"Thank You Karl"

What's this? An email thank you note. To who? From who? And sent where? About what?

To: Karl Rove

From: Pete Domenici's Cheif of Staff, Scott Jennings

Sent to: Rove's political email account

Re: “Thanks for everything,” Here's the name of the replacement for David Iglesias.

From Neesweek:

Did Karl Rove have a hand in replacing the fired U.S. attorney in New Mexico? An overlooked e-mail may provide a clue.

March 28, 2007 - New Mexico Republican Sen. Pete Domenici’s chief of staff sent a cryptic thank-you note to Karl Rove just as the senator was recommending replacements for David Iglesias, the fired U.S. attorney in New Mexico, according to internal White House and Justice Department documents.
“Thanks for everything,” Domenici chief of staff Steve Bell wrote Rove and two other White House officials, including Rove’s political deputy, Scott Jennings, in a Jan. 8, 2007 e-mail that forwarded the name of a candidate to replace Iglesias.

Buried in Justice Department documents released two weeks ago, the Bell e-mail was not initially noticed by congressional investigators because it was sent to Rove’s political e-mail account—not his more clearly recognizable White House e-mail address.

It is not clear from the content of the e-mail what Bell was thanking Rove for. But the thank-you note is the first indication that Rove himself may have been involved in replacing Iglesias. It is the dismissal of Iglesias—fired after Domenici complained about his handling of a local corruption investigation—that has raised the most serious questions of political interference in the U.S. attorney controversy.

So when asked what this email was all about...here's what the answer was:

Asked about the e-mail today, and why Bell was thanking Rove, Domenici’s press secretary, Chris Gallegos said: “We’re not going to have anything to say about that e-mail.” He added that Bell “did not want to discuss a private communication.” White House press spokesman Tony Fratto said the e-mail was "interpreted" by the three White House officials who recevied it as a thank you for considering the names of Domenici's candidates for replacing Iglesias—not for their help in removing Iglesias. Did Rove in fact intervene to have Iglesias removed? Fratto replied: "We're not commenting on that" because of general White House policy not to talk about "internal White House communications."

Hmmm! Internal White House communications? Was this not sent to Rove's Political email address? That is not an internal White House communication.

The e-mail continued: “To repeat [name blanked out] is our overwhelming choice and will take the job …” It was then that Bell added, “Thanks for everything.”

What makes this stand out is that Iglesias was not even on the original list to fire until Domenici complained. And who then put him on the list. Kyle Sampson. We'll find out tomorrow when Kyle Sampson goes in front of the Senate hearing.

To be continued!