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Alberto Gonzales Resigns; Michael Vick to Plead Guilty

Aired August 27, 2007 - 08:59   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
I am T.J. Holmes, sitting in today for Tony Harris.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Brianna Keilar, in for Heidi Collins.

You can watch events come into the NEWSROOM live on this Monday morning. It's August 27th, and two major stories topping the rundown right now.

Breaking news from Washington. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has resigned. That word coming just a short time ago.

We're going to have extensive live coverage.

HOLMES: Also, tell it to the judge. Quarterback Michael Vick enters a plea next hour in the dogfighting case against him.

You are in a busy CNN NEWSROOM.

KEILAR: Breaking this hour, the nation's top prosecutor long under fire. Now he's out of a job. Within the past hour, we have learned that embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is resigning.

Let's go now to the White House, where CNN White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux begins our live coverage -- Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, we have learned from senior administration officials that he resigned. He called the president on Friday to say that he intended to resign, and the president accepted his resignation then. And we have also been told that President Bush is going to be talking about the attorney general at 11:30 Eastern Time from Waco, Texas, before he heads to Albuquerque, New Mexico. The president will talk about all of this news that has developed.

Now, as you know, we have been talking about this all morning. There was a lot of speculation and a lot of people calling for him to step down for quite sometime.

He has been a very controversial, divisive figure of this administration, but the one person who was able to hold on to him, he was able to hold on to his job, was the support of the president. A lot of times the president has come forward and says that he stands behind him and that there -- that he wouldn't accept his letter of resignation. It has become very clear this morning that there is -- they have reached some sort of threshold where they feel that this next 17 months here, that they would accept him stepping down, that there would be a better alternative.

Now, the question, of course, is, what is this possible alternative? Well, very senior administration officials are saying at the top of the list is the secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff. That that is a real possibility.

Who might replace him? They turn to deputy director of OMB, Clay Johnson, as a possibility. They also say that this is going to happen relatively quickly. That is the hope here, that they expedite this process. So we're going to see what happens the next couple of hours and the next couple of days, just to see how this is all going to unfold -- Brianna.

KEILAR: So, Suzanne, when you say relatively quickly, that this sort of -- and I know you called it musical chairs earlier, that these -- that people filling different positions. Are you expecting that this is going to shake out within the next week? What is the timeline? Do you know?

MALVEAUX: Well, they certainly are saying you're going to hear things within the next week, you're going to hear these developments. We are going to -- obviously, this is Gonzales' day, this is the president's day to pay any kind of respect and admiration to Gonzales, so they'll both be speaking. But they say gave us some days, look at this week as a very critical week in terms of news coming out here, and they say their number one pick is Michael Chertoff.

We know, of course, he has to go through a confirmation process, one that may be a bit rough, but they say look at his resume. He has good relationships with those on Capitol Hill overall.

We know that the Katrina debacle does not help in that situation, but overall he has good relations with lawmakers. He has the resume that is necessary to get through that process. They believe that he is the best shot at this -- Brianna.

KEILAR: All right. Suzanne Malveaux live for us there at the White House.

Thanks, Suzanne.

HOLMES: And CNN's Kelli Arena has more now on what led to the attorney general's resignation today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): By the time Alberto Gonzales resigned as attorney general, few in Washington wanted him to stay.

SEN. ARLEN SPECTER (R-PA), RANKING MEMBER, JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: I believe that the Department of Justice is close to being dysfunctional now. ARENA: Gonzales' downhill slide started with the firing of eight U.S. attorneys. What followed were contradictions, retractions and top-level resignations, none of which shed any light on exactly why those prosecutors were let go.

SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D-CA), JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: All were terminated without cause, and no one in the Department of Justice owns up to putting any one of them on that list.

ARENA: Republicans tried to stick with him as long as they could. And there was a moment when the slow fall of the ax stalled.

REP. LAMAR SMITH (R-TX), JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: If there are no fish in this lake, we should reel in our lines of questions, dock our empty boat, and turn to more pressing issues.

ARENA: Until James Comey brought it crashing down. The former deputy attorney general testified that Gonzales, as White House counsel, tried to bully his predecessor, John Ashcroft, into approving the controversial NSA surveillance program while Ashcroft lay sick in a hospital bed.

JAMES COMEY, FMR. DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL: I was very upset, I was angry. I thought I just witnessed an effort to take advantage of a very sick man.

ARENA: After the hospital saga, Gonzales himself was on life support, and loyalty was not enough to save him.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is an honest, honorable man in whom I have confidence.

ARENA: A hard fall for a man who has risen the hard way, from humble beginnings, to Harvard Law School, the Texas Supreme Court, and ultimately to the Justice Department as the first Hispanic attorney general of the United States.

Close associates say Gonzales was determined to hang on.

ALBERTO GONZALES, ATTORNEY GENERAL: In everything that I have done here, the principles that I have tried to support are truthfulness and being forthcoming. And accountability.

ARENA: A determination his critics said all but ruined the Justice Department. And when he finally quit, it wasn't to applause, but a sigh of relief.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: And Kelli Arena joins us now.

