E-Mails show Rove aides, Miers particularly concerned about reaction to Cummins firing

E-mails handed over to the Senate Judiciary Committee indicate high-ranking White House officials, including Harriet Miers and assistants to Karl Rove, were deeply involved in the cover-up following the firing of nine U. S. attorneys:

The 46 pages of e-mails show that Miers and others -- including her deputy, William Kelley, and the White House political affairs director at the time, Sara M. Taylor -- were involved in spirited and sometimes angry e-mail exchanges as the secretive firings operation began to unravel in public. Many of the exchanges also included D. Kyle Sampson, who coordinated the firings as Gonzales's chief of staff.

White House officials appeared to be particularly concerned about the political fallout over the firing of prosecutor Bud Cummins of Little Rock, who was replaced by Tim Griffin, a former Rove aide. On Feb. 16, for example, Taylor sharply criticized the testimony of Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty, who had told the Senate Judiciary Committee that Cummins was removed to make way for Griffin. The subject line of the e-mails read: "McNulty Strikes Again."

"Why would McNulty say this?" Taylor wrote to Sampson. "This has been so poorly handled on the part [of] DOJ."

Taylor added in a follow-up: "Tim was put in a horrible position; hung to dry w/ no heads up. You forced him to do what he did; this is not good for his long-term career. Bud runs a campaign and McNulty refuses to say Bud is lazy -- which is why we got rid of him in the first place."

Griffin has since left the Little Rock job. McNulty, who is to resign later this summer, is scheduled to testify next week before the House Judiciary Committee. Cummins could not be reached to comment last night.

Cummins was in the middle of an investigation into Governor Matt Blunt's awarding of license fee offices when he was asked to resign.