Bush: 'Unfair treatment' dragged Gonzales's name 'through the mud'
 President Bush "reluctantly" accepted Attorney General Alberto Gonzales's decision to resign, but he continued to defend his longtime friend in his first comments about the resignation Monday.
"After months of unfair treatment that has created ... a harmful distraction at the Justice Department, Judge Gonzales has decided to resign his position, and I accept his decision," Bush told reporters as he prepared to board Marine One. "It's sad that we live in a time when a talented and honorable person like Alberto Gonzales is impeding (sic) from doing important work because his good name was dragged through the mud for political reasons."
Several members of Congress -- Republicans as well as Democrats -- have called for Gonzales's resignation accusing him of creating an overtly partisan environment within the Department of Justice and trampling Americans' civil liberties.
Bush did not address the firing of nine US Attorneys last year, which critics say was politically motivated. Gonzales's role in the firings remains murky, in part because he continually claimed to have no recollection of the details of how the attorneys were fired. Sen. Arlen Specter, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, questioned Gonzales's credibility when he testified on the attorney firings.
Bush did praise Gonzales for playing "a critical role" in "shaping our policies in the war on terror."
"The Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act and other important laws bear his imprint," Bush said, although he did not mention by name the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program, which has also gotten Gonzales into trouble.
Democrats called for a special prosecutor to be appointed to investigate whether Gonzales perjured himself when he testified before Congress about the program, which was the subject of a late-night hospital visit he paid to then Attorney General John Ashcroft while he was White House counsel.
An indpenedent watchdog group said Monday the special prosecutor still should investigate, despite Gonzales's resignation.
"Just as former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's resignation did not impede the ongoing criminal investigation into his conduct while a member of Congress, so Mr. Gonzales' departure should not stop Congress, the Department of Justice's Inspector General and the Office of Professional Responsibility from continuing their probes into the illegal actions of our nation's top ranking law enforcement officials," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "Our democratic system of government depends on the principle that all public officials be held accountable for their conduct. To that end, CREW still believes that a special prosecutor should be appointed to investigate the potentially criminal conduct of Mr. Gonzales and his former aides."
For his longtime friend and confidant, Bush had nothing but kind words, praising Gonzales's "long history of distinguished public service" and noting that he "became a close friend."
Bush announced that Solicitor General Paul Clement will serve as acting attorney general until the Senate approves a nominee.
The following video is from CNN's Newsroom, broadcast on August 27.
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