WASHINGTON, March 8 (UPI) -- Three Republican senators attacked top U.S. Justice Department officials Thursday for the firings of eight federal prosecutors.
Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., the senior Republican on the Judiciary Committee, even hinted that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales may be on his way out, The Washington Post reported. Specter cited an op-ed piece by the attorney general that called the flap "an overblown personnel matter."
"One day there will be a new attorney general, maybe sooner rather than later," Specter said at a committee hearing.
Two senators who normally support the Justice Department, Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., and Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said that officials there should not have said the U.S. attorneys were fired for incompetence. Both said that U.S. President George Bush has the right to replace U.S. attorneys and found no evidence that the eight were dismissed for political reasons.
"Some people's reputations are going to suffer needlessly," Kyl said. "Hopefully we can get to the point where we say, 'These people did a great job.'"