Kelli, we just heard in that piece Arlen Specter say that he thought the Department of Justice was dysfunctional. How have things been at the Department of Justice since all of this started coming down on Gonzales the past few months? ARENA: Well, obviously, we have had a series of some high-level resignations, morale has been extremely low. The attorney general has been very scarce. And we haven't seen him, nor has the public. And, of course, the tensions between Congress at their height.

So as I said, you know, everyone is sort of breathing a sigh of relief and hoping that they can move on. And as you heard from White House reporters, you know, the White House is hoping to do that very quickly.

The question is, who will they put in as an acting attorney general while they try to get, you know, someone on board to head up this department? And, you know, we have some people who are very new on the job.

The deputy attorney general, Craig Morford, just started. You have the solicitor general. He is the guy who argues cases for the government before the Supreme Court, Paul Clement, who has come up as a possible acting attorney general. And then, of course, you know, who ultimately takes the job. And we've heard a lot of discussion about Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who used to work at the Justice Department as the head of the criminal division and has had many years as a federal prosecutor under his belt.

HOLMES: And Kelli, did the attorney general hold on longer than most people in the halls of the Department of Justice really thinking he would? Not to say they had office pools going, but for the most part, did they know he was going to be leaving at some point?

ARENA: You know, it really has been an amazing thing, because each time, you know, you would talk to people, and they'd say, oh, you know, this is it. This is the last straw. You know, especially when the FBI director, Robert Mueller, contradicted his testimony about that Gonzales hospital visit, they thought for sure, oh, this is it.

And so we heard that a lot. And each and every time, you know, Gonzales seemed to rise from the ashes, all because of the support from this president.

And I will tell you that I did have an opportunity, my colleagues and I had an opportunity to speak with some people at the Justice Department and pretty serious, you know, senior levels that we thought would know or would have known that this was coming. They were shocked.

They didn't know. They didn't get any advance notification. So, obviously, this was something that this attorney general chose to share with this president -- you know, someone who is a long-time, personal friend of his, kept it very close to the vest until this morning.

HOLMES: Did people kind of get the feeling that, OK, maybe he'll hang in there? Because people weren't giving him -- like you said, people just knew this was it, this was it. Did they just think, OK, maybe this guy is tougher than we think and they just thought he's going to hold on now? ARENA: Well, yes. Yes.

I mean, you know, he kept saying, look, you know, "I think that I can still do some good in this job." The president was steadfast in his support.

And so, even though it seemed like it was this surreal, you know, environment, it did look like, you know, he was in it for the long haul. Although, you know, lots of people who were close to him and close to this president were saying, you know, we think it's time. We think that this really has to end.

HOLMES: Yes. Well, Kelli, what does the Justice Department and the people in the halls there, what do they need right now? What do they want right now from their next leader?

ARENA: Well, I think what they want is someone who is willing to lead, is someone who perhaps has risen up from the ranks, but someone who understands that this is a huge department, T.J. I mean, you've got, you know, the Drug Enforcement Administration. You have the ATF. You have -- I mean, there is -- the FBI obviously.

There's so many different components to this department. People don't really understand. You know, they hear a lot about the U.S. attorney, you know, situation, and they think, oh, legal issues. But there's crime fighting. There's child pornography, there's drug enforcement.

So, somebody who knows what they're getting into, which Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff would, and someone who is seen as much less political than this attorney general was. I mean, don't forget, there are a lot of career prosecutors who work at the Justice Department who were not hired because of their political ideology, but were hired because they're good prosecutors and want to get the job done. And those people are looking for somebody who's just going to, you know, block out all that noise from the Hill and the White House and everybody else and just stay on course.

HOLMES: And finally here, Kelli, when people talk or they try to speak fondly or affectionately about the tenure of Alberto Gonzales, are they going to struggle to come up with something? What could they possibly say to talk favorably about his tenure there at the Justice Department?

ARENA: Well, you know, he was the first Hispanic attorney general. He spent -- one of his great passions was the fight against child pornography. As a dad, it was something that was very, very important to him.

You know, he -- you know, he did come from very, very humble beginnings, you know, to get the job that he got. I mean, you know, he worked against a great deal of odds.

HOLMES: But many people might say that he got it...

(CROSSTALK) ARENA: I think on a personal level -- I think, you know, on a personal level, yes, they can say a lot of good things. Professionally, you know, the critics are still much louder than the supporters are on that front. And really, you know, it was pretty amazing after a while that each and every time he appeared before the Hill, he did have to come back and correct or re-clarify, you know, things that were said.

HOLMES: Yes.

ARENA: and, you know, lawmakers just got real tired of that and they said, look, you know, just level with us. Talk to us truthfully, because we just cannot believe you.

HOLMES: All right.

Kelli Arena for us.

Kelli, thank you so much.

ARENA: You're welcome.

HOLMES: Thank you so much.

KEILAR: And we have just learned that President Bush is going to be making a statement, a live statement at 11:30 this morning. We're definitely going to bring that right to you at CNN when he does make the statement. He'll be making it from Waco, Texas.

Again, the president is going to be making a statement at 11:30 a.m. this morning, and will bring that to you.

But first, let's get to our chief national correspondent, John King. He's on the phone with us from Washington.

And John, what does this mean for the Bush administration? Because President Bush has stood by Alberto Gonzales so staunchly, and he's not in that position anymore. He's not exerting that energy.

What does this mean for the Bush administration?

