Friends in high places

Attorney General Gonzales with the complicity of the Justice Department made sure the White House had time to clean up its files before the Justice Department could clamp down, though there was apparently so much evidence lying around that it was impossible to do a thorough cleaning. The question is—Who gave Gonzales permission to do this and why?

From the AP—

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales said on Sunday that as White House counsel in 2003, he notified the White House chief of staff, Andrew H. Card Jr., that the Justice Department had opened an investigation into the leak of Ms. Wilson's identity, but waited 12 hours to tell anyone else in the Executive Mansion.

The White House did not immediately respond to questions Sunday about whether Mr. Card passed that information to Mr. Rove or anyone else, giving them advance notice to prepare for the investigation.

Mr. Gonzales, who got the first official word inside the White House, said that Justice Department lawyers had notified him of the inquiry about 8 p.m. on Sept. 29, 2003, and that he had received permission from them to wait until the next morning to direct the White House staff to preserve relevant materials.

He said he immediately notified Mr. Card and told Mr. Bush the next morning before notifying the staff.

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