By LAURIE KELLMAN, Associated Press Writer
March 18, 2007
WASHINGTON - The White House dropped its contention Friday
that former Counsel Harriet Miers first raised the idea of
firing U.S. attorneys, blaming "hazy memories" as
e-mails shed new light on Karl Rove's role. Support eroded
further for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
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Presidential press secretary Tony Snow previously had asserted
Miers was the person who came up with the idea, but he said
Friday, "I don't want to try to vouch for origination." He
said, "At this juncture, people have hazy memories."
The White House also said it needed more time before deciding
whether Miers, political strategist Rove and other presidential
advisers would testify before Congress and whether the White
House would release documents to lawmakers.
"Given the importance of the issues under consideration
and the presidential principles involved, we need more time
to resolve them," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino
said. She said White House Counsel Fred Fielding suggested
to the House Judiciary Committee that he get back to members
on Tuesday.
Fielding called a staff member of the House Judiciary Committee
Thursday afternoon, saying he needed to clear the White House's
position with Bush, according to an official who works for
the panel. That official spoke only on condition of anonymity
because the conversation had been private.
After receiving word of the delay, committee chairman John
Conyers (news, bio, voting record), D-Mich., said his panel
would vote next week on subpoenas for Rove, Miers and other
officials.
Snow's comments came hours after the Justice Department released
e-mails Thursday night pulling the White House deeper into
an intensifying investigation into whether eight firings were
a purge of prosecutors deemed unenthusiastic about presidential
goals.
Snow said it was not immediately clear who first floated the
more dramatic idea of firing all 93 U.S. attorneys shortly
after President Bush was re-elected to a second term.
"This is as far as we can go: We know that Karl recollects
Harriet having raised it and his recollection is that he dismissed
it as not a good idea," Snow told reporters. "That's
what we know. We don't know motivations. ... I don't think
it's safe to go any further than that."
Asked if Bush himself might have suggested the firings, Snow
said, "Anything's possible ... but I don't think so." He
said Bush "certainly has no recollection of any such thing.
I can't speak for the attorney general."
"I want you to be clear here: Don't be dropping it at
the president's door," Snow said.
Subpoenas demanding testimony from White House officials could
come next week.
The Justice Department said it will release on Monday documents
requested by the congressional committee.
Conyers said the House Judiciary Committee "must take
steps to ensure that we are not being stonewalled or slow-walked
on this matter." He said, "I will schedule a vote
to issue subpoenas for the documents and officials we need
to talk to."
"We hope that this delay is not a signal they will not
cooperate," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who is leading
the Senate's probe into the matter. "The story keeps changing,
which neither does them or the public any good."
Meanwhile, a Republican House member suggested it might be
time for Gonzales to go.
"It is ultimately the president's decision, but perhaps
it would benefit this administration if the attorney general
was replaced with someone with a more professional focus rather
than personal loyalty," said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (news,
bio, voting record), R-Calif. He complained of "a pattern
of arrogance in this administration."
On the Senate side, Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions
(news, bio, voting record), a Judiciary Committee member, said
Gonzales should go if it is proved he misled Congress.
"I've not joined in a call for his resignation, but when
a top official in a department is inaccurate in their testimony,
we're going to have a look at it," Sessions told National
Public Radio's "All Things Considered" program. "That's
just the way it is. And I hope that he will be able to answer
that convincingly, that there is no ethical or other malintent
in misleading Congress. If he did, I think he will be out of
there."
Republican Sen. John Sununu (news, bio, voting record) of
New Hampshire has already called for Bush to replace Gonzales,
and a Republican member of the House Judiciary Committee, speaking
on condition of anonymity, has said he plans to do the same
next week.
House Democratic Whip James Clyburn (news, bio, voting record)
of South Carolina said the controversies reflected poorly on
administration officials generally.
"They don't know anything about running government. They're
just political hacks," Clyburn said at a news conference
in Columbia, S.C. "Gonzales is just a political hack."
Other GOP lawmakers have joined Democrats in harsh indictments
of Gonzales' effectiveness but have stopped short of saying
he should be fired.
"I do not think the attorney general has served the president
well, but it is up to the president to decide on General Gonzales'
continued tenure," said Sen. Susan Collins (news, bio,
voting record), R-Maine.
The latest e-mails between White House and Justice Department
officials show that Rove inquired in early January 2005 about
firing U.S. attorneys. They also indicate Gonzales was considering
dismissing up to 20 percent of U.S. attorneys in the weeks
before he took over the Justice Department.
In one e-mail, Gonzales' top aide, Kyle Sampson, said an across-the-board
housecleaning "would certainly send ripples through the
U.S. attorney community if we told folks they got one term
only." The e-mail concluded that "if Karl thinks
there would be political will to do it, then so do I."
Sampson resigned this week amid the uproar.
The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a vote for next
Thursday on authorizing subpoenas for Rove, Miers and her deputy,
William K. Kelley. The panel already has approved the use of
subpoenas, if necessary, for Justice Department officials and
J. Scott Jennings, a White House aide who works in Rove's office.
E-mails between the White House and the Justice Department
suggest that Jennings was involved in setting up a meeting
on a possible replacement for soon-to-be-fired New Mexico U.S.
Attorney David Iglesias and in responding to "a senator
problem" with the proposed replacement of Bud Cummins,
then U.S. attorney for Arkansas.
Among the Justice Department officials named in the subpoenas
is Associate Deputy Attorney General William E. Moschella.
Lawmakers want him to testify about whether the White House
consented to changing the Patriot Act last year to let the
attorney general appoint new U.S. attorneys without confirmation.
In an interview with The Associated Press this week, Moschella
said the change was not aimed at bypassing the Senate but ending
meddling by judges in filling vacant prosecutors' jobs. Under
the former law, federal judges could appoint interim U.S. attorneys
in jobs that were vacant for more than 120 days.
"There's a conspiracy theory about this and it's nothing
other than that," Moschella said.
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