An article today in the Albuquerque Journal isn’t the smoking gun in AttorneyGate, but it’s about as close to one as we’re likely find as the investigation goes forward. According to the Journal (a publication with which I have more than a passing familiarity), “Pajama Pete” Domenici went directly to the White House in expressing his desire to have then-U.S. Attorney David Iglesias fired:

In the spring of 2006, Domenici told Gonzales he wanted Iglesias out.

Gonzales refused. He told Domenici he would fire Iglesias only on orders from the president.

At some point after the election last Nov. 6, Domenici called Bush’s senior political adviser, Karl Rove, and told him he wanted Iglesias out and asked Rove to take his request directly to the president.

Domenici and Bush subsequently had a telephone conversation about the issue.

The conversation between Bush and Domenici occurred sometime after the election but before the firings of Iglesias and six other U.S. attorneys were announced on Dec. 7…

The reporter for the Journal apparently verified this claim from several sources (none named), so of course, it’s important to keep the “anonymity” aspect of this claim in mind while considering the story. It is, however, difficult to believe that such a revelation would be made without double, triple, and quadruple sourcing such an explosive detail in the investigation.

Let’s be clear about one thing, though. The article in the Journal, which is a very conservative newspaper, isn’t a “takedown” piece. On the contrary, the investigative piece appears to be an attempt to exonerate (or at least inoculate) Attorney General Gonzales from charges of politicizing the office of the U.S. Attorney in New Mexico - this on the eve of the eve of his upcoming congressional testimony do-over.

The sources who put the scandal at Bush’s doorstep are anonymous. Why would that be? And who might be leaking such information? That might be an interesting question to have answered…