White House Enveloped in Deepening Federal Prosecutors' Probe As Gonzales Fights for His Job

The White House on Friday backed off its earlier contention that then-White House Counsel Harriet Miers first raised the idea of firing U.S. attorneys an act that led to a firestorm of criticism of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

"It has been described as her idea but … I don't want to try to vouch for origination," said White House press secretary Tony Snow, who previously had asserted Miers was the person who came up with the idea. "At this juncture, people have hazy memories."

Snow's comments came as e-mails surfaced Thursday night pulling the White House further into the intensifying probe over the firings of eight federal prosecutors. The e-mails raised new questions about top political adviser Karl Rove's role in the dismissals, and came amid eroding GOP support for Gonzales that put his job at risk.

Snow said it was not immediately clear who first floated the more dramatic idea of firing all 93 U.S. attorneys shortly after President Bush was re-elected to a second term.

"This is as far as we can go: we know that Karl recollects Harriet having raised it and his recollection is that he dismissed it as not a good idea," Snow told reporters. "That's what we know. We don't know motivations. … I don't think it's safe to go any further than that."

Asked if Bush himself might have suggested the firings, Snow said, "Anything's possible … but I don't think so." He said Bush "certainly has no recollection of any such thing. I can't speak for the attorney general.

"I want you to be clear here: don't be dropping it at the president's door," Snow said.

Bush's top legal aides were to tell congressional Democrats on Friday whether and under what conditions they would allow high-level White House officials, including Rove, to testify under oath in the inquiry into the firings.

Subpoenas could come as early as next week.

"The story keeps changing, which neither does them or the public any good," Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Friday. "They ought to gather all the facts and tell the public the truth."

Another Republican on Friday suggested it might be time for Gonzales to go.

"It is ultimately the president's decision, but perhaps it would benefit this administration if the attorney general was replaced with someone with a more professional focus rather than personal loyalty," said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., complaining of "a pattern of arrogance in this administration."

The e-mails, including a set issued Thursday night by the Justice Department, appear to contradict the administration's assertion that Bush's staff had only limited involvement in the firings, which Democrats have called a politically motivated purge.

The latest e-mails between White House and Justice Department officials show that Rove inquired in early January 2005 about firing U.S. attorneys.

The one-page document also indicates Gonzales was considering dismissing up to 20 percent of U.S. attorneys in the weeks before he took over the Justice Department.

In the e-mails, Gonzales' top aide, Kyle Sampson, says that an across-the-board housecleaning "would certainly send ripples through the U.S. attorney community if we told folks they got one term only." But it concludes that "if Karl thinks there would be political will to do it, then so do I."

Sampson resigned this week amid the uproar.

On Thursday, Rove said the controversy was being fueled by "superheated political rhetoric," adding that there was no similar uproar when President Clinton dismissed all 93 U.S. attorneys at the beginning of his first term.

"We're at a point where people want to play politics with it. That's fine," Rove said.

The Senate Judiciary Committee will vote Thursday on authorizing subpoenas for Rove, Miers and her deputy, William K. Kelley. The panel already has approved the use of subpoenas, if necessary, for Justice Department officials.

Late Thursday, the committee invited two more administration officials to testify J. Scott Jennings, a White House aide who works in Rove's office, and William E. Moschella, principal associate deputy attorney general.

E-mails between the White House and the Justice Department suggested that Jennings was involved in setting up a meeting on a possible replacement for soon-to-be-fired New Mexico U.S. attorney David Iglesias. Another e-mail suggested Jennings may have been involved in responding to "a senator problem" with the proposed replacement of Arkansas U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins.

Committee leaders want Moschella to testify about whether a change in the Patriot Act in 2006 was aimed at allowing the attorney general to appoint new U.S. Attorneys without Senate confirmation and whether this change was authored with the consent of the White House.

In an interview with The Associated Press this week, Moschella said the change was aimed not at bypassing the Senate but at ending judicial meddling in filling vacant prosecutors' jobs. Under the former law, federal judges could appoint interim U.S. attorneys in jobs that were vacant for more than 120 days.

"There's a conspiracy theory about this and it's nothing other than that," Moschella said.

One Republican, Sen. John Sununu of New Hampshire, has publicly urged Bush to fire Gonzales. Another GOP lawmaker, this one in the House and not ready to speak out publicly, said Thursday he planned to call next week for Gonzales to step down. And Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., said Thursday that Gonzales had lost the confidence of Congress.

Bush has defended the firings but criticized how they were explained to Congress

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