May 2 - June 28, 2005: White House Political Aide Pushes to Remove US Attorney in New Mexico

Scott Jennings. [Source: Brendan Smialowski / New York Times]Scott Jennings, an aide in Karl Rove’s White House Office of Political Affairs (OPA), sends two emails to Rove’s deputy, veteran Republican political operative Timothy Griffin (see October 26, 2004), about the White House’s desire to fire US Attorney David Iglesias of New Mexico (see October 18, 2001). The emails are part of a larger “chain” sent back and forth between Jennings, Griffin, and other officials. Jennings writes in the first email, sent on May 2: “[W]hat else I can do to move this process forward? Is it too early to formulate a list of extremely capable replacements? There are several I know personally and can recommend.” The email contains a synopsis of claims by Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White and several New Mexico Republicans that Iglesias did not aggressively pursue “hundreds” of voter fraud charges using evidence White and the Republican activists provided (see September 7 - October 6, 2004). The email also states that Iglesias went against the wishes of New Mexico Republicans in creating his “bogus” voter fraud task force (see August 17, 2004, September 7 - October 6, 2004, and September 23 - October 2004), and placed a New Mexico Democrat on the task force who reportedly stated that voter fraud violations were entirely imaginary. The second email, from June 28, reads in part: “I would really like to move forward with getting rid of NM USATTY. I was with CODEL [the New Mexico congressional delegation] this morning, and they are really angry over his lack of action on voter fraud stuff. Iglesias has done nothing. We are getting killed out there.” Griffin responds to the second email, saying: “I hear you. It may not be that easy, though. The president has to want to get rid of him. I will ask counsel’s office to see if it is even in contemplation.” Griffin is referring to the White House Counsel’s Office, headed by Harriet Miers. Leslie Fahrenkopf, a lawyer in the White House Counsel’s Office, tells Griffin: “He is on my radar screen. I raised it with Harriet a few weeks ago (see May 12 - June 9, 2005) and she would like to wait until his term is up in October 2005. If you think it merits another conversation with her, let me know.” Rove will later testify that he knows nothing of Jennings’s communications with Griffin, and will say: “Obviously, Scott had strong feelings about this, having been involved out there. And, from the review of the documents, he was freelancing a little bit here, apparently.… But it’s clear Scott, from reading this, ‘please let me know what else I can do to move this process forward,’ he’s clearly trying to get Iglesias out.” As for Griffin’s response, Rove will say: “I see this as a brushback. I see Tim Griffin telling a subordinate, I understand, not that easy, this is the president, not you, who is in charge, and I will check on this. I see this as a brushback pass.” Griffin is Jennings’s immediate supervisor in OPA. In 2004, Jennings served as the executive director of the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign in New Mexico. Rove will say that Jennings has been in touch with New Mexico Republicans who are unhappy with Iglesias’s purported failure to pursue voter fraud charges (see August 17, 2004, September 7 - October 6, 2004, September 15-19, 2004, September 23 - October 2004, and May 6, 2005 and After). [US House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, 6/15/2009 ; US House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, 7/7/2009 ; US House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, 7/30/2009 ; US House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, 8/11/2009] Miers will deny ever seeing the email until years later, when Congress begins investigating the US Attorney firings (see December 7, 2006). She will refuse to speculate on what Jennings might mean by saying, “We are getting killed out there.” Her questioners will ask if he might be referring to a large number of Democratic voter registrations, and Miers will say he could be talking about massive voter fraud issues, though she will add, “I should say, I’m not suggesting I know whether there was voter fraud or not.” [US House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, 6/15/2009 ]