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 News from Around the Americas | March 2007 
Rove Discussed Firing US Attorneys Earlier than He Indicated, Emails Show
 David Johnston & Eric Lipton - International Herald Tribune
| | Email records show that Karl Rove asked about firing prosecutors in early 2005, before Alberto R. Gonzales was attorney general. (Stephen Crowley/The New York Times) |
Washington - The White House senior adviser, Karl Rove, inquired about firing U.S. prosecutors in January 2005, prompting a Justice Department aide to respond that Alberto Gonzales, who would be confirmed as attorney general weeks later, favored replacing a group of "underperforming" U.S. attorneys, according to a group of email messages released Thursday night.
The messages, part of a larger collection that the Justice Department is turning over to congressional investigators, indicate that Rove and Gonzales, then the White House counsel, had considered the proposal to replace prosecutors earlier than they have acknowledged. The White House had previously said that Harriet Miers, who succeeded Gonzales as White House counsel, initiated the idea in early 2005 of replacing all 93 U.S. attorneys.
Tony Snow, the White House press secretary, repeated Thursday that Miers first proposed the dismissals, but he acknowledged in an interview that the emails shifted the timeline earlier than the White House had said.
"The email does not directly contradict nor is it inconsistent with Karl's recollection that after the 2004 election, Harriet Miers raised a question of replacing all the U.S. attorneys and he believed it was not a good idea," Snow said. "That's his recollection."
The messages are the latest disclosure in the uproar over the December dismissals of seven U.S. attorneys. Accusations that the removals were politically motivated and that the administration has misled lawmakers about the reasons for them have led to congressional investigations, thrown the White House on the defensive and prompted calls for Gonzales's resignation.
In a message on Jan. 6, 2005, Colin Newman, a White House lawyer, wrote to David Leitch, another lawyer in his office: "Karl Rove stopped by to ask you (roughly quoting) 'how we planned to proceed regarding U.S. Attorneys, whether we were going to allow all to stay, request resignations from all and accept only some of them or selectively replace them, etc.'"
D. Kyle Sampson, who resigned this week as chief of staff to Gonzales, responded by email three days later. Discussing a plan to replace 15 percent to 20 percent of all 93 prosecutors, Sampson noted: "Judge and I discussed briefly a couple of weeks ago," referring to Gonzales, who is known to associates as "the judge" from his tenure on the Texas Supreme Court. Sampson predicted that any dismissals could stir protests.
Tasia Scolinos, a Justice Department spokeswoman, said Thursday that Gonzales did not remember the discussions cited in the email. |
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