FOX News "FOX and Friends" Interview with Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY), Subject: Resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales

Interview

FOX NEWS "FOX AND FRIENDS" INTERVIEW WITH SENATOR CHARLES SCHUMER (D-NY)
SUBJECT: RESIGNATION OF ATTORNEY GENERAL ALBERTO GONZALES INTERVIEWERS: GRETCHEN CARLSON; STEVE DOOCY; GREG KELLY

MR. KELLY: We are joined now by Senator Chuck Schumer.

Senator, you've been one of the chief critics of Alberto Gonzales for years now. Your reaction this morning?

SEN. SCHUMER: Yes.

MR. KELLY: Senator Schumer, you're on the air. What's your reaction to the resignation of Alberto Gonzales?

SEN. SCHUMER: Well, you know, look, this was long overdue, but thank God it has come. The Department of Justice was virtually non- functioning under the attorney general. It's amazing he stayed on as long as he did. But today he did the right thing. And it's going to be good for America, good for the administration frankly, and good for the Justice Department.

MR. DOOCY: All right. Senator, if Paul Clement is named a temporary replacement, is he going to have a tough time sailing through?

SEN. SCHUMER: Well, as a temporary replacement, I don't even know if he has to sail though. If -- you know, an acting attorney general can stay for a certain period of time, as I understand it, given the resignation of the attorney general here, and I don't know when the attorney general's resignation takes effect.

I'll say this in general about replacements: We are looking for somebody who will put rule of law first. The number one problem with Attorney General Gonzales -- number two was probably that he didn't competently run the department -- but number one is he let politics supersede rule of law time and time and time again.

MS. CARLSON: Yeah, but Senator, there's no way --

SEN. SCHUMER: No one is -- wait --

MS. CARLSON: there's -- politics aren't going to be involved in this decision, though.

SEN. SCHUMER: If you'd just let me finish here -- no one is naive enough to believe that politics doesn't sometimes play a role, but it was just overwhelming with the U.S. attorneys firing and with everything else.

And so what we're looking for -- we're not looking for confrontation. The ideal situation would be for the White House to come in and talk to us and say, "Here are some possibilities. What do you think?" And we would be -- not try to be dilatory and not try to pick a fight but find somebody who would simply put rule of law first even if their political views would not be exactly the same as ours.

MR. KELLY: Okay.

To recap, Alberto Gonzales, the attorney general of the Untied States, phoned President Bush on Friday. We are told that the president grudgingly accepted the resignation. Alberto Gonzales has been with President Bush since the 1990s -- the mid-1990s. He was a lawyer in Texas --

MR. DOOCY: Greg?

MR. KELLY: -- and now one of his -- pardon?

MR. DOOCY: Senator Charles Schumer, we thank you very much for joining us live on the phone.

END.

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