A Smoking Gun?

The Republican line on the U.S. Attorney purge story is this: Yes, Alberto Gonzales is a moron, but this was a non-scandal because nothing actually illegal/unethical happened here. All efforts by those who originally uncovered this story-- like the incredible gang at Talking Points Memo-- to show how this was a GOP partisan operation tied to elections has been dismissed as 'conspiracy theories'.

The facts are against them there... here's the latest bombshell.

Last week, it was reported that the FBI had launched an investigation into Rep. Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.) and had raided a business connected to him as part of that investigation. It turns out that they'd had their sights set on Renzi for some time, but only got the green light to go after him recently.

New revelations show that federal investigations have been trying to go after Renzi for over a year-- including a sabotaged wiretap request last Fall-- but faced numerous 'obstacles' from the Justice Department until after the midterm elections (in which a personal campaign visit from the President helped Renzi secure reelection).

Moreover, around that time, "Gonzales' then chief of staff sent then White House counsel Harriet Miers an e-mail message in which he suggested that Paul Charlton, the U.S. attorney overseeing the Renzi case, should be added to the list of prosecutors to be ousted."

Mr. Charlton was put on the list and was one of the eight Attorneys fired after the elections.

Just a coincidence, of course, no scandal here at all, no siree. {*cough*}

[PS- Former DoJ aide Monica Goodling gets granted immunity and subpoenad by Congress.

And Digby has a great post on how Gonzales is being used as the fallguy for this.]