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, on the one hand, the president is losing a man I think you would best describe as simply that, the president's man. This is a close, personal friend of the president from his days as Texas governor. He was his White House counsel and his attorney general.

He was a fierce defender of administration secrecy, whether the issue be turning over these documents about firing the prosecutors, the controversy about creating the whole wireless -- warrantless wiretapping program. So this was the president's man. And as people point the finger at Alberto Gonzales, you can be sure Democrats will say, well, he worked for somebody and the directions came from the top.

So, we're not done with the Alberto Gonzales chapter. But what does it mean that he is leaving? You have a bit of a house cleaning going on here.

The president's top political adviser, Karl Rove, deciding it's time for him to leave. Now Alberto Gonzales deciding this political environment -- Kelli Arena I think just put it perfectly -- was too surreal for him to be at all effective in his job.

So, with 17 months left, the president is trying to get a fresh start in his political operation, now in one of the most important agencies of the United States government. But there are still many questions the Democrats want answered, and as the president sends a new nominee up to Capitol Hill, despite what we have heard on our air this morning from some of the Democrats, there will be a lot of looking back, as well as there is looking forward.

So, the controversies will continue, but the president's trying to say with 17 months left, how can I be most effective? How can I find two or three big things to get done in my final months in office? And when it comes to the law enforcement portfolio, the expansive portfolio Kelli just talked about, they obviously, finally, finally reached a calculation that, if we are to get anything done there, we need a new start.

KEILAR: And a lot of our reporters, obviously, have heard from sources that one of the major names being floated for Gonzales' replacement is Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

What do you make of this, John?

KING: Well, it would be a bold choice in the sense that you're taking someone out of a department that the administration has said is so critically important to the domestic security of the United States. But he is someone who is very highly regarded by both the president and the vice president. As we've been saying all morning, he certainly has the resume for it.

Experience in the Justice Department, which is a critical thing given how complicated and expansive the department is, a former federal judge. A man of unquestioned personal credibility, but, Brianna, as you've been hearing all morning -- I heard Dana Bash saying earlier this morning she is already getting indications from Democrats that he would face tough sledding (ph). And many Republicans aren't huge fans of Michael Chertoff either.

And so the administration is going to face a test here. Are they going to again say, too bad, we're going to pick our guy and send him up there, and we're going to count on Republicans to stand with us and fight back to confirm him even if they don't really like him? Because remember, he was the secretary of Homeland Security when Katrina happened, two years ago this week, and he was roundly criticized for being too lawyerly, for not taking charge, for not making immediate, quick reasons and dispatching federal resources.

The criticism was he wanted to think about his options, to review his options. And he also was one of the administration's point men on the immigration issue, ends up there with the Commerce secretary, Carlos Gutierrez, and many Republicans tell you they simply kept trying to ram a proposal down the Republicans' throats that the Republicans did not want to accept.

So, if the president, with a 30-something percent approval rating, is going to go to the well to fight for Michael Chertoff, it shows you that even as he's trying to clean house, he also has a bit of a defiant, stubborn streak in him.

KEILAR: Well, let's say, John, let's say Michael Chertoff does leave the Department of Homeland Security to replace Gonzales. That obviously leaves a vacancy at the top of Homeland Security. Right now the possibility for replacing him is the deputy of OMB, Clay Johnson.

What do you make of that?

KING: Clay Johnson is one of the last of the Texans still on his horse, you might say, to use Texas language, Brianna. The president came up with a number of close friends with him from his governor's staff. Clay Johnson is one of them who is still at the OMB.

Clay Johnson is somebody who is highly regarded by all. He is not viewed as political, in part because he's been and left political jobs in the administration, or behind the scenes, anyway. He ran the personnel office at one point, which is one of the most political in terms of sorting out who gets key jobs, but it's not a public job where somebody like Alberto Gonzales or Michael Chertoff, who would, I'm sure, if you gave them a private moment, describe part of their job as simply harpoon catching in all the partisan fights.

So, Clay Johnson is highly regarded, has many friends. That would be a less contentious nomination, if he were to put him up for Senate confirmation.

The questions there would come more about the substance of the department. You have people from big states like New York and California saying the funding formulas are not quite set. They don't get the money they want from Homeland Security. So that would be more of a policy fight.

In terms of attorney general, you're going to have a lot of policy questions about where we go forward, but you are also going to have a lot 9of grievances about administration secrecy, about subpoenas, about documents, about the prosecutor controversy, and so many other issues. So, we're going into a very political environment. Even as the president essentially is trying to turn the page and get to a less political environment, he is going to have to go through a significant dust-up first to get there.

KEILAR: All right. Great insight there from our chief national correspondent, John King.

John, thanks for joining us on the phone.

And again, just want to let you know that President Bush is going to be making a statement at 11:30 Eastern. We are going to bring that to you as soon as we get in it here to the CNN NEWSROOM. Meanwhile, a tumultuous two and a half years as attorney general for Alberto Gonzales, the nation's first Hispanic attorney general. He was nominated by President Bush in late 2004. He was confirmed by the Senate in February of '05. And before that, Gonzales served on the Texas Supreme Court.

He left Texas in 2001 to join President Bush as White House counsel. Gonzales served as legal counsel for George W. Bush when he was governor of Texas, and he also served as Texas secretary of state.

