If this information is correct and cannot be squared with his previous statements on the matter, I would have to say that he does.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales approved plans to fire several U.S. attorneys in a November meeting, according to newly released documents 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. Sampson resigned last week amid a political firestorm surrounding the firings.

The five-step plan involved notifying Republican home-state senators of the impending dismissals, preparing for potential political upheaval, naming replacements and submitting them to the Senate for confirmation.

The documents released Friday indicated that the hour-long morning discussion, held in the attorney general's conference room, was the only time Gonzales met with top aides who decided which prosecutors to fire and how to do it.

Now this comes back to how you parse out the statements made. Gonzales seems not to have been involved in the selection process of those to be fired, but does seem to have given approval to the process used to implement the firings. Can that be reconciled with his earlier statement about his relative lack of involvement? After all, here is what he said a week and a half ago.

On March 13, in explaining the firings, Gonzales told reporters he was aware that some of the dismissals were being discussed but was not involved in them.

“I knew my chief of staff was involved in the process of determining who were the weak performers — where were the districts around the country where we could do better for the people in that district, and that’s what I knew,” Gonzales said last week. “But that is in essence what I knew about the process; was not involved in seeing any memos, was not involved in any discussions about what was going on. That’s basically what I knew as the attorney general.”

Interestingly enough, there do not appear to be any material released that indicates he received memos, took phone calls or participated in other meetings on the firings -- which were well-within the prerogative of the Executive Branch, because US Attorneys serve at the pleasure of the President -- so one can argue that he knew what was going on and was not otherwise involved in the decision-making process. But putting his final stamp of approval on the process can be seized upon by political opponents seeking to make a scandal where no improper activity occurred, and so the Administration needs to tread carefully here. After all, what he said was true, but can be presented as inaccurate.

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