An e-mail that was originally overlooked by congressional investigators but rediscovered this week provides further insight into Karl Rove’s involvement in replacing former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias.
The e-mail, written to Rove from U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici’s chief of staff, Steve Bell, is dated Jan. 8. Domenici had already recommended four candidates to replace Iglesias, and the e-mail indicated that a fifth name was coming.
“To repeat (name redacted) is our overwhelming choice and will take the job,” the e-mail states. “Thanks for everything.”
The e-mail, released to the public along with thousands of other documents, was also sent to two other White House staffers. I and just about everyone else originally overlooked it because it was sent to an e-mail address Rove uses that isn’t easily identifiable as his, but Newsweek first reported today that the address is Rove’s, and that he was the primary recipient of the e-mail.
The question is, for what was Domenici’s chief of staff thanking Rove?
Here’s a recap of what we know about the involvement of Rove and Domenici in Iglesias’ firing.
Iglesias was added to the list sometime in October of those who would be fired on Dec. 7 of last year. That same month, Iglesias received calls from Domenici and U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson. He says they both tried to pressure him to speed indictments in a public corruption probe in time to sway voters in the November 2006 election, which they both say isn’t true.
Whether Iglesias’ name was added to the firing list before or after the calls isn’t clear.
Domenici had already met several times with officials from the Justice Department to complain about Iglesias’ performance in 2005 and 2006. He and other New Mexico Republicans were upset that no voter-fraud charges had been brought following the 2004 election.
What’s known publicly about Rove’s involvement is that the chair of the Republican Party of New Mexico complained about Iglesias to a Rove staffer in 2005. Then in December 2006, Allen Weh complained personally to Rove while at an event at the White House.
“He’s gone,” Weh claims Rove told him.
It’s not clear if that was before or after Iglesias was fired.
The newest e-mail indicates that Rove was involved in the process of replacing Iglesias, which is not complete. But does it shed any light on Iglesias’ firing?
White House spokesman Tony Fratto told Newsweek the e-mail was “interpreted” by Rove and the others who received it as a thank you for considering Domenici’s recommended replacements – not for removing Iglesias.
But Iglesias told Newsweek it proves he was fired for political reasons.
“This absolutely corroborates what I’ve been saying all along – this is a political matter, not a performance matter,” he told Newsweek. “What is he thanking (Rove) for? It’s thanking him for getting Dave out of the picture.”
Domenici spokesman Chris Gallegos declined to comment to Newsweek, saying
Fratto refused to comment on whether Rove intervened to have Iglesias removed. The White House has said previously that Rove did pass along complaints he received about Iglesias.
Kyle Sampson, former chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, is scheduled to testify today before the Senate Judiciary Committee. He may shed light on this.
According to the Associated Press, he’ll say the prosecutors were fired for not implementing the president’s priorities, not to interfere in public corruption probes.
That has become the new defense of the firings in the Bush Administration’s shifting set of explanations. Sampson is expected to try to tie differing explanations together by saying there’s no difference between the president’s goals and policy, so firing the attorneys for failing to implement those goals is both political and performance-based.
Radio ad attacks Iglesias
A new radio advertisement airing in the
“He still can’t figure out why he was fired,” the ad states. “Come on, David. Isn’t it obvious?”
The conservative group is based in
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