White House advisor Karl Rove originally suggested firing all 93 US Attorneys in January 2005, according to an email conversation released by the US Department of Justice Thursday. The e-mails appear to contradict the White House's assertion Tuesday that the idea to comprehensively dismiss US Attorneys first came from former White House counsel Harriet Miers.

In an email from Kyle Sampson at the Justice Department to US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, former-deputy White House Counsel David Leitch and Colin Newman of the White House Counsel's Office, Sampson said that Rove had asked whether the administration planned to fire all US attorneys.

Sampson said that the White House Counsel's Office planned to fire "underperforming" attorneys, further stating that the majority of US Attorneys are "are doing a great job, are loyal Bushies." The emails also reveal that Gonzales discussed the firings several weeks before he was confirmed as attorney general.