A federal grand jury probe of the firings of nine U.S. attorneys during the Bush administration is focusing on the role played by recently retired Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) and former senior Bush White House aides in the 2006 dismissal of David Iglesias as U.S. attorney for New Mexico, according to legal sources familiar with the inquiry..
Previously, Domenici was severely criticized by two internal Justice Department watchdog offices, the Department’s Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), for refusing to cooperate with their earlier probe of the firings of the U.S. attorneys. In part because of their frustration that Domenici and his chief of staff, Steve Bell, as well as several senior White House officials, would not cooperate with them, the Inspector General and OPR sought that a criminal prosecutor take over their probe…
The grand jury investigation is currently being led by Nora Dannehy, the acting U.S. attorney in Connecticut. Then-Attorney General Michael Mukasey named Dannehy to "determine whether any prosecutable offense was committed" in the course of the firings following September’s report by the Inspector General and OPR on the firings. The report found that Iglesias was fired largely as a result of complaints made to the White House by Domenici and Bell. But the report also concluded that the probe was severely "hindered" by the refusal by Domenici, Bell, and several senior Bush administration officials to cooperate with the investigation.
In its report, Justice’s Inspector General and OPR provided some insight as to what potential crimes might have been omitted, and why they wanted a criminal prosecutor to take over their probe: "It is possible that those seeking Iglesias’ removal did so simply because they believed he was not competently prosecuting worthwhile cases," the investigators wrote:
"However, if they attempted to pressure Iglesias to accelerate his charging decision in the courthouse case or to initiate voting fraud investigations to affect the outcome of the upcoming election, their conduct may have been criminal. The obstruction of justice makes it a crime for any person who `corruptly… influences, obstructs, or impedes, or endeavors to influence, obstruct, or impede, the due administration of justice…’…The Justice Department’s Inspector General and OPR said in the report already made public that Domenici and other New Mexico Republicans were upset that Iglesias and other influential New Mexico political officeholders and political operatives were upset with Iglesias for not aggressively enough pursuing potential political corruption and voting fraud cases against New Mexico Democrats. At the time that Domenici contacted Iglesias about the potential criminal prosecution, Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM) was in the midst of a razor-thin reelection bid, and Domenici and Wilson both believed criminal indictments brought against Democrats on the eve of the election would bolster Wilson’s reelection bid.
In their report about the firings, Justice’s Inspector General and OPR disclosed that Domenici called then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on at least three occasions in 2005 and 2006 to complain about Iglesias, as well as calling then-Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty to make a fourth such complaint. During the same period of time, Domenici’s staffer Bell repeatedly emailed and spoke to Rove and other White House officials complaining about Iglesias or seeking his removal. The White House in turn relayed those complaints and similar ones by prominent Republican politicians and political operatives from New Mexico to political appointees in the Justice Department.
Several of the complaints by Domenici and other New Mexico Republicans to the Justice Department and White House centered on their claim that Iglesias was not aggressively enough pursuing alleged voter fraud cases by Democrats or activist groups associated with the Democratic party…
Iglesias has said that he aggressively pursued allegations of voter fraud–even setting up a task force to do examine the issue in part because of being pressed to do so by New Mexico Republicans– only for career prosecutors and FBI agents to conclude that there no widespread voter fraud existed and there were no cases that could be prosecuted.
On Oct. 26, 2006, only days before the crucial 2006 congressional midterm elections, Justice Department investigators wrote, Domenici telephoned Iglesias to inquire about an ongoing corruption case that Iglesias’ office was pursuing. Iglesias’ office was investigating allegations that bribes were paid by contractors in connection with the construction of a new country courthouse. Democratic officials were primarily under investigation, and New Mexico Republicans, were hopeful that indictments might be brought before Election Day. Domenici was in large part interested in learning whether charges were going to be brought before Election Day, in part, because Rep. Heather Wilson (R-N.M.) was locked in a razor-thin re-election fight for her congressional seat. Domenici, according to Iglesias’ account to investigators, inquired whether federal criminal charges were going to be brought in time for Election Day.
After Iglesias told Domenici he did not think so, Domenici replied, according to Iglesias, "Well, I’m very sorry to hear that." Iglesias said that Domenici then abruptly hung up the telephone. Iglesias told investigators he "felt ill after the call" and that he had "believed Domenici had asked for confidential information about an ongoing investigation, and that Iglesias would pay in some way for refusing to cooperate with him"…
Less than two weeks after his telephone conversation with Domenici, on Dec. 7, 2006, Iglesias was fired as U.S. Attorney. That very day of the firing, Deputy White House counsel William K. Kelley emailed then-Attorney General Gonzales’ chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, to report: "Domenici’s COS [chief of staff] is happy as a clam"…
Wilson herself also called Iglesias shortly before Election Day, on Oct. 16, 2006, to complain that Iglesias was delaying prosecuting Democrats in regards to the courthouse case and that such delays might be harming her reelection campaign. Shortly after Wilson narrowly won re-election, on Nov. 15, 2006, she told Justice Department investigators, she encountered Karl Rove at a meeting of congressional Republicans and told him "for what it’s worth, the U.S. Attorney in New Mexico is a waste of breath." Rove responded, she said, by telling her: "The decision has already been made. He is gone."
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Senator Pete Domenici and his Chief of Staff repeatedly called Karl Rove and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales trying to get U.S. Attorney David Iglesias fired.
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The reasons they wanted him fired seemed political. Earlier, it was about the "voter fraud" cases, designed to interfere with voter registration organizations. Later, the case was about bribes by contractors for a courthouse bid, allegedly paid to Democratic Officials. The latter had to do with a close race for a House seat.
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Both Senator Domenici and the Representative called David Iglesias directly about bringing the contractor suit up to help in the House race.
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Shortly after Domenici’s call, David Iglesias is fired. Karl Rove told the Representative involved that Iglesias was "out of here" before he was fired. We know that Iglesias was added to the list of U.S. Attorneys to be fired late, after the November elections.
… At one point, the six-term Republican senator tried to get Iglesias moved to a Justice Department post in Washington, D.C., but Iglesias told Justice officials he wasn’t interested.In the spring of 2006, Domenici told Gonzales he wanted Iglesias out.Gonzales refused. He told Domenici he would fire Iglesias only on orders from the president.At some point after the election last Nov. 6, Domenici called Bush’s senior political adviser, Karl Rove, and told him he wanted Iglesias out and asked Rove to take his request directly to the president.Domenici and Bush subsequently had a telephone conversation about the issue.The conversation between Bush and Domenici occurred sometime after the election but before the firings of Iglesias and six other U.S. attorneys were announced on Dec. 7.Iglesias’ name first showed up on a Nov. 15 list of federal prosecutors who would be asked to resign. It was not on a similar list prepared in October.The Journal confirmed the sequence of events through a variety of sources familiar with the firing of Iglesias, including sources close to Domenici. The senator’s office declined comment.
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After the election, Domenici called Karl Rove and asked them to fire Iglesias [presumably because he wouldn’t file the suit before the election]. Karl Rove talked to the President about it. President Bush and Senator Domenici then had a personal phone conversation about it.
This is not even the front page of the U.S. Attorney firing scandal. It’s about replacing U.S. Attorneys in key States because the current ones were not bringing "voter fraud" cases to trial presumably to intimidate Democratic voters. This one is about adding Iglesias to the list because a Senator was ticked at the Attorney for not filing political cases, so he called the President and had the U.S. Attorney fired.
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