White House Countermeasures

But the Issa exchange, as well as a letter from Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein expressing concern over Lam's immigration record both came after-- not before -- Gonzales chief of staff Kyle Sampson warned the White House of a "real problem" with Lam. That warning came one day after Lam notified the Justice Department of search warrants in a Republican bribery scandal.

Richard A. Serrano and Richard B. Schmitt write in the Los Angeles Times: "The documents show that Justice Department officials have been scrambling over the last two months to control the amount of damaging fallout and negative publicity from the widening scandal, even lamenting at one point that 'we just want the stories to die.'"

The Angry AG

David Johnston and John M. Broder write in the New York Times: "Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales was 'extremely upset' that his deputy told Congress last month that a federal prosecutor had been fired for no reason, according to e-mail released Monday by the Justice Department.

"Mr. Gonzales believed that the prosecutor, H. E. Cummins III, the United States attorney for Arkansas, was dismissed for performance reasons, the e-mail suggested. But his deputy, Paul J. McNulty, testified that Mr. Cummins had been replaced to create a vacancy for J. Timothy Griffin, a political ally of the White House political adviser Karl Rove. . . .

"Agency officials said the documents showed the dismissals had been over performance, not politics, as critics have charged."

And yet another e-mail "showed that even top officials were not certain of the rationale for some firings. In a December 5 Mr. McNulty admitted that he had not even reviewed the record of [Daniel K. Bogden of Nevada] and appeared to have mixed feelings about removing him. . . .

"'I'll admit have not looked at his district's performance,' Mr. McNulty added."

Afraid of Testimony

Kevin Johnson writes for USA Today about e-mail that "showed that Gonzales' former chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, was discouraging calls for Cummins to testify before the Senate committee as questions about the firings began mushrooming into a full-blown political firestorm.

"'I don't think he should,' Sampson said in a Feb. 1 e-mail to six Justice Department officials, including McNulty.

"At that time, Sampson appeared clearly worried about the department's potential exposure.

"'How would he answer: Did you resign voluntarily? Were you told why you were being asked to resign? Who told you? When did they tell you? What did they say?' the e-mail said."

White House Role

While there is scant new evidence of the all-important White House role in the latest documents, there are nevertheless a few new data points.