Late word from the

Late word from the White House and DOJ in response to the Albuquerque Journal article, from McClatchy …

Meanwhile Sunday, the Albuquerque Journal reported that Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., told Gonzales in the spring of 2006 that he wanted New Mexico U.S. attorney David Iglesias dismissed, and that Gonzales refused. The newspaper said that Domenici later made the same case to White House adviser Karl Rove and spoke to President Bush about it after the November election, but before the attorney firings were announced on Dec. 7. Iglesias was among those fired.

The newspaper cited “sources familiar with the firing of Iglesias, including sources close to Domenici,” but did not name them.

Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said the president did not tell Gonzales to fire Iglesias. He also said that Gonzales did not recall discussing with Domenici whether or not to replace Iglesias.

A White House spokesman, Trey Bohn, pointed to comments made by President Bush and his adviser Dan Bartlett last month when asked about the conversation with Domenici.

Bush said that in speaking to Gonzales about U.S. attorneys, “I never brought up a specific case nor gave him specific instructions.” Bartlett said that “there was no directive given, as far as telling him to fire anybody or anything like that.”

Domenici spokesman Chris Gallegos said Domenici would have no comment.

Late Update: As this close reading TPM Reader notes …

You can drive a Halliburton convoy through that White House denial. The President never brought up “a specific case” — say, U.S. v. Talking Points Media — nor “gave [Gonzales] specific instructions.” No “directive” that Gonzales should “fire anybody or anything like that.”

So a call from the President to the Attorney General in which he says, “Pete Domenici called me this morning, says we gotta do something about that U.S. Attorney in New Mexico, Iglesias. Not doing his jobs, not bringing cases fast enough – can you look into that, see what needs to be done?” That would fit within the White House denial.

Perhaps more importantly, remember this: by law , only the President can fire U.S. Attorneys. That’s the only correct way to interpret the statute. Bush got a complaint about Iglesias. Bush fired Iglesias. So how much did Domenici tell Bush? I think we need to know a lot more details…

Yup.