White House can't get its lies straight

March 15, 2007

By Dennis Zaki - The BS artists in the White House are working overtime today.

Professional liar and White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, flat out lied Tuesday when he told reporters that White House counsel Harriet Miers had suggested firing all 93 U.S. attorneys, and that it was "her idea only." Snow said Miers' idea was quickly rejected by the Department of Justice.

BUT, new e-mails from top administration officials show that the idea of firing all 93 U.S. attorneys was raised by White House adviser Karl Rove in early January 2005, indicating Rove was way more involved in the scheme than the White House previously acknowledged. Oops!

The latest e-mails, to be released Friday, show that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Rove were both involved in the discussion, and NEITHER rejected it out of hand.

According to the e-mails, Rove raised the issue with then-deputy White House Counsel David Leitch, prompting Leitch to e-mail Kyle Sampson, then a lawyer for the Justice Department.

Sampson responded to Leitch that he had discussed the plot with Gonzales two weeks earlier, and that they were considering several different options.

The Justice Department's initial lie was that most of the eight prosecutors - political appointees who serve at the pleasure of the president - were removed for performance-related reasons, which prompted an outcry from the fired lawyers and allegations of political influence on pending cases.

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