Karl Rove's E-mails Undercut Claim He Had Minor Role in U.S. Attorney Firing

Karl Rove may be out of government, but only now is his participation in some of the Bush administration's most questionable actions becoming clear.

While in the White House, Rove deflected charges he had a major role in the firings of nine U.S. attorneys for strictly political purposes. Newly released documents indicate he was deeply involved in at least one dismissal and possibly others, said Democratic House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.).
Conyers has released e-mails and transcripts that show Rove had extensive exchanges with White House Counsel Harriet Miers over the dismissal of New Mexico U.S. Attorney David Iglesias.

IIglesias was highly regarded, but had run afoul of his state's Republicans, including then-Sen. Pete Domenici, who complained Iglesias was not pursuing corruption cases against Democrats aggressively enough.

Conyers says the e-mails show Rove was "agitated" about the slow pace of partisan prosecutions and had described Iglesias as a "serious problem."

The documents also shed light on the dismissal of the other eight U.S. attorneys, including the replacement of one in Arkansas with Tim Griffin, a Rove protege. Conyers says the transcripts show Rove had a heavy role.

The firings opened a Pandora's box for the Bush administration, unleashing a storm of charges that supposedly sacrosanct areas in the Justice Department were badly polluted by politics.

Rove and the White House had stubbornly resisted release of these documents, claiming executive privilege, but they backed down in the face of a lawsuit by the Judiciary Committee.

Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, responded to release of the documents, telling Politics Daily that "there is nothing whatsoever in the documents that backs up the charge he (Rove) drove the firing process or that he sought to influence the case. The evidence shows he did not."

The stakes are very high. First of all, the committee is considering a public hearing on the matter and plans to subpoena Rove and Miers.

In addition, a federal prosecutor, Nora Dannehy, is continuing an investigation into whether any of those involved should face criminal charges of making false statements or obstruction of justice.

Rove and Miers, along with former Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, are among those who have been questioned by the investigators and have denied deep involvement in the firings. The committee is forwarding this latest batch of documents to the prosecutor.