In late August, when Alberto Gonzales announced his resignation as Attorney General, CREW's Melanie Sloan stated very clearly our view that the on-going investigations of Gonzales should not end:

His resignation should not, however, end congressional and Department of Justice investigations into misconduct by the Attorney General and his former top aides. Questions of whether Justice Department officials lied to Congress, conducted criminal inquiries to further political ends, illegally fired U.S. Attorneys and made hiring decisions based on political affiliation still merit investigation regardless of Mr. Gonzales’ resignation.

Based on a report in today's Washington Post, it appears Gonzales is girding himself financially for continued investigations and possible criminal charges:

Supporters of former attorney general Alberto R. Gonzales have created a trust fund to help pay for his legal expenses, which are mounting in the face of an ongoing Justice Department investigation into whether Gonzales committed perjury or improperly tampered with a congressional witness.

The establishment of a legal defense fund for the nation's former chief law enforcement officer underscores the potential peril confronting Gonzales, who is one of a handful of attorneys general to face potential criminal charges for actions taken in office.

David G. Leitch, a Gonzales friend and general counsel at the Ford Motor Co., wrote in an e-mail solicitation to potential contributors last month that Gonzales is "innocent of any wrongdoing" but does not have the means to pay for his legal defense after a career spent mostly in public service.

The successor to Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General moved one step closer to obtaining that job when the Senate Judiciary Committee voted in favor of his nomination:

Judge Michael Mukasey on Tuesday cleared the biggest hurdle that stood between him and the post of attorney general when the Senate Judiciary Committee approved his nomination 11-8.

Sens. Dianne Feinstein (Calif.) and Charles Schumer (N.Y.) were the only Democrats who voted to support Mukasey. The nomination is now headed to the Senate floor, where Mukasey is expected to pass easily.

Upon learning that Alberto Gonzales had resigned, CREW's Melanie Sloan said the investigations involving the former Attorney General must continue. 

Based on a report in Newsweek, it sounds like Gonzales has prepared for that outcome --  and that there are multiple prongs to the on-going investigations:

The top concern for Gonzales, and now Terwilliger, is the expanding investigation by Glenn Fine, the Justice Department’s fiercely independent inspector general, according to three legal sources familiar with the matter who declined to speak publicly about ongoing investigations. Originally, Fine's internal Justice probe—conducted in conjunction with lawyers from the department’s Office of Professional Responsibility—focused on the mass dismissal of U.S. attorneys late last year. The investigation has since broadened to include, among other matters, charges that Gonzales lied to Congress about the Bush administration’s warrantless surveillance program and the circumstances surrounding his late-night March 10, 2004, visit to the hospital room of then attorney general John Ashcroft. At the same time, Congress is continuing to pursue more documents on harsh CIA interrogation techniques approved by Gonzales.

Fine’s investigators, who received high-level security clearances, have been interviewing key players involved in the now-famous bedside confrontation in Ashcroft's hospital room, according to the legal sources. During the visit that evening, Gonzales, then White House counsel, sought to persuade an ailing and heavily medicated Ashcroft to overrule department lawyers who had refused to sign off on classified surveillance activities ordered by President Bush because of concerns about their legality. A rash of senior Justice Department officials—including then deputy attorney general James Comey and FBI Director Robert Mueller—threatened to resign over the incident.

Yet when Gonzales appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee in February 2006, he testified that "there has not been any serious disagreement" about the president’s surveillance program. He did acknowledge disputes about "other intelligence activities" that he declined to identify.

One former administration official close to Gonzales’s team (who, like others interviewed for this story, requested anonymity in talking about an ongoing probe) said the former attorney general is concerned that Fine may end up making a criminal referral to the Public Integrity Section of the Justice Department—or even seek the appointment of a special counsel to determine if Gonzales made false statements to Congress.

The former official—who did not believe such action was warranted—said that Gonzales's camp is increasingly worried that Fine might feel compelled to make such a move to avoid any suggestion that he was protecting his former boss and to reassert his independence. That would subject Gonzales to the unusual situation of being subject to a formal criminal investigation by the very department he used to head. “That is certainly one possible outcome of this,” said the former official.

The Inspector General at the U.S. Department of Justice is still investigating outgoing Attorney General Alberto Gonzales -- and the charges are very serious: 

The Justice Department is investigating whether departing Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales gave false or misleading testimony to Congress on a broad range of issues, including the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance program and the removal of nine U.S. attorneys last year, the lead investigator said today.

The disclosure by Inspector General Glenn A. Fine shows that internal investigations that began with the prosecutor firings have widened substantially to include a focus on Gonzales's actions and statements.

