On March 17, The Gazette of Colorado Springs published a March 16 Associated Press article about the firings of eight U.S. attorneys by the Bush administration, but removed from the lead paragraph a reference to presidential adviser Karl Rove's potential involvement in the scandal.

The edited version of the AP article appeared in The Gazette (accessed through the newspaper's electronic edition) with the headline “White House says 'hazy memories' cloud firing” and began:

The White House dropped its contention Friday that former Counsel Harriet Miers first raised the idea of firing U.S. attorneys. Support eroded further for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

The original version of the AP article (accessed through the Nexis database) reported:

The White House dropped its contention Friday that former Counsel Harriet Miers first raised the idea of firing U.S. attorneys, blaming “hazy memories” as e-mails shed new light on Karl Rove's role. Support eroded further for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

The Gazette's version of the article first mentioned Rove in the third paragraph, which noted the possibility that he and other presidential advisers would testify before Congress.

This is not the first time The Gazette has deleted from wire service articles information that portrayed the Bush administration in an unflattering light. As Colorado Media Matters noted, on December 7, 2006, The Gazette published an article from The (Baltimore) Sun about the December 6 Iraq Study Group report, but it edited out sentences and paragraphs that detailed the report's criticism of the administration and the escalating violence in Iraq. Similarly, the newspaper published two wire service articles on November 28, 2006, that originally characterized the conflict in Iraq as a “civil war,” but The Gazette's versions omitted any mention of civil war -- a characterization with which the Bush administration disagreed.

From the March 16 Associated Press article “White House says 'hazy memories' cloud firings,” published in the March 17 edition of The Gazette of Colorado Springs:

WASHINGTON -- The White House dropped its contention Friday that former Counsel Harriet Miers first raised the idea of firing U.S. attorneys. Support eroded further for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

Presidential press secretary Tony Snow previously had asserted Miers came up with the idea, but he said Friday, “I don't want to try to vouch for origination.” He said, “At this juncture, people have hazy memories.”

The White House also said it needed more time before deciding whether Miers, political strategist Karl Rove and other presidential advisers would testify before Congress and whether the White House would release documents to lawmakers.

“Given the importance of the issues under consideration and the presidential principles involved, we need more time to resolve them,” White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said. She said White House Counsel Fred Fielding suggested to the House Judiciary Committee that he get back to members on Tuesday.

After receiving word of the delay, committee chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., said his panel would vote next week on subpoenas for Rove, Miers and other officials.