U.S. attorney ‘puzzle pieces’ withheld

Saturday, April 28, 2007 | 7:22 a.m.

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department is withholding 170 documents about the firing of U.S. attorneys, including at least four e-mails involving Sen. John Ensign and Nevada's dismissed attorney, Daniel Bogden, officials said Friday.

Congress is seeking the documents in its investigation into a possible White House plan to get rid of the attorneys for political purposes. A congressional aide said the documents "may be pieces to the puzzle."

A Justice spokesman said the documents are being withheld so as not to unnecessarily chill internal communications.

The four e-mails involving Ensign are from Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' then- top aide, Kyle Sampson, to others in the department regarding Ensign and Bogden. They were sent in the week after Dec. 7, when most of the attorneys were fired.

One e-mail from Sampson to William Mercer, the No. 3 person at Justice, involves a request to discuss Ensign and Bogden. Mercer had fielded calls from Bogden after he was fired. Another e-mail from Sampson to Mercer pertains to Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty's conversation with Ensign. Ensign had sought answers for Bogden's dismissal.

McNulty is the No. 2 official at Justice who wrote days before the firing that he was "skittish" about dismissing Bogden.

McNulty, it was disclosed this week, also had raised questions possibly as far back as Nov. 27 about including Bogden, according to a closed interview with Michael Battle, the former director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys.

McNulty asked why Bogden was included and Battle replied that he had no idea, according to a congressional aide familiar with the transcript.

The apparent confusion is different from Gonzales' recent testimony that he relied on his staff to compile the list, which he and the White House eventually approved.

Ensign is looking into the withheld documents, a spokesman said. He is now the only member of the Nevada congressional delegation not calling for Gonzales' resignation.