United States Attorney

President Bush publicly scolded Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales on Wednesday, saying he was "not happy" about the way the firing of several U.S. attorneys was handled by the Justice Department. The rare rebuke of one of Bush's closest advisors added to the intensifying debate over whether Gonzales should step aside just two years into his tenure. Sen. John E. Sununu (R-N.H.) on Wednesday became the first Republican to call for the attorney general to step down.

The day news broke that a federal corruption probe in Southern California was spreading to Republican Rep. Jerry Lewis, the chief of staff to Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales fired off an e-mail to the White House about the federal prosecutor who had begun the investigation. "The real problem we have right now is Carol Lam," D. Kyle Sampson told White House Deputy Counsel William Kelley on May 11.

Still uncertain exactly why he was fired, former U.S. Atty. H.E. "Bud" Cummins III wonders whether it had something to do with the probe he opened into alleged corruption by Republican officials in Missouri amid a Senate race there that was promising to be a nail-biter. Cummins, a federal prosecutor in Arkansas, was removed from his job along with seven other U.S. attorneys last year. In January 2006, he had begun looking into allegations that Missouri Gov.

White House political advisor Karl Rove more than two years ago began seeking input from the Department of Justice into how many U.S. attorneys should be fired in the second Bush administration, according to e-mails released Thursday that show a deeper White House involvement in the dismissal of federal prosecutors last year. The e-mails also show that the Justice Department was willing to defer to Rove on the matter.

Congressional Democrats and the Bush administration hit an impasse Friday in the probe into the firing of eight U.S. attorneys, with White House officials delaying decisions to turn over documents or allow officials to testify and the House Judiciary Committee threatening subpoenas to force them to comply. As speculation mounted that Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales' job was in jeopardy, another Republican suggested it would be best if he stepped down.

As more Republicans called last week on Alberto R. Gonzales to resign, President Bush's aides began to look beyond the attorney general and focus on preventing the controversy over the firing of federal prosecutors from spreading -- and endangering Karl Rove, the president's top political advisor. "This is not going to go away," warned Joseph E. DiGenova, a former U.S. attorney in the Reagan administration. "I'm sure the president is going to let it go as long as he can ...

Senate Democrats signaled Sunday that of the eight federal prosecutors abruptly ousted by the Bush administration, the case in San Diego is emerging as the most troubling because of new allegations that U.S. Atty. Carol C. Lam was fired in an attempt to shut down investigations into Republican politicians in Southern California. Appearing on CBS' "Face the Nation," Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.

As the scandal over the firing of a select group of U.S. attorneys was building two weeks ago, the No. 2 official at the Justice Department tried to persuade one of those being removed that Washington was not out to ruin their reputations. According to new documents released Monday, Deputy Atty. Gen. Paul J. McNulty told Margaret M. Chiara of Grand Rapids, Mich.

Senior Justice Department officials began drafting memos this month listing specific reasons why they had fired eight U.S. attorneys, intending to cite performance problems such as insubordination, leadership failures and other missteps if needed to convince angry congressional Democrats that the terminations were justified.

Inviting a showdown with congressional leaders over the firing of U.S. attorneys, a defiant President Bush on Tuesday refused to make White House political strategist Karl Rove available for public questioning under oath. Bush agreed to let lawmakers interview Rove and former White House Counsel Harriet E. Miers in private, but the concessions failed to placate Democrats, who have accused the White House and Justice Department of dismissing eight federal prosecutors for political reasons.