Now let's go to the latest news on this scandal. Here's the latest Washington Post story on this scandal:
A political tempest over the mass firing of federal prosecutors escalated yesterday with allegations from the departing U.S. attorney in New Mexico, who said that two members of Congress attempted to pressure him to speed up a probe of Democrats just before the November elections.
David C. Iglesias, who left yesterday after more than five years in office, said he received the calls in October and believes that complaints from the lawmakers may have led the Justice Department to fire him late last year.
Iglesias also responded to allegations from Justice officials that he had performed poorly and was too often absent, citing positive job reviews and data showing increasing numbers of prosecutions. He also noted that he is required to serve 40 days a year in the Navy Reserve.
Iglesias declined to name the lawmakers who called him, but he said in an interview: "I didn't give them what they wanted. That was probably a political problem that caused them to go to the White House or whomever and complain that I wasn't a team player."
Iglesias's allegations were met with strong denials from the Justice Department yesterday but prompted the Democratic-controlled House and Senate judiciary committees to announce that they would issue subpoenas for testimony from Iglesias and other fired prosecutors if necessary. Iglesias said he would not testify unless subpoenaed.
WOW! Two members of Congress requested that Iglesias speed up his own investigation of Democrats, obviously so that the probe could be publicized and the Democrats named in this investigation, and possibly arrested or subpoenaed, just before the November elections. I would love to know who those two members of Congress were, and where did they get their marching orders from for pressuring Iglesias into speeding up this probe? The WaPost has some interesting speculation here:
Spokesmen for Rep. Steve Pearce (R-N.M.) and the state's two Democratic lawmakers, Sen. Jeff Bingaman and Rep. Tom Udall, said the lawmakers and their staffs had no contact with Iglesias about the case. The offices of New Mexico's two other Republican lawmakers, Sen. Pete V. Domenici and Rep. Heather A. Wilson, did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
So Republican Senator Pete Domenici and Republican Rep. Heather A. Wilson did not respond for comments on this story. Why? Did they have any contact with Iglesias? I would love to hear what their statements are, because right now they are both in the spotlight for pressuring Iglesias on this matter.
There is more in this WaPost story:
In briefings about the firings on Capitol Hill, Justice Department officials had said that Iglesias was the target of complaints from members of Congress, according to several sources familiar with the meetings, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss personnel issues. The Justice briefers did not specify the nature of those complaints, the sources said.
Iglesias was the target of complaints by members of Congress. Who were those members of Congress that made the complaints against Iglesias? Were they also Republican members of Congress? Did Domenici and Wilson register complaints against Iglesias, perhaps after Domenici and Wilson may have been the congress-members who were responsible for pressuring Iglesias in pushing his probe--since neither Domenici and Wilson have responded for repeated requests for comment by the WaPost for this story. The Republicans in Congress were certainly being investigated in a number of criminal and corruption investigations regarding Jack Abramoff, Bob Ney, Tom DeLay and the entire K Street money scandal? There is so much more in this WaPost story:
The charges by Iglesias added a new dimension to the ongoing controversy over the fired prosecutors, at least four of whom were presiding over major public-corruption probes. Although other fired prosecutors have publicly defended their records, they have never alleged that political pressure related to an ongoing criminal investigation played a role in their dismissals.
In addition to Iglesias's probe of Democrats, fired prosecutors in Arizona, Nevada and California were conducting corruption probes involving Republicans at the time of their dismissals.
[....]
In an interview Tuesday, Iglesias said the two lawmakers called him about a well-known criminal investigation involving a Democratic legislator. He declined to provide their party affiliation, but his comments indicated the callers were Republicans.
New Mexico media outlets reported last year that the FBI and the U.S. attorney's office in Albuquerque had opened a probe into allegations involving former Democratic state senator Manny Aragon and government construction projects in Bernalillo County. No charges have been filed in the case.
Iglesias said the lawmakers who called him seemed focused on whether charges would be filed before the November elections. He said the calls made him feel "pressured to hurry the subsequent cases and prosecutions" but said he did not receive similar contacts from anyone in the executive branch. He acknowledged he made a mistake by not reporting the calls to the Justice Department.
Referring to the calls, Iglesias said: "I suspect that was the reason I was asked to step down, but I don't know that I'll ever know."
Iglesias said other criticisms of his performance by the Justice Department "are demonstrably untrue statements." He added: "We all have a right to defend our honor. I felt like my honor and the honor of my office was attacked."
Iglesias produced statistics showing that his office's immigration prosecutions had risen more than 78 percent during his tenure and said the office prosecuted record numbers of narcotics and firearms cases as well.
Iglesias cited a January 2006 letter from Michael A. Battle -- the Justice official who fired him -- commending him for "exemplary leadership in the department's priority programs." A November 2005 evaluation obtained by The Washington Post also said Iglesias was "experienced in legal, management and community relations work and was respected by the judiciary, agencies and staff."
This was a political assassination by the Republicans, possibly even the Bush administration. Iglesias was doing his job, rooting out government corruption. He was investigating a state Democratic senator who may have been involved with some illegal government construction contracts. In October and November, the Republicans were embroiled in a number of scandals. The Mark Foley sex IM scandal broke out late September of 2006. On November 4, 2006, Evangelist Ted Haggard resigned after it was revealed that he had taken drugs and was having sex with a male prostitute. The Jack Abramoff scandal continued to make headlines with House representative Bob Ney resigning on November 3, 2006. And to top it off, we had Republican Senatorial candidate George Allen's campaign staff assault a protester, with the entire incident caught on video. We still had the disaster of the Iraq war, just hanging as a backdrop of gloom against both the Republican Party and the Bush White House. It is no wonder that the Republicans wanted to counter these scandals and disasters against their own party by publicizing some Democratic scandals, thus reinforcing the Republican claims that the Democrats are just as corrupted. But since Iglesias refused to play ball with the Republican Party, he was canned. And a Bush party loyalist will take his place.
McClatchy and Salon have more details regarding this story. More background information on this scandal can be found here, here, here, and here. There is so much more to come.
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