Aug 11, 2009 -- The Hill: Investigation shows Rove involved in attorney firing
By: Susan Crabtree and Molly K. Hooper

Hundreds of e-mails, transcripts and notes released by a House panel on Tuesday show that former White House political adviser Karl Rove was directly involved in the firing of New Mexico's U.S. attorney.

The House Judiciary Committee released 6,000 pages in documents, which were obtained through an exhaustive, two-year investigation into firings of federal prosecutors during President George W. Bush's administration.

Rove and Bush counsel Harriet Miers denied they ordered the firing of David Iglesias and at least eight other U.S. attorneys for political reasons. That controversy led to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales's resignation.

Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) said the investigation revealed a concerted effort on behalf of Rove and other White House officials to remove Iglesias and other U.S. attorneys for political reasons.

"After all the delay and despite all the obfuscation, lies, and spin," Conyers said in a release, "this basic truth can no longer be denied: Karl Rove and his cohorts at the Bush White House were the driving force behind several of these firings, which were done for improper reasons."

A former Justice Department official said Rove, Miers, former Sen. Pete Domenici (D-N.M.) and ex-Rep. Heather Wilson (N.M.) could face criminal charges for their role in the firings of Iglesias and eight other U.S. attorneys in 2006.

"There's real potential here at a minimum to be investigated for obstruction of justice … they attempted to influence the due administration of justice," said Gerry Hebert, executive director of the Campaign Legal Center and a 21-year veteran of the Justice Department.

A special prosecutor has been investigating the role the lawmakers and former White House aides played in the U.S. attorney oustings that sparked a national political furor, Democratic investigations in Congress and led to the resignation of former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

Hebert also said the new evidence released by the committee shows that Rove, Miers, Domenici and Wilson also may have violated the Hatch Act, which bars federal lawmakers from changing "the official rank or compensation received by a government employee" or promising or threatening to do so for political reasons.

Conyers said he has provided special U.S. Attorney Nora Dannehy a copy of the materials released Tuesday, which he also has posted online. Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey appointed Dannehy to direct the criminal probe into the 2006 firings of the nine U.S. attorneys.

But some Republicans, including Judiciary's ranking Republican, Rep. Lamar Smith (Texas), said the e-mails and interviews show no wrongdoing on the part of the White House.

"Despite all the evidence to the contrary, House Democrats continue to falsely accuse former Bush administration official Karl Rove of wrongdoing in the dismissal of several U.S. attorneys," Smith said in a statement. "But the interviews reveal no evidence of wrongdoing in the firings."

Republicans and Democrats disagree on whether presidents can fire U.S. attorneys for political reasons. Some Republicans believe the prosecutors can be fired for any reasons because they are at-will White House appointees.

An extensive report issued by the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility last year, however, concluded officials had broken civil service laws, run afoul of department policy and engaged in misconduct.

The information released Tuesday includes a string of e-mails initiated by former Rep. Heather Wilson (R-N.M.) that criticized Iglesias for not issuing indictments in investigations into Democrats in Albuquerque that could have helped New Mexico Republicans. Wilson raised her complaints to the White House in the run up to the 2006 elections.

Scott Jennings, a Rove aide, forwarded Wilson's e-mail to Rove and complained that Iglesias had been "shy about doing his job" on Patricia Madrid, Wilson's Democratic opponent in the 2006 race.

Weeks after that e-mail exchange, Iglesias's name was placed on the final firing list.

In addition, Rove pressed Miers to do something about Iglesias just weeks before Iglesias was placed on the removal list. According to Miers's testimony to Congressional investigators, Rove phoned her during a visit to New Mexico in September 2006 and told her Iglesias was "a serious problem and he wanted something done about it."

Other details also demonstrate White House officials' determination to fire Iglesias for political reasons.

In an email dated June 9, 2005, associate White House counsel Leslie Fahrenkopf asked Miers if she should follow-up on an email from early May about Iglesias's confirmation date.

"You'll recall that this is the individual who is ruffling some feathers in NM (New Mexico)," Fahrenkopf wrote in the June email.

Miers replied that she believed "the decision is to let his 4 years run (out) and then appoint someone else."

Miers also obtained a favorable statement about former Rep. Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.), in violation of Justice Department policy.

When rumors of the FBI investigation into Renzi's land deal surfaced in October 2006, one of Rove's subordinates contacted Miers, who called then-Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty seeking a possible statement that would have "vindicated" Renzi. Even though this was contrary to standard DOJ policy, such a statement was issued several days later.

The new information also shows that former Kansas City U.S. Attorney Todd Graves was removed as part of a White House-brokered deal with Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.).

In exchange for the administration firing Graves, Bond agreed to lift his hold on an Arkansas judge nominated to the Eighth Circuit federal appeals court.

A White House e-mail said "Karl is fine" with the proposal.

Rove and Miers agreed to interviews for Conyers's probe after President Barack Obama won election to the White House and only after a protracted legal battle.

During the Bush administration, both refused to be interviewed by Congressional investigators.