HOLMES: We're going to get a closer look at the legal drama that led up to the resignation.

CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin standing by for us in Richmond, Virginia.

You're doing all kinds of duty today for us. We sure do appreciate it, Jeffrey.

Tell us, Alberto Gonzales, resigning now. He's going to be out of office, but does that necessarily mean Congress is going to leave him alone on some of these pesky controversies that have been surrounding him?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: You know, as -- in the real world, I think the answer to that is yes. I don't think that he will be pursued much in private life.

I mean, the main controversy that remains outstanding from his tenure, at least as far as Congress is concerned, is the firing of the eight or nine U.S. attorneys, right around the time at the end of the president's first term. And the question there is, why were they fired?

There was that disastrous hearing in April before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where Attorney General Gonzales essentially had no idea what was going on in his own department. He was abandoned by the Republicans on the Judiciary Committee.

It sounds to me like the Congress knows about as much about this subject as they're going to know. And with Gonzales' scalp nailed to the wall, as President Johnson used to say, there's no real need to pursue this issue much anymore. The energy will be out of it, and I think Alberto Gonzales will be allowed to return to private practice in relative peace.

HOLMES: Amen.

And I heard you just mentioning this a little earlier. He came in with such a story that people could rally around. From the humble beginnings, working his way up, he made it to attorney general, the first Hispanic attorney general. And to see this fall from grace now -- and I was trying to ask Kelli Arena what he's going to be remembered for.

Is there any way when people write his bio and any way when people talk about him down the road that some of his positive accomplishments will be in that first or second paragraph?

TOOBIN: Well, you know, I think it's unfortunately going to be very hard to see how that happens.

You know, you mentioned the word "humble". Alberto Gonzales is from the town of Humble, Texas. I mean, that's how perfect the story was.

You know, he comes from this small town. President Bush, then Governor Bush, takes him under his wing, appoints him to the Texas Supreme Court, secretary of state, counsel to the governor. Brings him with him.

The trouble for Alberto Gonzales began when he was White House counsel. And there was one memo that he signed, that he wrote, where he essentially authorized the use of torture, where he called the protections of the Geneva Convention quaint. And that, I think, underlined the issue that came to dominate his tenure, which was, was he really the lawyer for the people of the United States or was he simply George Bush's lawyer?

HOLMES: Yes.

TOOBIN: Did he have that independent judgment? And unfortunately, I think, the answer on both sides of the aisle was no. He did not have that independent judgment.

He never stopped being George Bush's lawyer. And I think that's really the problem with his tenure and that's why he was forced out of office.

HOLMES: And Jeffrey, the controversy over the fired prosecutors has been going on for several months. It's taken us through the whole summer. And when he testified in Congress, people thought that was it. And then something else would come up and they'd say, oh, this is going to be it for him.

How in the world did he last this long, and why did he choose now, do you think, to go ahead and submit his resignation?

TOOBIN: He survived this long for one reason, because George Bush supported him. I mean, George Bush was a loyal, loyal boss.

In the face of more criticism than any surviving cabinet member I can ever remember in all my time covering Washington, Alberto Gonzales survived because George Bush stood by him. But ultimately, it seems George Bush even gave up on him, recognizing that the attorney general simply can't function without the support of both Democrats and Republicans in Capitol Hill.

That's what Gonzales faced, and President Bush said, look, you know, this administration is not over. I have 17 more months. I want to get things done, and I can't get things done in this very important part of the government as long as Alberto Gonzales is attorney general.

HOLMES: All right. Jeffrey Toobin for us.

I know we're going to be talking to you a lot throughout the morning and throughout the day. We appreciate you, Jeffrey.

TOOBIN: All right.

KEILAR: And with Alberto Gonzales gone, some big names could be on the short list to replace him.

CNN's Don Lemon offers this "Fact Check".

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): One name making the rounds as a possible successor to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

Chertoff earned his spurs and a reputation as a tough prosecutor fighting Mafia bosses in New York. In those days, he was an assistant to then federal prosecutor Rudy Giuliani.

After a stint in private practice, Chertoff returned to the Justice Department as chief of the criminal division. He won Senate approval as Homeland Security secretary in 2005.

Another Justice Department veteran being mentioned is former solicitor general Ted Olson. He first served in the Justice Department as assistant attorney general in the Reagan administration, but Olson's greatest impact so far on national politics occurred in the contested 2000 election. It was Olson who successfully represented then presidential candidate Bush in the Supreme Court case which effectively sent Mr. Bush to the White House.

One woman on the list, White House anti-terrorism coordinator Frances Townsend. She began her legal career as an assistant D.A. in Brooklyn. She later spent several years in the Justice Department in a variety of senior positions.

Townsend came to the Bush White House from the U.S. Coast Guard, where she served as assistant commandant for intelligence.

Another possible candidate getting a lot of mention, PepsiCo attorney Larry Thompson. He was the government's highest-ranking African-American law enforcement official when he served as deputy attorney general during President Bush's first term.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: And we do want to let you know we expect to hear from Alberto Gonzales coming up at 10:30 Eastern Time. We will have live coverage of that as soon as it happens.

Also, we are expecting to hear from the president today, as well. Somewhere around the 11:30 time frame. We do expect him to speak, as well. When we get his comments, we will bring them to you. Don't know if he will talk about a replacement just yet for Alberto Gonzales, but we do expect to hear from the president.

