Kathryn, that ABC story is particularly infuriating because the email at issue should be among the strongest parts of Gonzales’s defense of himself. It shows him in a light we have seen too little of as this story has unfolded: i.e., as an engaged Attorney General dealing exactly the way an AG should with a U.S. attorney, Carol Lam of San Diego, whose laxity on an important enforcement issue in her district, illegal immigration, was serious enough — as Byron detailed on NRO last month — that both Republicans and a Democrat (Sen. Feinstein) from California had complained.

The email underscores, moreover, that the firing of Lam did not stem from any intention to obstruct pending corruption investigations, which would be the only inappropriate basis for getting rid of an official who serves at the pleasure of the president. It also demonstrates that Gonzales was concerned but measured — firing was apparently contemplated only as a last resort if other efforts to get Lam to improve her performance did not work.

That this email could somehow become a problem for Gonzales rather than a point in his favor is a good indicator of how overblown this “scandal” is and how badly DOJ has botched its explanations to Congress and the public.