Adios Gonzales

Alberto Gonzales, the US Attorney-General, appeared to have lost the confidence of both the White House and Republicans tonight amid a growing scandal over the firing of eight government lawyers.

He was in danger of becoming the highest profile casualty of the scandal amid mounting evidence that the eight Republican US attorneys were sacked for failing to toe the Bush Administration line.

Speculation that Mr Gonzales was on the verge of losing his job intensified as it was reported that Fred Fielding, Mr Bush’s White House counsel, was privately discussing the Attorney-General’s future with senior Republicans on Capitol Hill.

After initial denials, it emerged earlier this week that senior White House aides were deeply involved in the dismissals and worked closely with Kyle Sampson, Mr Gonzales’s chief of staff, to draw up what now appears to be a politically-motivated hit list.

Mr Sampson resigned on Monday after admitting that he withheld evidence from Congress over his communications with the White House. Several of the sacked attorneys testified on Capitol Hill last week that before they were dismissed, they were leant on by Republican politicians to pursue claims of Democratic voter fraud.

The “intimidating” calls were made shortly before November’s mid-term elections, when Republicans were desperate to dig up evidence of corruption against Democrats.

The White House aide most involved was Harriet Miers, Mr Bush’s former White House counsel. Karl Rove, Mr Bush’s chief adviser, also discussed the dismissals. One US attorney, in Arkansas, was replaced by a Rove protege.

The Judiciary Committee said it will debate issuing Ms Miers and Mr Rove with subpoenas next week.

On Wednesday, Mr Bush said he was “not happy” about how the dismissals were handled, and gave what a senior Administration official told The Times was a “less than ringing” endorsement of Mr Gonzales.

As the Democratic-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee cleared the way for Mr Gonzales’s top aides to be subpoenaed, a Republican senator became the first in his party to join Democrats and call for the Attorney-General’s resignation.

John Sununu, of New Hampshire, said: “Alberto Gonzales over the past 18 months has lost the confidence of the Congress and the American people, and he’s not in the position to serve the president effectively.” At a private meeting of Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans, nobody spoke up to defend Mr Gonzales.

“The US Attorney-General is probably facing the deepest crisis of his particular tenure,” said Senator John Ensign, a Nevada Republican.

Mr Gonzales was Mr Bush’s personal lawyer when he was Governor of Texas, but there is little affection for him among the Republican party at large.

Conservatives have never liked him - they believe his views on abortion are suspect - while moderates blame him for clearing the way for the alleged torture of terror suspects.

Despite their longstanding relationship, it appeared that Mr Bush might be willing to throw Mr Gonzales to the wolves. On Monday it emerged that Mr Bush himself passed on complaints about US attorneys to Mr Gonzales last October. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Mr Bush said: “I never brought up a specific case or gave him specific instructions.”