By Michael Kranish, Boston Globe, April 14, 2007

14 Apr 2007 // WASHINGTON -- Internal Justice Department e - mails released yesterday show that the former chief of staff for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales had drafted a list of replacements for seven US attorneys in January 2006 -- an apparent contradiction of the aide's recent testimony under oath that he had no replacements in mind by the end of that year.

Separately , White House officials announced that they are investigating whether more than 5 million e-mails by President Bush's top aides were irretrievably lost when the administration switched computer systems. The administration said it has asked computer specialists to determine whether backup systems have preserved some of the electronic correspondence.

Democrats in Congress want to know whether administration officials deleted the e-mails to cover up information related to the firings of the federal prosecutors. Lawmakers are particularly interested in messages sent by Karl Rove, Bush's top political adviser ; through his lawyer , Rove said yesterday that he thought the computer systems that staffers used automatically backed up all e-mails.

The e-mails released yesterday include one written by Kyle Sampson, Gonzales' s former chief of staff. In January 2006, Sampson e-mailed Harriet Miers, then the White House counsel, with the names of possible replacements for the prosecutors who were eventually dismissed:

"PLEASE TREAT THIS AS CONFIDENTIAL ," the e-mail said. "Margaret M. Chiara . Replacement candidates: Rachel Brand? Harry E. 'Bud' Cummins III. Replacement candidates: Tim Griffin?"

Both Chiara, the former US attorney for Michigan, and Cummins, Arkansas' top federal prosecutor, were dismissed, and Cummins was replaced with Griffin -- one of Rove's White House aides.

Last month, however, Sampson told the Senate Judiciary Committee, "I did not have in mind any replacements for any of the seven who were asked to resign."

Senator Charles Schumer , the New York Democrat who had been a prime mover in the committee's investigation, said yesterday that the e-mails and documents provide "one of the most central and disconcerting contradictions we've seen so far" in the politically charged, high-stakes case.

"We have been told that there were no backups in mind to replace the fired US attorneys and these documents make it clear that there were," Schumer said.

But Sampson's lawyer , Brad Berenson, said that his client's t estimony was "entirely accurate. In December 2006, when the seven US attorneys were asked to step down, no specific candidate had been selected to replace any of them, and Kyle had none in mind."

Four of the seven US attorneys cited by Sampson in his e-mail were eventually fired, and one of the people the e-mail suggests as a potential replacement -- Griffin, Rove's former assistant -- was ultimately hired as Arkansas' federal prosecutor, one of the jobs that was highlighted. Two other people named as possible replacements became US attorneys in other districts.

The Democratic-led Senate Judiciary Committee, which is investigating the matter, released more than 2,000 pages of e-mails and documents the administrat ion sent them, just five days before Gonzales is slated to testify about the firings on Capitol Hill. The documents raise new questions about whether political considerations were behind the personnel moves.

Gonzales has been under fire for weeks as a result of allegations that he fired the prosecutors because they weren't sufficiently loyal to the GOP. Gonzales initially said he had little to do with the firings, but revised his comment when e-mails showed that he attended a meeting at which the firings were discussed.

One document contained a chart of all federal prosecutors and noted whether they were members of the Federalist Society, a conservative legal fraternity. Another document was an unsigned, handwritten summary of problems with a list of prosecutors -- including a notation that Senator Pete Domenici, the New Mexico Republican, didn't like the work of David Iglesias, his state's prosecutor. It is not clear who wrote the note. "Domenici says he doesn't move cases," the Justice Department official wrote. Iglesias has said Domenici wanted him sacked because Iglesias didn't prosecute Democrats over allegations of voter fraud.

Sampson's e-mail is likely to become a focus of questioning when Gonzales testifies Tuesday.

At the March 29 hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Schumer questioned Sampson about when he drew up the list of possible replacements.

"Did you or did you not have in mind specific replacements for the dismissed US attorneys before they were asked to resign on Dec. 7th, 2006?" Schumer asked.

"I personally did not," Sampson answered. "On Dec. 7th, I did not have in mind any replacements for any of the seven who were asked to resign . . . In fact I remember, s enator, as we were finalizing the list, I remember saying: not knowing who will be the replacement, do we still want to go forward with asking these seven to resign?" The e-mail to Miers released yesterday contradicted that.

But the documents could also help Gonzales defend the firings.

One handwritten document made public yesterday, for example, lists performance issues with some of the prosecutors who were ousted, with a reference to Chiara as having an office in "disarray" and subordinates who had no confidence in her.

The possible loss of the 5 million e-mails is in addition to the thousands of possibly deleted messages sent by 50 current and former Bush aides who used non government accounts such as those belonging to the Republican National Committee. Both sets of e-mails could provide crucial evidence in the congressional investigation into the firings .

A public interest group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, first raised the issue of missing e-mails in a report released Thursday. The group said the messages were lost because the Bush administration failed to install a backup computer system when the White House switched to a new e-mail program .

Dana Perino , White House deputy press secretary, said she "wouldn't rule out" that the e-mails are lost, but she stressed that there is no indication the e-mails were deleted on purpose.

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