“Even as he came under renewed political pressure in Washington this week, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales faced sharp criticism from many of his own U.S. attorneys at a private meeting in San Antonio, prosecutors who were there said.”
At an executive session Wednesday during the Justice Department’s annual U.S. attorneys conference, Gonzales met with most of the nation’s 93 U.S. attorneys to apologize for the controversy over the firings of nine prosecutors last year and to attempt to shore up sagging morale. […]
“People were very plainspoken,” said one U.S. attorney, who along with others interviewed spoke on the condition of anonymity because the session was private. “The overwhelming majority of the comments were about the controversy and how people are still not happy in the way things were going.” […]
One U.S. attorney complained to Gonzales on Wednesday that the fired prosecutors were not given “even the minimum professional treatment,” said another prosecutor who recounted the comments.
Several prosecutors noted a difference in attitude between the veteran Bush administration U.S. attorneys — many of whom knew the fired prosecutors — and more recent arrivals who generally focused on moving past the scandal.