Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), newly released DOJ emails reveal, White House's newly favorite cat's paw:

According to the e-mails, the White House sought to recruit Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) to help defend against charges that Griffin was unqualified to become U.S. attorney in Arkansas.

"WH political reached out to Sen. Sessions and requested that he ask helpful questions to make clear that Tim Griffin is qualified to serve," wrote former Justice Department official Monica M. Goodling, who resigned last week after refusing to appear before Congress. "They requested that someone in our [Office of Legislative Affairs] call the senator's staff and make sure that we take advantage of the offer."

Interesting in light of his questions at the Senate Armed Services committe a few weeks back trying to discredit and downplay the findings of a Pentagon IG report on policy shop intelligence activities. Perhaps he was acting in response to a call from "WH political" then too.

Posted by Laura at April 14, 2007 07:13 AM