:: Coulter advises Gonzales on purge ::

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From Tim Grieve:  U.S. Attorney Purge

Did George W. Bush personally approve the plan for firing seven U.S. attorneys in December? Documents released by the Justice Department Monday night provide circumstantial evidence that he may have..

On Nov. 15, 2006, Kyle Sampson, chief of staff for Alberto Gonzales, forwarded to White House Counsel Harriet Miers and Deputy White House Counsel William Kelley a plan for firing U.S. attorneys over the next two days. "We'll stand by for a green light from you," he wrote.

Miers responded about half an hour later. "Not sure whether this will be determined to require the boss's attention," she wrote. "If it does, he just left last night so would not be able to accomplish that for some time. We will see. Thanks."

In response, Sampson asked: "Who will determine whether this requires the President's attention?"

That's where the e-mail chain seems to end. As Miers noted in her email, the president had left on a week-long trip to Asia on Nov. 14. He was back in Washington for a day or so during the week of Nov. 22 then traveled to Camp David for Thanksgiving before leaving on another foreign trip. He returned to Washington around Nov. 30.

On Dec. 4, 2006, Kelley sent Sampson an e-mail -- with a "cc" to Miers -- saying: "We're a go for the US Atty plan. WH leg, political and communications have signed off and acknowledged that we have to be committed to following through once the pressure comes." The U.S. attorneys were told of their departures three days later.

We know Rove and Miers knew and even participated in the firing of Federal Prosecutors and Moschella made sure his testimony did everything possible to point away from White House involvement:

Moschella did everything he could to leave members of the House Judiciary Committee with the impression that White House involvement in the firing of the U.S. attorneys began only after the Justice Department had a list of attorneys ready for review. That impression was false; former White House Counsel Harriet Miers and Karl Rove started that process more than a year earlier. Now that we know that White House officials met with Moschella before he testified, it's more than fair to ask what they told him about what he should be telling Congress -- and what they knew, if anything, to be the truth of the matter.

I just love it when these guys plans fall apart.  To think Gonzales is going to get nailed over this rather than his disasterous legal opinions ...... well, whatever works I suppose.  It just seems strange, inversely proportionate in importance. 

tag: alberto gonzales, bush, congress, miers, judiciary committee, moschella, legal opinion, coulter, kyle sampson, evidence, time grieve, attorney