As Atrios notes, the first email dump which pointed the finger at Harriet Miers and Alberto Gonzales’ office as the source of the US attorney purge scheme, likely originated from Karl Rove. Well, now it appears the outed ones are fighting back with a document dump of their own, and this time the fickle finger of fate is pointed squarely at the Mayberry Machiavelli himself:
(cont.)
March 15, 2007 — New unreleased e-mails from top administration officials show that the idea of firing all 93 U.S. attorneys was raised by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove in early January 2005, indicating Rove was more involved in the plan than the White House previously acknowledged. The e-mails also show how Alberto Gonzales discussed the idea of firing the attorneys en masse while he was still White House counsel — weeks before he was confirmed as attorney general. […]
The e-mail exchange is dated more than a month before the White House acknowledged it was considering firing all the U.S. attorneys. On its face, the plan is not improper, inappropriate or even unusual: The president has the right to fire U.S. attorneys at any time, and presidents have done so when they took office.
What has made the issue a political firestorm is the White House’s insistence that the idea came from Miers and was swiftly rejected. […]
The latest e-mails show that Gonzales and Rove were both involved in the discussion, and neither rejected it out of hand.
According to the e-mails, Rove raised the issue with Leitch, prompting Leitch to e-mail Sampson, who was, at the time, a lawyer in the Justice Department. Sampson moved over to the Justice Department after working with Gonzales at the White House.
My what a tangled web and all that. Should prove interesting once the subpoenas start flying.
At this point, what’s Miers got to lose by testifying? She clearly was involved in the issue. Dubya tried to buy her off by appointing her to the Supreme Court, only to throw her under the bus at the last moment. Now, they just dumped her ignominiously from the White House staff like a used tissue in what appears to be Karl’s most recent in-house political victory. This administration is starting look more like the picture of Dorian Grey with every passing day.
I was gonna hold back but screw it. unless and until the dems wake up an try to stop their bleeding 08 is dead!
just three items: emanuel- to new dems, stay off colbert show. Yup, great example for the voting public.
ford – head of dlc! AND- FOX NEWS REPORTER!!!!!!!!!!!– hows that?
senate vote on withdrawl – 3 (thats three!!) non- goopers that voted AGAINST the proposal for withdrawl.
It does get discouraging. I think the Dems are misreading what the public wants.
No. They’re ignoring what the public wants because they’re too busy reading what their corporate masters want.
Can’t argue with that statement.