Both of those, we will bring you those statements as they happen.

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Rusty Dornin in Richmond, Virginia, where very soon Michael Vick will tell a federal court judge, I did it.

Details coming up.

HOLMES: Also coming up, a brief sigh of relief in Olympia, Greece. Firefighters get much needed help stopping wildfires at the doorstep of ancient treasures.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Breaking news now into the CNN NEWSROOM.

Embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has submitted his resignation to President Bush and President Bush has accepted it.

We are going to be hearing from Gonzales at about 10:30 a.m. Eastern. We will have live coverage here on CNN.

And then during the next hour, at about 11:30 a.m., we are expecting to hear from President Bush. Again, that is at about 11:30 a.m., and we will bring that to you right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

HOLMES: We turn now to the other big story of the day about a sports superstar and his breathtaking downfall. Michael Vick and his guilty plea before the judge next hour.

CNN's Rusty Dornin is outside the federal courthouse in Richmond, Virginia.

Good morning to you, Rusty.

DORNIN: Well, T.J., it is expected to be very brief. Michael Vick will formally tell the judge, "I did it" to that dog conspiracy charge.

He is expected to get 12 to 18 months in prison. Now, the guidelines call for that when you make a plea. Otherwise, it could have been a maximum of five years in prison, $250,000.

We won't hear what his punishment will be, but the judge is expected to set some kind of sentencing date. Now, his co-defendants will be sentenced sometime in November. We're expecting, perhaps, that to be the case.

Now, we understand, also, that of course the NFL has suspended Vick without pay. They also are awaiting the outcome of the sentencing. They're going to wait until the legal proceedings are over. But, you know, the mere association of gambling with any member of the NFL can trigger a lifetime ban.

Also, the Atlanta Falcons will be holding a press conference later today. We are expecting Vick and his attorneys, as well, to speak about 12:30 Eastern this afternoon. He is expected to make some kind of statement after that hearing.

The Atlanta Falcons sometime -- will hold a press conference sometime after that. They, of course, are going to be having their first home exhibition game against the Cincinnati Bengals tonight.

So, we won't be hearing any definitive answers today, but most defense attorneys are saying, if Michael Vick wants to make a good impression in front of this judge, he needs to stand up straight, speak in a loud, clear voice, and take responsibility for what he's done -- T.J.

HOLMES: And Rusty, just quickly, we know the last time we saw Michael Vick go into the courthouse, there were protesters, animal rights groups outside yelling and screaming. It was just kind of a chaotic scene out there.

What's it like out there today? I assume a lot of media, but are a lot of other people showing up, as well, at the courthouse?

DORNIN: The media still is outnumbering everyone. I was a little surprised, T.J. I figured there would be more, you know, supporters, more protesters, that sort of thing.

There's about 20, 25 PETA and humane society protesters, and there are still a couple of people, supporters who have been standing in line. There's a line of about 100 people to get into court. People will be -- they'll open the courtroom doors in just about 20 minutes, and people who have been standing in line since very early this morning, protesters and supporters, to get inside and see Michael Vick say, "I did it."

HOLMES: All right. All right. Rusty Dornin for us outside the federal courthouse in Richmond, Virginia.

And, Rusty, thank you, as always.

KEILAR: Now let's get some insight into the legal maneuverings.

Jeffrey Toobin is CNN's senior legal analyst.

He is there in Richmond, outside the courtroom -- and, Jeffrey, the judge in this case, Henry Hudson, he is able to ask questions, right, of Michael Vick. And can you just give us a sense of what questions we might be hearing him ask and if Michael Vick has to answer those truthfully.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, he certainly has to answer any questions the judge asks. Once you agree to plead guilty, you give up your fifth amendment right not to answer questions. And one question many judges ask is, OK, Mr. Vick, tell me in your own words, what did you do? And that's going to be a very difficult question for Vick to answer because he had a very carefully crafted, very heavily lawyered statement that was released last week where he essentially admitted financing this dogfighting operation. But he very -- he didn't quite acknowledge killing dogs and he didn't quite acknowledge gambling on the dogfighting. And those two issues could have a lot of implications for his future.

If he admits gambling, he could be banned forever by the NFL. If he admits killing dogs, he could be prosecuted by the State of Virginia. So he's got to walk a very careful line. He's got to admit to the judge what he did, but he's going to try to avoid implicating himself further for more problems down the road.

KEILAR: But how does he do that?

Because wouldn't actually be -- say, like he did have a hand in killing dogs. If the judge asks him about that, he has no choice, right, but to acknowledge that?

What would his lawyers have told him to say?

TOOBIN: Well, the first thing they've got to tell you -- the first thing his lawyers say is tell the truth, because if you lie here, the whole plea agreement can get blown up and you could be in worse trouble than you already are in.

But I think he will try to muddy the waters, like his plea agreement. His plea agreement says he acknowledges activities that led to the deaths of dogs. That's vague and the question is whether that kind of vague talk will be acceptable to the judge. It's OK -- it was OK with the government in the plea agreement, but remember, the judge has to approve the plea agreement and the judge doesn't work for the U.S. attorney's office. He is a separate branch of government and he has to be satisfied that this is a legitimate guilty plea.

