WASHINGTON-
Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar says he is “extremely troubled” about Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ leadership following news that he pushed an anti-terror wiretapping program that senior Justice Department officials thought could be illegal.
In a conference call with reporters Wednesday, Salazar said he would issue a statement about whether he thinks Gonzales should step down “as soon as I talk to the attorney general to let him know my disappointment in his work and leadership.”
Unlike many of his fellow Democrats and some Republicans, Salazar has held off on calling for Gonzales’ resignation, despite growing controversy over the Justice Department’s firing of eight U.S. attorneys.
But the dramatic testimony of James Comey, deputy to Gonzales’ predecessor John Ashcroft, may have tipped the scales for Salazar.
On Tuesday, Comey told the Senate Judiciary Committee that while Ashcroft was hospitalized with pancreatitis in 2004, Gonzales, then White House counsel, tried to pressure Ashcroft to approve President Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program.
At the time, senior government officials were worried about whether the National Security Agency, which administered the program, had the proper oversight as well as whether the president had the legal and constitutional authority to approve it.
Comey said the program was so questionable that Ashcroft had refused at first to reauthorize it as required in March 2004. Comey said he felt Gonzales had tried to take advantage of Ashcroft while he was very ill.
“I’m extremely troubled by that,” said Salazar, who considers Gonzales a friend.
The scenario Comey described “is something that’s very, very bad,” Salazar added.
While the wiretapping issue is unrelated to the U.S. attorney dustup, Democrats have said Comey’s story is further reason to question Gonzales’ leadership.
Salazar has previously said that he is concerned about Gonzales’ role in the dismissal of the U.S. attorneys and that he wanted to know more about whether the Justice Department was punishing prosecutors for being too effective at public corruption investigations.
But he has maintained he wants to hear testimony from officials involved in the firings before calling for Gonzales to step down.
