WASHINGTON, March 15 (UPI) -- White House e-mails show that Karl Rove, President George W. Bush's top political adviser, discussed firing all 93 U.S. attorneys, ABC News reported Thursday.
The e-mails, released late Thursday by the White House, show that both Rove and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales discussed the possibility of dismissing all U.S. attorneys. The White House has suggested that the idea came from Harriet Miers, who recently resigned as White House counsel, with Bush spokesman Tony Snow saying it was "her idea only."
Sources told ABC that David Leitch, then deputy White House counsel, e-mailed former Gonzales chief of staff Kyle Sampson at the Justice Department, after discussing the issue with Rove. Sampson responded that he had talked to Gonzales, who was still at the White House at the time as Bush's top lawyer.
Eventually, eight U.S. attorneys were dismissed, seven of them on one day in December. While the president has the legal right to fire U.S. attorneys, critics say the administration targeted at least some of the eight for political reasons, and has subsequently given inconsistent explanations for firing the prosecutors.