So he'll have questions and Michael Vick is going to have to come up with some answers.

KEILAR: And, yes, this plea agreement calls for a sentencing range of between 12 to 18 months.

But is Judge Hudson bound to that sentencing recommendation?

TOOBIN: Well, I don't think that the 12 to 18 months is at all set in stone. I think we need to be careful about that. I mean, yes, if this plea goes normally and it proceeds as we expect it will be, 12 to 18 months. But there are a lot of factors still in play.

There is -- the probation department has to analyze it. The judge has to analyze it. And he can accept or reject that plea agreement. Also, there's the issue, Michael Vick has agreed to cooperate with the government. He's agreed to testify if necessary, to give debriefings, to talk about other people who may have been involved.

At that point, the government will inform the judge of the extent of Michael Vick's cooperation. That could lead to a lower sentence or, if he doesn't cooperate successfully, he could get a higher sentence.

So, yes, 12 to 18 months is the likely range. But I don't think anyone should think that that's definitely the sentence Michael Vick is going to get. And even if the sentencing date is set for November, that doesn't mean it's going to happen in November. These are often delayed with cooperating defendants.

KEILAR: All right, Jeff.

Thank you so much.

Jeffrey Toobin, our senior legal analyst here at CNN.

He's live for us there from Richmond, where we're covering developments in the Michael Vick case from all angles.

Next hour, we have sports attorney Ryan Smith and also noted defense attorney Jerry Froelich (ph) and later, former Atlanta Falcons player and current sports radio host, Chuck Smith.

HOLMES: Well, hello, again, everybody

I'm T.J. Holmes sitting in today for Tony Harris.

KEILAR: And I'm Brianna Keilar in for Heidi Collins.

HOLMES: And, of course, breaking news out of Washington. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales due to announce his resignation an hour from now. We do expect a statement from Gonzales, coming up at about 10:30 Eastern time.

We're also expecting to hear from the president around 11:50.

We do not expect either of them to take questions. We're just expecting both of them to make some kind of a statement. We don't know if the president will also announce that a new attorney general has been tapped just yet. But we will bring you those statements when they come in.

Right now, we want to turn to Congressional correspondent Dana Bash, who is on the phone for us -- Dana, tell us how is the news of his resignation being received on the Hill?

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly, it is pretty surprising news being received on Capitol Hill, particularly because this is something that probably all Democrats -- and, I would say at this point, most Republicans -- thought should have happened a long time ago. The attorney general's reputation and his credibility basically had deteriorated so much, remember, T.J., on Capitol Hill, that Democrats, not Republicans here, but Democrats actually accused him of perjury, of actually lying under oath to Congress when talking about a host of issues, including the fired federal prosecutors controversy and also the whole question of the warrantless wiretapping program inside the White House.

Now, we do have a statement that we just got from the Senate Judiciary chairman, Patrick Leahy, who essentially said that he, under Gonzales there was a crisis of leadership and also that it was -- that the Department of Justice was corrupted by political influence.

And I'll read you part of the statement. He said: "The attorney general's resignation reinforces what Congress and the American people already know -- that no Justice Department should be allowed to become a political arm of the White House, whether occupied by a Republican or a Democrat."

So even as there are going to be a lot of statements reminding -- from members of Congress -- reminding the American people why they could not think Alberto Gonzales should be in his job, already we are going to start to see the drums roll, if you will, for the confirmation process of whomever the president will put up as the nominee to replace Alberto Gonzales.

Because I can tell you, T.J., in talking to Republicans over the past several months, one of the things that they sort of shrugged their shoulders at when it came to the president sort of defying Congress and not firing Alberto Gonzales is the fact that they said, well, you know, politically, it would almost be worse for us to go through the first confirmation process with the Democratic Congress of somebody this high profile.

And that is what we're going to see, T.J., in the next coming weeks. We are going to see the Democratic controlled Congress go -- put the president's nominee through and you're going to see a battleground, essentially, for a host of issues that Democrats have been really hitting the president on that go through the Department of Justice.

HOLMES: So, Dana, you're saying that no matter who the president picks, it's going to be nasty up there on the Hill for this confirmation, no matter who he selects. And I know the name, Michael Chertoff, has been thrown around a lot so far this morning. And that is a -- it looks like a strong possibility.

But no matter who he selects, that this Congress is going do give the president all kinds of heck over this and this is just going to be a nasty process, given the tone up there on the Hill and, also, we've been in a political season, it seems like, for the past year almost, with the presidential election.

BASH: It is very likely that that is going to be the case, T.J., because, look, even if you have Michael Chertoff. He is somebody who has impeccable credentials when it comes to his legal background. He was a federal judge. He, you know, he worked inside the Justice Department. But he also has worked inside the Bush administration. And many Democrats look at him and say, just for example, where we are we're right now in the calendar. Two years ago was Hurricane Katrina. Many Democrats and even some Republicans look at Michael Chertoff and say he was at the heart of what, across-the-board, people say was a problematic federal response to Katrina.

So that is a potential problem with him. And you're right, I mean certainly -- what Democrats and Republicans are going to be looking for, that they simply thought that Alberto Gonzales lacked, was experience in the trenches, as one Republican senator once put it to me, somebody who really understands the Department of Justice because they had worked there and they had been there.

