An email from former Alberto Gonzales staffer D. Kyle Sampson, sent last January, may blow holes in the White House's claim that most of last year's U.S. attorney firings went through with no specific replacements in mind ... or at least that's what all the papers are saying. The email names five of the attorneys who were later fired and mentions possible replacements. Justice staffers previously acknowledged favoring replacing Arkansas U.S. attorney H.E. "Bud" Cummins III with Karl Rove staffer Timothy Griffin, but claimed the other attorneys were removed without specific replacements lined up. None of the other four attorneys mentioned in the email was replaced by a name on the list. Administration critics claim the email shows the Justice Department planned to replace certain U.S. attorneys with department insiders. Sampson's defenders say that the email is just an initial list of possible candidates, not pre-selected replacements. The documents also contain evidence that staffers kept track of attorneys' GOP bonafides, including tracking memberships in the Federalist Society. Perhaps most interestingly, the later emails give a rare window into how a modern White House spins a scandal, with aides discussing ever evolving rationales for the firings.