The Daily Background

I don’t think anybody saw this coming. It appears (okay, NYT is reporting) that Attorney General Gonzales may have actually threatened the President with his resignation if he turned the evidence seized by the FBI from congressman William Jefferson’s office late last week.

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, the F.B.I. director, Robert S. Mueller III, and senior officials and career prosecutors at the Justice Department told associates this week that they were prepared to quit if the White House directed them to relinquish evidence seized in a bitterly disputed search of a House member’s office, government officials said Friday.

Mr. Gonzales was joined in raising the possibility of resignation by the deputy attorney general, Paul J. McNulty, the officials said. Mr. Gonzales and Mr. McNulty told associates that they had an obligation to protect evidence in a criminal case and would be unwilling to carry out any White House order to return the material to Congress.

I’m not even sure where to begin on this, really. The thought of the FBI director and the Attorney General of the United States resigning over this is almost unthinkable. It almost lends credence to my earlier crazy suspicions that the Jefferson evidence was more important than anybody thought. That constitutional showdown may still happen. The DoJ/FBI/AG don’t seem to show any plan on backing down, meanwhile on the congressional side, Hastert is furious with the FBI, and Pelosi is pissed, along with several other high-up House Reps. I’ll have more on this story as it progresses. I think the William Jefferson story just got a whole hell of a lot more interesting than anybody expected.

Filed under: William Jefferson Related, Z-TDB Blog