They Won't Follow Us Home

Here is Leahy on ABC: "I do not believe in this, 'we'll have a private briefing for you where we'll tell you everything,' and they don't. . . . I want testimony under oath. I am sick and tired of getting half-truths on this."

Doyle McManus writes in the Los Angeles Times: "As more Republicans called last week on Alberto R. Gonzales to resign, President Bush's aides began to look beyond the attorney general and focus on preventing the controversy over the firing of federal prosecutors from spreading -- and endangering Karl Rove, the president's top political advisor. . . .

"Initially, the dispute centered on the Justice Department, Gonzales and his top aides. But documents released last week suggested that Rove and former White House Counsel Harriet E. Miers were also involved in the decision to fire eight U.S. attorneys after the 2004 election. That brought the issue to the threshold of the Oval Office and prompted reporters to ask whether Bush had been involved. . . .

"'This is one more chapter in the defense of Karl Rove,' said one leading GOP figure who insisted on anonymity because he was speaking ill of the president's most powerful aide. 'This isn't accountability, it's damage control, and it's protection for Karl.'"

The Lam Case

Richard A. Serrano writes in the Los Angeles Times: "Senate Democrats signaled Sunday that of the eight federal prosecutors abruptly ousted by the Bush administration, the case in San Diego is emerging as the most troubling because of new allegations that U.S. Atty. Carol C. Lam was fired in an attempt to shut down investigations into Republican politicians in Southern California."

Dan Eggen writes in The Washington Post: "The U.S. attorney in San Diego notified the Justice Department of search warrants in a Republican bribery scandal last May 10, one day before the attorney general's chief of staff warned the White House of 'a real problem' with her, a Democratic senator said yesterday."

Gonzales Watch

Hope Yen writes for the Associated Press: "Amid bipartisan calls for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' resignation in a scandal over dismissals of eight federal prosecutors, the White House said Monday, 'We hope he stays.'

"When asked if Gonzales will serve for the rest of President Bush's term, White House press secretary Tony Snow said, 'Well, we hope so.'"

CBS News reported on Friday: "Republicans close to the White House tell CBS News chief White House correspondent Jim Axelrod that President Bush is in 'his usual posture: pugnacious, that no one is going to tell him who to fire.' But sources also said Gonzales' firing is just a matter of time. . . .

"One source tells CBS News he's never seen the administration in such deep denial, and Republicans are growing increasingly restless for the president to take action."

The Gonzales political obituaries continue to pour in.

Michael Isikoff, Richard Wolffe and Evan Thomas write in Newsweek: "At highly charged moments, attorney General Alberto Gonzales can seem placid, passive--at times, just plain out of it. . . . His defenders say he likes to keep his counsel. Others wonder if he's ill prepared, insecure or simply has nothing to say. . . .