"This is a very highly charged investigation. People are very interested in this, and we've got a prosecutor, a very well respected prosecutor who's been looking at this issue, this investigation for a long time"
About this Quote
The repetition does the heavy lifting. “Very” appears like a verbal stress ball, signaling urgency while avoiding specifics. “People are very interested in this” invokes the public as a faceless jury, a common Washington tactic that turns accountability into optics. It’s not, “the law requires clarity,” but “the crowd is watching,” which shifts the incentive from truth-telling to reputation management.
Then comes the credential shield: “a prosecutor, a very well respected prosecutor.” Gonzales leans on borrowed authority, asking the audience to trust the process because a reputable person is attached to it. The respectability is meant to pre-empt suspicion of interference, even as the phrasing keeps the matter safely abstract: “this issue, this investigation.” No alleged act, no stakes, no timeline beyond “a long time.”
Context matters: Gonzales, as a top Justice Department figure in the Bush era, often spoke from the fault line between law enforcement and politics. This quote reads like an attempt to protect institutional legitimacy while insulating leadership from the messiness of details. The subtext is clear: stay calm, trust the grown-ups, and don’t ask for the receipts yet.
Quote Details
| Topic | Justice |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Gonzales, Alberto. (2026, January 17). This is a very highly charged investigation. People are very interested in this, and we've got a prosecutor, a very well respected prosecutor who's been looking at this issue, this investigation for a long time. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/this-is-a-very-highly-charged-investigation-43338/
Chicago Style
Gonzales, Alberto. "This is a very highly charged investigation. People are very interested in this, and we've got a prosecutor, a very well respected prosecutor who's been looking at this issue, this investigation for a long time." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/this-is-a-very-highly-charged-investigation-43338/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"This is a very highly charged investigation. People are very interested in this, and we've got a prosecutor, a very well respected prosecutor who's been looking at this issue, this investigation for a long time." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/this-is-a-very-highly-charged-investigation-43338/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.




