| By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS, Associated Press Writer
President Bush's top legal aides were to tell congressional
Democrats on Friday whether and under what conditions they
would allow high-level White House officials, including Rove,
to testify under oath in the inquiry.
Subpoenas could come as early as next week.
E-mails released this week, including a set issued Thursday
night by the Justice Department, appear to contradict the
administration's assertion that Bush's staff had only limited
involvement in the firings of eight U.S. attorneys, which
Democrats have suggested were a politically motivated purge.
Each new piece in the rapidly unfolding saga of how the
prosecutors came to be dismissed has made it more difficult
for the White House to insulate itself from the controversy.
The latest e-mails between White House and Justice Department
officials show that Rove inquired in early January 2005 about
firing U.S. attorneys.
The one-page document, which incorporates an e-mail exchange
in January 2005, also indicates Gonzales was considering
dismissing up to 20 percent of U.S. attorneys in the weeks
before he took over the Justice Department.
In the e-mails, Gonzales' top aide, Kyle Sampson, says that
an across-the-board housecleaning "would certainly send
ripples through the U.S. attorney community if we told folks
they got one term only." But it concludes that "if
Karl thinks there would be political will to do it, then
so do I."
Sampson resigned this week over the prosecutors' firings
and the Justice Department's misleading of Congress about
the process.
The e-mails "show conclusively that Karl Rove was in
the middle of this mess from the beginning," said Sen.
Charles Schumer (news, bio, voting record), D-N.Y. "Every
time new information comes out, it proves that the White
House was not telling the truth."
Earlier Thursday, Rove said the controversy was being fueled
by "superheated political rhetoric," adding that
there was no similar uproar when President Clinton dismissed
all 93 U.S. attorneys at the beginning of his first term.
"We're at a point where people want to play politics
with it. That's fine," Rove told students at Troy University
in Alabama.
The White House said the e-mails don't undercut their account
of Rove's involvement in the matter. Rove has a "vague
recollection" that the idea to fire all 93 U.S. attorneys
at the start of Bush's second term came from then-White House
Counsel Harriet Miers, deputy press secretary Dana Perino
said.
"He thought it was a bad idea and would be unwise," Perino
said.
The Senate Judiciary Committee has subpoenaed Justice Department
officials in the probe. The panel will vote March 22 on subpoenas
for Rove, Miers and her deputy, William K. Kelley.
One Republican, Sen. John Sununu (news, bio, voting record)
of New Hampshire, has publicly urged Bush to fire Gonzales.
Another GOP lawmaker, this one in the House and not ready
to speak out publicly, said Thursday he planned to call next
week for Gonzales to step down. And Sen. Gordon Smith (news,
bio, voting record), R-Ore., said Thursday that Gonzales
had lost the confidence of Congress.
Other Republican lawmakers are trying to quell the uproar
until they hear from Gonzales and his aides.
"Let's give them a chance to respond before we get
tough," said Sen. Arlen Specter (news, bio, voting record)
of Pennsylvania, the senior Judiciary Committee Republican. "I'm
prepared to get tough, but I want to get tough with a basis
for doing so."
It's customary for new presidents to bring in their own
team of prosecutors when they take office. Democrats say
the Bush administration singled out some of its own nominees
because they chafed at the president's priorities and Republican
efforts to influence political corruption investigations.
"Eight U.S. attorneys who did not play ball with the
political agenda of this administration were dropped from
the team," said Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin of
Illinois. "We have a right to ask what that political
agenda was and whether or not it was a reasonable firing
and dismissal."
Bush on Wednesday defended the firings but criticized how
they were explained to Congress. The president said he still
had confidence in the attorney general but implied that his
support was conditioned on Gonzales patching things up with
lawmakers.
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