The mysterious 12 hours

Gee, now it looks like Alberto Gonzales is involved in Rovegate as well. NYT columnist Frank Rich broke the story on Friday that the AG was called on to preserve all relevant materials, then spent 12 hours doing nothing about it (except give the White House chief of staff Andy Card a running start).

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, responding to a strong charge in a column by Frank Rich in The New York Times’ today, said there was nothing improper about waiting 12 hours to “preserve all materials” after being informed by the Justice Department in 2003 that it was launching an investigation into the disclosure of Valerie Plame’s status as a CIA agent.

Gonzales told Bob Schieffer on the CBS show “Face the Nation” that he had been given permission by the Justice Department to hold off overnight if he saw fit, which he did. But he did tell one man that night: Chief of Staff Andrew Card.

The White House did not immediately respond to questions Sunday about whether Card passed that information to top Bush aide Karl Rove or anyone else, giving them advance notice to prepare for the investigation, the Associated Press reported after Gonzales' revelation.

Just curious: how many people have to be involved before someone has to take responsibility?