After meeting with senators Thursday, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales agreed to let five of his top aides involved in the firings talk with committee members, the Associated Press reported.
Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats wanted Mercer and other Justice Department officials to talk voluntarily, but they also threatened to subpoena them.
Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., had the subpoenas listed as an item on the agenda for a meeting Thursday. But Leahy decided to hold the subpoena matter over until next week in hopes that the officials would agree to testify voluntarily.
Leahy sent a letter to Gonzales noting that the Senate and House held hearings on the “abrupt dismissal” of more than half a dozen Senate-confirmed U.S. attorneys.
“During the course of those hearings, witnesses identified several Department of Justice officials who were involved in the decision to dismiss these U.S. attorneys or in the execution of that decision,” the letter said.
“As part of the committee's ongoing investigation into this matter, we should have the benefit of hearing directly from these officials,” Leahy wrote. “To that end, I would like to work out a process for the department promptly to make these witnesses available for interviews, depositions or hearing testimony, on a voluntary basis.”
The letter did not name the officials, but a Senate Judiciary Committee spokeswoman confirmed Mercer was on the list.
Neither the Justice Department nor Mercer returned calls for comment Thursday.
Two of the fired U.S. attorneys, Daniel Bogden of Las Vegas and Paul K. Charlton of Phoenix, testified before a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday that Mercer told them they were dismissed to make room for others and not because of performance problems.
Bogden testified that Mercer told him the administration had a “very short, two-year window of opportunity concerning the United States attorney positions” and that “this would be an opportunity to put others into those positions so they could build their résumés and get an experience as a United States attorney, so for future possibilities of being federal judges or other political-type positions, they could be better enhanced to do so.”
Mercer, Charlton testified, told him he was being asked to resign so other individuals would have the opportunity to “touch base” as U.S. attorney before the end of the president's term.
Mercer was nominated last September to become the associate attorney general, a position that requires Senate confirmation. No date has been set for his confirmation hearing, said Senate Judiciary Committee spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler. If confirmed, Mercer would have to give up the U.S. attorney post in Montana.
As acting associate attorney general, Mercer is the No. 3 official in the Justice Department and a principal member of Gonzales' senior management team. He supervises the Civil, Civil Rights, Antitrust, Tax, and Environmental and Natural Resources divisions in the department.
Mercer was raised in Billings and served as an assistant U.S. attorney for Montana from 1994 to 2001.
Reporter Clair Johnson of the Billings Gazette contributed to this story.
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