Missouri Sen. Kit Bond says he never sought to replace U.S. Attorney Todd Graves and, in fact, asked the White House to allow him to stay on the job. The Republican senator's comments come after the House Judiciary Committee released Bush administration e-mails earlier this week as part of a probe into the firing of nine prosecutors. A December 2005 e-mail by a White House aide references "Sen. Bond's request regarding a replacement for the U.S. attorney." Bond told The Associated Press on Friday that he made no such request and would have disavowed it had he known that a staff member had done so. Bond says he asked White House political adviser Karl Rove to let Graves stay on, but Rove told him they had their own reasons to replace Graves.