Following the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, leading Congressional Democrats vowed to continue their investigations of the Justice Department and Gonzales:

Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill reacted swiftly Monday to the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, calling it long overdue and vowing to continue their investigations of the Justice Department and whether it had been politicized under his tenure.

The attorney general has been under intense scrutiny since Democrats took control of Congress and began investigating the firings of several U.S. attorneys and whether they were ousted for improper political reasons. Throughout the probe, Gonzales’s public statements and testimony before Congress, as well as those of his subordinates at the Department of Justice (DoJ), spurred more questions from Democrats and several Republican senators than they answered.

Most recently, Democrats and former DoJ officials have disputed Gonzales’s account of a bedside meeting with his predecessor, John Ashcroft, about a disagreement over the legal basis for the administration’s wiretapping program that occurred while Ashcroft was recovering from surgery and Gonzales was White House counsel. Critics have accused Gonzales of committing perjury in his testimony before Congress on that matter.

Yesterday, CREW renewed our call for a Special Prosecutor to investigate wrongdoing at the Justice Department.

It is CREW's strongly held view that the investigation of criminal misconduct must continue. Melanie Sloan had this to say about the resignation of Alberto Gonzales:

Attorney General Gonzales’ resignation is welcome – and overdue – news. His resignation should not, however, end congressional and Department of Justice investigations into misconduct by the Attorney General and his former top aides. Questions of whether Justice Department officials lied to Congress, conducted criminal inquiries to further political ends, illegally fired U.S. Attorneys and made hiring decisions based on political affiliation still merit investigation regardless of Mr. Gonzales’ 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. 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.

Major news development on this Monday morning.   The Attorney General has resigned.   Cable news reporters are speculating that the replacement will be Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff:

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, whose tenure has been marred by controversy and accusations of perjury before Congress, has resigned. A senior administration official said he would announce the decision later this morning in Washington.

Mr. Gonzales, who had rebuffed calls for his resignation, submitted his to President Bush by telephone on Friday, the official said. His decision was not immediately announced, the official added, until after the president invited him and his wife to lunch at his ranch near here.

Mr. Bush has not yet chosen a replacement but will not leave the position open long, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the Attorney General's resignation had not yet been made public.

Mr. Bush had repeatedly stood by Mr. Gonzales, an old friend and colleague from Texas, even as he faced increasing scrutiny for his leadership of the Justice Department, including his role in the dismissals of nine United States attorneys late last year and questions about whether he testified truthfully about the National Security Agency's surveillance programs.

The Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee wants the Inspector General at the Department of Justice to investigate the leader of the Department of Justice, Alberto Gonzales according to The Hill: 

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) asked Department of Justice Inspector General Glenn Fine Thursday to review whether testimony Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has provided “was in any instances intentionally false, misleading, or inappropriate.”

Leahy had granted Gonzales additional time following the attorney general’s last appearance before the panel to revise or clarify any statements he made. The senator said that Gonzales “has not meaningfully addressed our significant concerns.”

Leahy added that he has “identified numerous instances in which the attorney general appears to have contradicted his own previous testimony or the statements or testimony of other senior officials, or where he appears to have engaged in efforts to mislead.”

The senator specifically asks Fine not to limit his inquiry to whether Gonzales has committed criminal violations.

AP reports that four Democratic Senators from the Judiciary Committee, including the Chair, Patrick Leahy, want a Special Prosecutor to investigate the Attorney General:

Senate Democrats called Thursday for a special counsel to investigate whether Attorney General Alberto Gonzales perjured himself regarding the firings of U.S. attorneys and administration dissent over President Bush's domestic surveillance program.

"It has become apparent that the attorney general has provided at a minimum half-truths and misleading statements," four members of the Senate Judiciary Committee wrote in a letter to Solictor (sic) General Paul Clement.

The stakes have been raised by the Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.  Senator Leahy believes the Attorney General gave testimony to his committee that doesn't match the facts.  Gonzales either has to change his testimony -- or face a perjury inquiry:

[Senate Judiciary Chair Patrick] Leahy (D-Vt.) told reporters he is giving Gonzales until late next week to revise his testimony about the surveillance program or he will ask Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine to conduct a perjury inquiry: "I'll ask the inspector general to determine who's telling the truth."

Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said yesterday that Gonzales "stands by his testimony," and that "the disagreement . . . was not about the particular intelligence activity that has been publicly described by the president. It was about other highly classified intelligence activities."

DNI spokesman Ross Feinstein referred questions to the Justice Department.

The dispute represents the latest political difficulty for Gonzales, who endured a four-hour grilling from Leahy's committee on Tuesday and has been under fire all year for his handling of the firings of nine U.S. attorneys last year. The panel's members openly attacked Gonzales's credibility on a variety of matters.