Gonzales Says He Has "Nothing to Hide"

In this Friday, March 30, 2007, file photo, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales appears at a round table discussion with law enforcement officials about his Project Safe Childhood initiative in Boston. The Justice Department is releasing more documents on the firings of U.S. attorneys, satisfying one Democratic demand even as a new fight erupted over e-mails that the White House says may have been lost. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia) (Stephan Savoia - AP)

"He needs to explain what he did and why he did it," Graham said. "There are three or four different versions of his role in this, and he needs to bring clarity to what he did and why he did it."

Specter spoke on ABC's "This Week," and Graham appeared on "Fox News Sunday."

In his written testimony, Gonzales claimed he vaguely remembers discussions about the firings, including being asked about at least two possible replacements for vacant U.S. attorney jobs. He also said he recalled "two specific instances" when he was told that then-White House counsel Harriet Miers was seeking updates of the Justice Department's prosecutor evaluations.

He indicated he trusted his most senior aides, including Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, to select prosecutors who would be asked to resign, based on their performance. "It was to be a group of officials, including the deputy attorney general, who were much more knowledgeable than I about the performance of each U.S. attorney," he said.

But Gonzales indicated he could not definitively say whether he was involved in decisions on selecting which prosecutors would be targeted. The few, brief updates on the firings he received from Kyle Sampson, his former chief of staff, "focused primarily on the review process itself," Gonzales said.

"During those updates, to my knowledge, I did not make decisions about who should or should not be asked to resign," Gonzales said.

Sampson left the Justice Department over the controversy March 12. He told the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 29 that he remembered discussions with Gonzales regarding "this process of asking certain U.S. attorneys to resign."

Sampson was being interviewed again Sunday by congressional investigators, said his attorney Brad Berenson.

Gonzales also said he may be unable to answer all of lawmakers' questions because, trying to avoid any influence on his own testimony, he intentionally did not review transcripts of what his staff told congressional investigators in closed-door meetings. "As a result, I may be somewhat limited when it comes to providing you with all of the facts that you may desire," he said.

Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., one of Gonzales' most vocal critics and the first to call on the attorney general to resign, said the written remarks did little to clear up questions and contradictory statements about the firings.

"Fuzzy recollections do not help us get to the bottom of what happened," Schumer said in a statement Sunday. "Evasive answers do not clear up the many contradictions uncovered so far. 'I don't' know, 'I don't recall' or indirect answers that avoid the questions will not do."

Schumer also said that Michael Battle, a former director of the department's Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys who carried out the firings, had contradicted Gonzales' assertions that he had limited knowledge of the dismissals and that the firings were based on performance.

Battle told congressional investigators that a memo about the firings was distributed at a Nov. 27 Justice meeting that Gonzales attended. Battle also said he "was not aware of performance problems with respect to several of the U.S. attorneys" when he called to fire them, according to Schumer.

Gonzales signaled he had no plans to step down _ a decision that he has said repeatedly should be left to President Bush. He sought in his testimony to move past the prosecutors' scandal, and touted numerous Justice accomplishments under his tenure, including civil rights cases, drug smuggling crackdowns and efforts to protect children from sexual predators.

"I look forward to working with you in the coming months on these topics and the department's other missions and priorities," Gonzales wrote.

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Associated Press Writers Ben Feller and Laurie Kellman contributed to this report.