Testimony puts Rove at center of Justice firings

[August 12, 2009]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. attorney in Albuquerque, N.M., didn't see enough evidence when asked to prosecute some voter fraud cases in his state.

In Washington, however, then-White House political adviser Karl Rove was getting a different message and acting on it.

Transcripts of closed-door congressional testimony indicate that Rove played a central role in the ouster of David Iglesias, who was one of nine federal prosecutors fired in a series of politically tinged dismissals in 2006.

Harriet Miers, then White House counsel, said in testimony June 15 to House Judiciary Committee investigators that Rove was "very agitated" over Iglesias "and wanted something done about it."

The committee released more than 5,400 pages of White House and Republican National Committee e-mails, along with transcripts of closed-door testimony by Miers and Rove. Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., said the documents reveal that White House political officials were deeply involved in the firing of Iglesias and the other U.S. attorneys.

The documents show that staffers in Rove's office were actively seeking to have Iglesias removed after Republican figures in New Mexico complained that he was not pursuing voter fraud cases they wanted. In 2005, Rove aide Scott Jennings sent an e-mail to another Rove aide saying, "I would really like to move forward with getting rid of NM US ATTY."

Miers testified that Rove relayed to her complaints about Iglesias from political figures in New Mexico but added that she could not recall whether Rove told her specifically that the prosecutor should be fired.

"My best recollection is that he was very agitated about the U.S. attorney in New Mexico," Miers testified. "It was clear to me that he felt like he had a serious problem."

Rove's aides kept him apprised of complaints about Iglesias in other e-mails released Tuesday by the committee.

In a 2006 e-mail, Jennings told Rove that then-Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., wanted Iglesias fired. "You are aware of the issues, I believe," Jennings said in the e-mail to Rove.

Rove issued a statement Tuesday saying the documents "show politics played no role in the Bush administration's removal of U.S. attorneys, that I never sought to influence the conduct of any prosecution, and that I played no role in deciding which U.S. attorneys were retained and which were replaced."

He added, "Rather than relying on partisans selectively quoting testimony or excerpting e-mail messages, I urge anyone interested to review the documents in their entirety."

A subsequent Justice Department inquiry into the firing of Iglesias and other U.S. attorneys concluded that political considerations played a part in as many as four of the dismissals. A political uproar led to a series of damaging revelations about the Bush administration's political meddling with the Justice Department and the eventual resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

Iglesias said in an interview Tuesday he was nauseated by the whole affair.

"It's exactly what I feared. Over two years ago, I said that all roads lead to Rove," Iglesias said. "I've said consistently that he was highly involved, and now the evidence is there."

Iglesias said there wasn't enough evidence to pursue the voter fraud cases that Republicans wanted.

Conyers said he provided a copy of the documents to acting U.S. Attorney Nora Dannehy, who questioned Rove earlier this year to determine his precise role in the firings.

"After all the delay and despite all the obfuscation, lies and spin, 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," Conyers said.

Rove, who was interviewed by the committee on July 7 and again July 30, has told reporters in recent interviews that he acted simply as a conduit for other Republicans' complaints about the job performance of specific U.S. attorneys.

Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, said the documents show no evidence of wrongdoing. "Democrats need to stop wasting taxpayers' time and money on political investigations that are nothing more than the politics of personal destruction," Smith said.

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On the Net:

Interview transcripts and e-mails:
http://tinyurl.com/ohwmak

[Associated Press; By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER]

Associated Press writer Deb Riechmann contributed to this report.

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