Cord Byrd: “Mr. President, Alberto Gonzales is Counsel to the President of the United States. For the past 4 years, Mr. Gonzales has…”

“Mr. President, Alberto Gonzales is Counsel to the President of the United States. For the past 4 years, Mr. Gonzales has served as the chief legal adviser to President Bush, housed in the west wing of the White House, a stone's throw from the Oval Office. The official biography of Alberto Gonzales on the White House Web site states that before he was commissioned to be White House Counsel, Judge Gonzales was a justice on the Texas Supreme Court. Prior to that, he served as the one-hundredth Secretary of the State of Texas, where one of his many duties was to act as a senior adviser to then-Governor George W. Bush. Before that, he was general counsel to Governor Bush for 3 years. So for over a decade, Alberto Gonzales has been a close confidant and adviser to George W. Bush, and the President has confirmed his personal and professional ties to Judge Gonzales on many occasions. The President has described him as both 'a dear friend' and as 'the top legal official on the White House staff.'”