WASHINGTON, March 16 (UPI) -- Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has apologized to U.S. attorneys under him and appointed an interim chief of staff as pressure builds for him to resign.
Gonzales apologized to all 93 U.S. attorneys in a conference call Friday as morale in U.S. attorneys' offices across the country deteriorated, McClatchy Newspapers reported. Gonzales has been at the center of a controversy over the way in which eight U.S. attorneys were fired in recent months.
The Justice Department and the White House came in for withering criticism this week over a series of e-mails that suggested the prosecutors were replaced for partisan political reasons. Gonzales Friday named Chuck Rosenberg, a U.S. attorney from Virginia, to replace Kyle Sampson, who resigned over his role in the matter.
Congressional Democrats were angry Friday when the White House put off delivering new documents to be used in a congressional investigation into whether the Bush administration has politicized the Department of Justice.
