Graham: Gonzales has been 'wounded'

WASHINGTON, March 25 (UPI) -- Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Sunday suggested Congress hold a private conference to interview White House aides about the firings of eight U.S. attorneys.

Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., senior Republican on the Judiciary Committee, has proposed that Bush administration political adviser Karl Rove and former White House counsel Harriett Miers testify before Congress with a transcript, but not under oath.

"The way to handle this in my opinion is to have a private conference interview with Karl Rove and Harriet Miers and have a transcript so we know what happened," Graham, a Judiciary Committee member, told Bob Schieffer on CBS's "Face The Nation."

"We need to find out exactly what did happen because the attorney general said, I think in the USA Today article in March that they were fired for performance reasons, and he had evaluated their status and they just didn't perform well."

"Well, he has said some things that just don't add up," Graham said. "I like him as a person. I really do like Attorney General Gonzales. But he has been wounded."

Judiciary Committee Chairman Pat Leahy, D-Vt., called a closed meeting, not under oath or transcribed a "non-starter."