Karl Rove Tells N.Y. Times: I Relayed US Attorney Hiring & Firing Info
A former top White House aide during the administration of President George W. Bush says he relayed information that may have encouraged the hiring and firing of federal prosecutors, including at least one of the nine U.S. attorneys who reportedly may have been dismissed for political reasons in 2006.
However, Karl Rove says he played only a peripheral role in the controversial firing of the nine U.S. attorneys by relaying complaints about the New Mexico federal prosecutor to the U.S. Department of Justice and promoting an applicant for the Arkansas federal prosecutor postition, reports the New York Times based on an interview with Rove. And, asked whether it was the White House that came up with the idea of firing the nine U.S. attorneys, he said he didn’t know where the dismissals originated.
“Although Mr. Rove said he did not involve himself in the details of the dismissals and did not discuss it with Mr. Bush, he expressed a belief that the president had been informed of the decision to let the prosecutors go,” the Times article states.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post is reporting, based on interviews and e-mails it has obtained, that Rove and other high-ranking figures in the Bush administration “played a greater role than previously understood” in the dismissal of the nine top prosecutors in 2006. In addition to contacts between Rove, Bush administration political affairs office aides and White House lawyers concerning the dismissal of the U.S. attorney in Arkansas and in New Mexico, the Post also cites such contacts concerning the dismissal of the U.S. attorney in Missouri.
Rove testified this week in closed session with House Judiciary Committee investigators, apparently concerning the committee’s long-running probe of the dismissal of the nine U.S. attorneys.
The firings were controversial because it appears that the nine U.S. attorneys may have been targeted for refusing to cooperate with Republican party political concerns, raising questions about the integrity of U.S. Department of Justice prosecutions.
Related earlier coverage:
Washington Post (May 2009): “Prosecutor To Interview Rove Today, Sources Say”
