Senate Dems Indicate Rove in U.S. Attorneys’ Firings

Former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove was directly involved in politicized firing of U.S. Attorneys and played a role in orchestrating the Bush administration’s sometimes “misleading” response to congressional inquiries about the firing, Senate Democrats said Tuesday.

“The accumulated evidence shows that the list for firings was compiled based on input from the highest political ranks in the White House, including Mr. Rove,” said Democrats in a Senate Judiciary Committee report to accompany a citation of contempt for Rove and White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten. “Evidence shows that Mr. Rove and then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales were involved from the beginning in plans to remove U.S. Attorneys.”

Sens. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), the committee’s ranking member, and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa.), who both signed onto the original contempt resolution, attacked the Democrats’ report for being “counterproductive” to sustaining contempt resolutions.

“If a court looks to the Majority