Former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Thursday endorsed the presidential bid of Vice President Kamala Harris, making the current Belmont University College of Law Dean the latest Bush administration official to back the Democrat over former President Donald Trump.
In his endorsement, published by German-owned Politico, Gonzales noted he is “the only lawyer in American history to serve both as White House counsel and as attorney general,” but did not note that he resigned from the latter position as prominent Democrats demanded he face a perjury inquiry due to his claims before Congress.
Gonzales (pictured above) submitted his resignation to former President George W. Bush on August 27, 2007, just over one month after Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Russ Feingold (D-WI), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) called for an investigation to determine whether Gonzales perjured himself during congressional testimony about the Bush administration’s warrantless spying program.
While he served as the attorney general under Bush from November 2004 through August 2007, Gonzales served as the White House counsel to the Bush administration in 2002 and, in that position, helped draft the 2002 executive order that gave Bush the power to imprison any non-citizen deemed a terrorist indefinitely, and drew additional criticism when he was unable to explain his decision to dismiss U.S. Attorneys on behalf of the Bush administration.
Former U.S. Assistant Attorney Jeff Clark, who served under Gonzales during the Bush administration, told The Tennessee Star his former boss is a “squish” who was unable to articulate the U.S. Constitution before Congress.
“He’s not very smart,” said Clark, before calling Gonzales’ decision to endorse Harris “a complete disgrace.”
Clark told The Star that Gonzales was “in over his head” during the Bush administration and implied Gonzales’ loyalty to Bush and former Vice President Dick Cheney, who recently endorsed Harris, likely helped motivate him to endorse Harris publicly.
“They pulled him in as the White House Counsel, where he was in over his head,” said Clark. “Then they pulled him in to be the A.G., which was really over his head, and that became clear when the Democrats launched the U.S. Attorney so-called scandal.”
The former Trump-era Department of Justice official told The Star Gonzales was tripped up by Democrats, including Schumer, Feinstein, and Whitehouse, by questions that should have been easily addressed by anyone who can “legitimately claim” to be a “conservative Republican.”
Since 2011, Gonzales has been the Dean of Belmont University College of Law in Nashville, Tennessee. U.S. News ranks it 91 out of 196 schools in the United States, and Clark questioned to The Star whether it is in the interest of Belmont University law students for the Dean to make political endorsements.
“Does every law student want to have their dean endorsing a particular candidate?” Clark told The Star, “You would think that they’d be focused on legal education, and not on trying to weigh into political disputes.”
Belmont University did not immediately respond to an inquiry from The Star that sought more information about Gonzales’ endorsement, including whether the university knew about the Politico article before it was published and whether the school has a policy for its high-profile faculty members to make political endorsements.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Alberto Gonzales” by Alberto Gonzales. Background Photo “Belmont University Law School” by Belmont University – College of Law.