So that is something that would help Michael Chertoff if he were the nominee. But it is -- that is -- one of the things that you saw in the statement from Patrick Leahy and you're going to see in some of the statements from Republicans, they're going to look for somebody who is -- who doesn't have the political baggage, somebody who is going to be sort of the anti-Alberto Gonzales.

We'll see if the president can pull it off.

But no matter what, you're going to see a huge political fight because Democrats are going use this as a stage to attack the Bush administration's policies.

HOLMES: All right.

Well, get out your whistle and ready to referee.

Dana Bash for us up on Capitol Hill.

Dana, thank you so much.

KEILAR: And it's been a tumultuous two-and-a-half years as attorney general for Alberto Gonzales. He was the nation's first Hispanic attorney general. He was nominated by President Bush in late 2004, then confirmed by the Senate in February of 2005.

Before that, Gonzales served on the Texas Supreme Court. He left Texas in 2001 to join President Bush as White House counsel.

Gonzales served as the legal counsel for George W. Bush when he was governor of Texas. He also served as Texas secretary of state.

HOLMES: And, again, folks, a reminder here that we are keeping an eye out for a couple of news conferences today. We do expect to hear from the attorney general himself, Alberto Gonzales, coming up at around the 10:30 Eastern time frame. We don't expect him to take any questions, but we do expect a statement from Alberto Gonzales, coming up at 10:30. We will bring that to you live when that happens.

Also, expecting to hear from the president -- President Bush at around 11:50 Eastern time. We're not expecting him to take questions, as well, but we don't know -- here the question is whether or not he will present someone or bring forth a name of who might replace Alberto Gonzales.

But those are two press conferences, news conferences that we are keeping an eye on and we will bring those to you as they happen.

KEILAR: Coming up, it's a mystery in Austin, Texas. Who killed four people in a home?

HOLMES: Also, a brief sigh of relief in Olympia, Greece. Firefighters get much needed help stopping wildfires at the doorstep of ancient treasures.

KEILAR: And big dreams coming true for some Little Leaguers from Georgia. A dramatic end to the Little League World Series. That's ahead here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

JACQUI JERAS, ATS METEOROLOGIST: And I'm meteorologist Jacqui Jeras in the CNN severe storm center.

More flooding to talk about, this time not in the Midwest, though, but Las Vegas?

Yes.

Details are coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Alberto Gonzales resigns. The embattled attorney general holding a news conference at 10:30 Eastern, where we expect his official announcement that he is stepping down.

Gonzales, of course, came under fire for his role in the firing of some U.S. attorneys, a controversy that led to both Democrats and Republicans calling for him to step down.

We're going to hear, also, today from the president on the Gonzales resignation. We're expecting to hear from him around 11:50 Eastern time. He will be speaking from his ranch in Crawford, Texas. And we will bring that to live as it happens.

KEILAR: Michael Vick, a NFL superstar, likely inching closer to prison. The next step one hour from now, where Vick is expected to plead guilty to a conspiracy charge in his dogfighting case.

His admission that he helped fund the gambling operation and he helped kill at least six pit bulls. A federal judge will decide whether to accept the plea agreement or not. It calls for a prison sentence of 12 to 18 months. The judge is known for handing down tough sentences, though, and he could send Vick away for as long as five years.

Now, also in question, Vick's future in football. The NFL has suspended him indefinitely and he could be banned for life.

HOLMES: An unsettling mystery unfolding near Austin, Texas. Police find the bodies of four people inside a house just north of the city. Officers say all were killed and so far they aren't saying anything else about the victims or how they died. Police now looking for a white Saturn station wagon that is missing from the home.

KEILAR: Greece is under siege, a national emergency. A huge forest fire -- pardon me -- fires are sweeping across the southern part of that country. Whole villages encircled by flames. The death toll is now in the dozens and it's climbing.

In some areas, the situation is so dangerous, panicked residents have fled to river banks. Authorities believe some of the fires were sparked by arsonists. They have arrested at least two people.

Now, among the areas in the danger zone, one of Greece's most treasured sites, the birthplace of the Olympic Games. Just hours ago, firefighters were able to save the area's temples and stadiums as the flames were closing in. While the 2,800-year-old ruins were spared, the forest around the site was scorched.

HOLMES: Oh, we turn to weather now here.

Jacqui Jeras in The Weather Center.

It was a rough weekend, a rough couple of days in the last week for a lot of folks. And it's not quite done. Some storms still moving around and causing some problems.

JERAS: Yes. We've got a new system to talk about.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KEILAR: Well, critics called for his resignation and this morning they have it. Alberto Gonzales steps down as attorney general. We'll be hearing from the president.

HOLMES: Also, huge Powerball payouts, down to the last Penny.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: $145,985,099.64. Don't forget the 64 cents.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: I absolutely would not forget the 64 cents. That is a lump sum jackpot. We are waiting for the winner to come forward.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has resigned. We are expecting to hear from him coming up in the next hour, at about 10:30 Eastern.

We are also expecting to hear from President Bush, a statement on the resignation of Gonzales. We are expecting just a statement, no questions. And we understand that President Bush is not expected to name a replacement.

Again, that is at 11:50 Eastern time.

