Gonzales' Departure is Inevitable, Officials Say

Mar 19, 10:01 PM

Current Headlines: WASHINGTON _ Attorney General Alberto Gonzales clung to power by a thread Monday, and some Bush officials said his departure was now inevitable.

"Gonzales is going to have to resign soon," a senior Republican official told the New York Daily News Monday night. "The only reason it hasn't happened already is Bush's personal reluctance. He's the guy who has to call him and tell him he has to leave.

"Bush wants to fight, but that will change because it has to."

The source added that Gonzales has now lost the confidence of key Republican senators, several of whom face serious re-election battles in 2008.

"Gonzales thinks he can hold on because he's the president's friend," said a former Bush Justice official. "But that'll change once he hears they're shopping around."

White House aides and Republican mandarins began openly speculating about Gonzales' replacement. One former Justice Department aide said likely front-runners are ex-Solicitor General Ted Olson and former Deputy AG Larry Thompson, who would be the first black attorney general.

Earlier, the White House had expressed muted support for the embattled top cop.

"We hope he stays," White House spokesman Tony Snow said.

Republican sources told the News that Gonzales' survival prospects diminished over the weekend after GOP senators didn't rush to defend him.

"They have big issues with him," one Bush adviser said. "It doesn't smell good."

Justice Department aides coordinated with White House officials in firing U.S. attorneys who weren't "loyal Bushies." In one case, Gonzales' former chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, appeared eager to please President Bush's political architect, Karl Rove.

While Bush's allies have vanished from the airwaves, Democrats crowed, including Sen. Hillary Clinton. A fundraising appeal by her campaign urged supporters in an e-mail to "keep the pressure on" Gonzales to resign.

Clinton's primary rival, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., told CNN that Gonzales "saw himself as an enabler of the administration" instead of watching out for "the American people's interests."

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(New York Daily News correspondent Kenneth R. Bazinet contributed to this report.)

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