Karl Rove
Karl Rove is the Deputy Chief of Staff to President Bush and is considered to be one of the President’s closest friends and a prominent political strategist for the administration. Rove has been involved in the conversation of replacing US attorneys since before Alberto Gonzales was appointed Attorney General.
The exact nature of his role is unclear; the vast majority of information has come internal White House emails, and Rove has claimed that he primarily works from an outside email address. Rove did listen to local Republicans complaints about specific US Attorneys, and at times passed this information directly to the Justice Department. He also seems to have pushed for the appointment of his former aide as a replacement US Attorney. In addition, Rove knew about the firing of attorneys ahead of time, and shared this information with at least one party member before the firings were made public.
Rove has been vocal in defending the actions of the Justice Department, and has made much of the fact that Clinton fired all US Attorneys upon taking office. Citing executive privilege, President Bush has been unwilling to require Rove to testify in front of Congress, despite the Senate’s action to subpoena Rove.
Key Points:
Rove has been involved in discussions about replacing US Attorneys.
Before the confirmation of Attorney General Gonzales, Karl Rove raised questions about future plans with US attorneys, suggesting the possible replacement of all 93 attorneys. He later dismissed the idea as unwise during a February 2005 conversation with White House Counsel Harriet Miers.
In an emails entitled “RE: Question from Rove” and dated January 9, 2005, Kyle Sampson suggested firing 10-15% of US attorneys; he identifies the other 85% as “loyal Bushies.” Sampson admits that this plan could draw political pressure, but writes: “That said, if Karl thinks there would be political will to do so, then so do I.”
Rove falsely claimed that Carol Lam was fired for her failure to file immigration cases.
Rove claimed on March 8, 2007 that US Attorney Carol Lam had been fired because she, "refused to file immigration cases… at the direction of the Attorney General, she was asked to file, and she said I don’t want to make that a priority in my office." On March 15th, Rove claimed that this was a principled decision made by Lam despite direct requests from the Justice Department.
Lam has testified- and Kyle Sampson confirmed- that she was never asked to change her policy of handling immigration cases. Neither has the Justice Department or the White House supported Rove’s statements. Additionally, a large body of evidence has proved that these claims against Lam are false; half of her available resources were committed to immigration investigations.
Rove passed complaints from local Republicans to the Justice Department.
Rove passed complaints from several Republicans regarding particular US attorneys. He spoke regularly with the Republican Party chairman from Washington regarding the close gubernatorial race in 2004. In 2005, he heard complaints through his aide from the New Mexico Republican Chairman Allan Weh regarding US Attorney David Iglesias. In December 0f 2006, Rove informed Weh directly that David Iglesias had been fired. Although this information was not yet public information, Rove had learned about it sometime in November.
Rove’s former aide was appointed as a US Attorney.
On December 20th, 2007, Tim Griffin was named as the US Attorney for the Eastern District of Attorney. Although Griffin was a former aide to Rove, Rove denies playing any role in the decision to appoint Griffin. Nevertheless, Justice Department official Kyle Sampson noted that placing Griffin was, “important to Rove.” In addition, Rove’s deputy in the White House worked aggressively with Sampson to ensure that Griffin would be able to take over as US Attorney.
Research by Will Thomas
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