News Desk

In an E-mail released Monday from Kyle Sampson to senior Justice Department officials dated Feb. 1, 2007, the then chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales expressed worry about the possible questions a member of Congress might pose to recently fired U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins of Arkansas. Sampson appeared to be concerned that Tim Griffin, who was named to replace Cummins as federal prosecutor, may have mentioned to Cummins that, under new provisions of the Patriot Act, he might avoid Senate confirmation.

In the E-mail to colleagues, Sampson wondered whether a senator might ask Cummins the following question:

"Did Griffin ever talk about being AG appointed and avoiding Senate confirmation?"

The hypothetical question suggests that Griffin had been told -- when and by whom is unclear -- that there was consideration of naming him not subject to Senate confirmation.

About six weeks before Sampson's E-mail, Gonzales had assured Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor of Arkansas that the Justice Department would seek confirmation of Griffin via the Senate. (Subsequently, Griffin announced he would not have his name submitted and would instead serve as interim U.S. attorney until a successor is confirmed.) Last week, after the publication of a first batch of Sampson E-mails from last summer and fall in which he suggested the government might stall the Senate nomination process, Gonzales said he had been unfamiliar with Sampson's E-mail correspondence.

While it remains uncertain how seriously Gonzales pondered using the Patriot Act provision and bypassing the Senate, it's clear that Gonzales's chief of staff had considered proceeding that way and that he had reason to believe that the possibility had been discussed with the nominee himself.

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From Whispers Editor Paul Bedard:

Now is about the time that Alberto Gonzales might be wishing he'd spent a little more time at the Capitol. Senate Republican support for the embattled attorney general is sinking, and officials close to Senate leadership today said they expect the Bush ally to be out of a job by early April after the White House stages a short fight to keep him.

"It's a macho issue, a manhood issue," said one top GOP congressional aide. Another official gave Gonzales a shorter lead, guessing "in two weeks, maybe three on the outside."

Senate aides note that the relationship between Congress and the Justice Department was already strained over the surprise raid on Democratic Rep. William Jefferson's office last year during a corruption probe, an offense that has not gone overlooked as more on the Hill start calling for Gonzales's head.

Meanwhile, two Republican congressional aides today said that the White House and Justice Department were supposed to release the 3,000 pages of documents related to the prosecutor firing controversy on Friday, but a "technical glitch" caused a delay until Monday. The administration had hoped to make the document drop late Friday, allowing the story to burn out during the weekend's news abyss.

"It's just another sign of incompetence," said a key aide.

"The Clinton White House is the model and it's what we urged and they promised," said another GOP official close to the White House. "Instead they claim a technical glitch stopped that and now what we've got is the week starting on a bad note and Democrats feasting on these documents," said the official.

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