NYT: With Shifting Explanations, White House Adds to Storm
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
Published: March 17, 2007
...the administration’s changing explanations for the dismissals seem to be at the heart of the current clash, which both Republicans and Democrats say could cost Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales his job.
On Friday, with the release of more e-mail messages, there was yet another shift, as Tony Snow, the White House spokesman, backed away from the administration’s assertion that Harriet E. Miers, the former White House counsel, had proposed dismissing all 93 United States attorneys. Dan Bartlett, counselor to Mr. Bush, said earlier this week that Ms. Miers had “floated an idea” to do just that, but by Friday, Mr. Snow said he was no longer certain.
“This is as far as we can go,” Mr. Snow said. “We know that Karl had a recollection of Harriet’s having raised it. And his recollection is that he dismissed it as not a good idea. That’s what we know.”
That was not the first recalibration in light of new facts. On Jan. 18, Mr. Gonzales told the Senate Judiciary Committee that his department based employment decisions on “the performance of individuals.” Then performance evaluations for six of eight dismissed prosecutors came to light, showing they had been rated “well regarded,” “capable” or “very competent.”
On Feb. 6, a top Justice Department official, Paul J. McNulty, testified that politics had not been involved in the dismissals, and said that one prosecutor, H. E. Cummins III, a United States attorney in Arkansas, was asked to leave to create “a fresh start with a new person.” The new person, as it turned out, was J. Timothy Griffin, a Republican operative who once worked as a deputy to Mr. Rove.
Last week, another senior Justice Department official, William E. Moschella, testified that the White House was consulted on the dismissals only “eventually, because these are political appointees.” But a stream of e-mail messages released earlier this week showed that Mr. Rove and Ms. Miers were involved in the plan from the outset....
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/17/washington/17assess.html
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