Look what the Friday dump dragged in

This may be the final cut for Gonzales. (From the AP)

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales approved plans to fire several U.S. attorneys in a November meeting, according to documents released Friday that contradict earlier claims that he was not closely involved in the dismissals.. The Nov. 27 meeting, in which the attorney general and at least five top Justice Department officials participated, focused on a five-step plan for carrying out the firings of the prosecutors, Justice Department officials said late Friday.

There, Gonzales signed off on the plan, which was crafted by his chief of staff, Kyle Sampson

Notice in this story that both "Justice spokeswoman Tasia Scolinos" and "Justice spokesman Brian Roehrkasse" used almost the exact same words.

Scolinos also said Gonzales was not involved in the process of selecting which prosecutors would be asked to resign.....

Roehrkasse said. "He was not, however, involved at the levels of selecting the particular U.S. attorneys who would be replaced.

This far in, I don't think that explanation is going to fly.

ThinkProgress points out that this meeting took place in the 18 day email gap. (I'm sure there were no emails right after the meeting where Gonzales authorized the plan for the firings, right?)

The NYTimes also backhandedly adds one detail. At the meeting in question were Gonzales, McNulty, Sampson, Battle, and Goodling. Sampson and Battle have "resigned" and Monica Goodling "has taken a temporary leave of absence."

(Also: It's no coincidence that all of this was released the day Kyle Sampson agreed to testify before Congress. Come next Thursday, he would have had to answer under oath, "Did you ever discuss this with the Attorney General?")

Later: (AP) "Six of the eight prosecutors who were ultimately ordered to resign are named in the plan." (But Gonzales didn't read that far?)

TPM points to an email from the dump pretty much showing that the "lack of immigration enforcement" was a dreamed up excuse for the firings.