HOLMES: Also, the other major story we are keeping an eye on today, Michael Vick expected in a Richmond courthouse, a federal court. This is a live picture now we're looking at outside of that courthouse. Michael Vick expected to enter his guilty plea formally before a judge, expected to be a short process here, but to formally enter his plea agreement on that -- dogfighting charges.

Not expecting to hear what kind of a jail sentence -- prison term -- he might get today. That would come later, but will formally enter his guilty plea today in court. And we may hear from Michael Vick at some point today. He might make a statement outside the courthouse.

But you can see the activity has picked up just a bit outside the courthouse. He is expected in court around 10:30,

So we're keeping an eye on that story today, as well.

KEILAR: We are waiting on a winner. The $314 million Powerball jackpot still unclaimed this morning. A ticket with all six winning numbers was sold in Indiana.

Let's go live now to CNN's Jim Acosta.

He is there in Richmond -- hi, Jim.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Brianna.

I can narrow it down for you this morning. It wasn't me and it wasn't any member of our crew, because we're all here this morning. So if that narrows it down at all, I hope that helps out.

But, yes, we are in Richmond, Indiana, about an hour east of Indianapolis. And the mystery continues. That's right. Nobody has stepped forward just yet to claim that big $314 million Powerball jackpot.

Somebody struck gold with a ticket matching all six numbers Saturday night.

Now, lottery officials say, theoretically speaking, this could be one individual with all six numbers or it could be a group of people who all went in on buying Powerball tickets and then one of those tickets hand out as the winner.

The Speedway gas station behind me is the gas station that sold the ticket. And you can see the sign behind me. That tells the whole story: "Powerball, we sold it, $314 million."

And this has been the talk of the town. People have been going by, trying to figure out exactly who in this town it was.

Now, honestly, we have to say, we're just a mile from the Interstate, so it could have been somebody passing through. But lottery officials in Indiana say no matter who you are, no matter where you are, because of this big chunk of money we're talking about, you'd better get prepared.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATHRYN DENSBORN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, HOOSIER LOTTERY: The cash prize -- get this down -- $145,985,099.64.

Don't forget the 64 cents.

Sign the ticket. Sign the ticket. Keep track of the ticket. I would encourage them to talk to an accountant if they don't have one. They need to find an accountant that they trust and they might either want to find a financial adviser or an attorney to give them advice about how to protect this money and plan for it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And those are good plans to make. And that is exactly what lottery officials expect somebody is doing right now, whoever that winner or winners might be. They expect that those people are getting the ducks in a row as we speak, and that is why nobody has come forward just yet.

Because this Speedway gas station sold this winning ticket, they're going to get $100,000 as a reward from lottery officials just for selling the winning ticket. And we have to point out, this is not the largest Powerball jackpot of all time. That was actually just last year. Eight meat packing employees from a Nebraska plant shared a $365 million jackpot.

So it does pay to play, I suppose you can say, if you do play this Powerball jackpot. The chances are astronomical, but you could turn out to be the winner -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Well, I can narrow it down for you, Jim. It wasn't me. I am not the winner, so there we go.

T.J. says he wasn't the winner and he said he wouldn't even send a good-bye e-mail and that he would just grow a beard and that would be it.

ACOSTA: Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

KEILAR: But...

ACOSTA: I've got two words for you -- umbrella drink.

KEILAR: Right. Right.

ACOSTA: I'd be on a beach somewhere warm.

KEILAR: Exactly.

All right, thanks so much.

ACOSTA: Yes.

KEILAR: Jim Acosta live for us there in Richmond, Indiana.

HOLMES: I might say bye there are a couple of people, Brianna. Well, of course, a major, major story breaking out of Washington today -- Alberto Gonzales. Yes, the critics have been calling for his resignation for some time now and well, they got it now.

Alberto Gonzales stepping down as attorney general. We will hear from him. Also, we'll be hearing from the president.

KEILAR: And Michael Vick heading to court this morning.

Will a plea deal mean a lighter sentence for the fallen football star?

We'll talk with two attorneys about what may happen.

HOLMES: And first, the floods, then the wind. Ohio gets slammed again by severe weather.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: For the Buckeye State, a one-two punch, while parts of Ohio start to clean up from severe flooding, other parts of the state are surveying the damage from severe thunderstorms. Warnings were in place as the storms moved through Central and Southeastern Ohio. Winds blew down trees, they blew down power lines. So far, no word of any major damage or serious injuries.

HOLMES: And a Little Leaguer swinging a big stick. This extra inning blast by Dalton Carriker won the Little League World Series for the team from Warner Robins, Georgia. Yes, it was a walk-off. To win the series, they beat Japan 3-2. It was the second straight World Series win for a team from Georgia and it's the third straight time that an American team has won.

KEILAR: All right.

And good morning.

I'm Brianna Keilar in for Heidi Collins.

HOLMES: And I'm T.J. Holmes sitting in today for Tony Harris.

We've got a busy, busy day in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Live this hour, two huge stories.

First, the fight over the embattled attorney general. Alberto Gonzales is resigning. Hear from him at the bottom of the hour, here in THE NEWSROOM.

KEILAR: And from the Department of Justice to facing justice -- in minutes Michael Vick enters a plea in federal court to dogfighting conspiracy charges. The star quarterback also expected to make a statement.

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