designation of United States citizens as enemy combatants and reproductive rights.”
Some conservatives also have quietly questioned Gonzales’ credentials on core social issues. And he once was a partner in a Houston law firm which represented the scandal-ridden energy giant Enron.
Lightning rod
Ashcroft also had his detractors, some of whom said thathe gave religion too prominent a role at the Justice Department — including optional prayer meetings with staff before each work day. he gospel-singing son of a minister, Ashcroft is a fierce conservative who doesn’t drink, smoke or dance.
Ashcroft championed many of the most controversial government actions following the Sept. 11 attacks, most notably the USA Patriot Act. It bolstered FBI surveillance powers, increased use of material witness warrants to hold suspects incommunicado for months and allowed secret proceedings in terrorist-related immigration cases. When there was a break in a terror case, he was the man at the lectern soberly informing the American people.
“The objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved,” Ashcroft said in his handwritten resignation letter to the president, dated Nov. 2 — Election Day. McClellan said Bush had received the letter that same day, before the results of the election were known.
“I believe that the Department of Justice would be well served by new leadership and fresh inspiration,” said Ashcroft, whose health problems earlier this year resulted in removal of his gall bladder. “I believe that my energies and talents should be directed toward other challenging horizons,” he said.
Evans, Bush’s 2000 campaign manager and close friend of more than three decades, said he longed to return to Texas.
“While the promise of your second term shines bright, I have concluded with deep regret that it is time for me to return home,” he wrote.
Bush issued statements of praise for both men, and for the policies they advanced.
“John Ashcroft has worked tirelessly to help make our country safer,” the president said. “John has served our nation with honor, distinction and integrity.”
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., was less flattering.
“We wish John Ashcroft good health and a good retirement, and we hope the president will choose a less polarizing attorney general as his successor,” Schumer said.
Bush’s farewell to Evans was effusive and personal. They have been friends for more than three decades, dating back to the oil business in Midland, Texas, where they would attend church together and meet every day for a three-mile jog. Evans was CEO of Tom Brown Inc., an independent energy company, when Bush picked him to head Commerce.
Evans partied with Bush the night the president says he swore off drinking. It was 1986 and both men were celebrating their 40th birthdays. The lingering hangover from that night prompted Bush to abandon the bottle altogether, Bush has said.
Evans has been part of Bush’s political career from the start: a fund-raiser for Bush’s losing congressional campaign in 1978 and chairman of Bush’s successful gubernatorial campaigns in 1994 and 1998. He raised more than $100 million for Bush’s 2000 presidential campaign.
“Don Evans is one of my most trusted friends and advisers,” Bush said. “Don has worked to advance economic security and prosperity for all Americans. He has worked steadfastly to make sure America continues to be the best place in the world to do business.”
Evans has told aides he was ready for a change.
Bush was considering this year’s campaign money man, Mercer Reynolds, for Evans’ job at Commerce. As national finance chairman for the Bush campaign, Reynolds raised more than $260 million to get him re-elected.
Meanwhile, three high-ranking Bush administration officials said they would like to remain on the job. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, Interior Secretary Gale Norton and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Leavitt all said they want to continue.