Department of Justice
Gonzales resignation: Dissembling until the end
Two days after he submitted his resignation, Gonzales told his spokesman that it wasn't imminent.
It may not be perjury when you send a lie to a reporter, so let’s just say that Alberto Gonzales’ tenure as attorney general is ending in the style to which we’ve become accustomed. As the New York Times reports, Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse was asked Sunday about rumors that Gonzales’ resignation was imminent. Roehrkasse said he’d just talked with the attorney general by phone, “and he said it wasn’t true.”
That’s technically correct: Gonzales’ resignation wasn’t “imminent” because he had already submitted it. Gonzales resigned Friday, but the White House decided to delay the announcement until after Bush had lunch with Gonzales over the weekend in Crawford, Texas.
Tim Grieve is a senior writer and the author of Salon's War Room blog. More Tim Grieve.
