The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law is about to begin its hearings on the fired
I’m not going to post updates on this hearing as frequently as I did during the Senate hearing, but will report any new information and specifics about testimony provided by David Iglesias, the former
Scroll down to read about this mornings’ Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.
Update, 12:45 p.m.
The House subcommittee hearing is on a bill that would repeal a provision of the Patriot Act that wasn’t known by most until the
The bill would repeal that provision.
During the hearing, William E. Moschella, principal associate deputy attorney general, said the attorneys were fired for reasons of “policy” under the pretext of “performance-related issues.” He also said that, “in hindsight,” the situation “could have been handled better.”
He said the department should have done a better job of explaning to the
He said the administration has never, “not once,” removed a
“It would never do so,” Moschella said.
As to why Iglesias was fired, Moschella said “there was a general sense … that the district was in need of greater leadership.”
“Mr. Iglesias had delegated to his first assistant the overall running of his office,” Moschella said, adding that he should not have done that.
Update, 2 p.m.
Iglesias said Moschella’s explanation that he was forced out to make way for “new blood” was the first given to him.
“My only question is, ‘What happened to the old blood?’” Iglesias said. “I think I’ve been an outstanding leader for the district and I think we accomplished what we needed to accomplish.”
Update, 2:20 p.m.
Under questioning, Iglesias restated his versions of phone calls he received from Rep. Heather Wilson and Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M. in October, telling the same stories he shared with the Senate panel earlier in the day.
“My sense was that they expected me to take action on these widely publicized public corruption cases and they wanted me to do it immediately,” Iglesias told the House panel. “… I had the distinct impression that I was to take action before November.”
In explaining why he didn’t report the phone calls, Iglesias said he “felt terribly conflicted about having to report it.” He faced a harsh line of questioning from Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah about his decision to not report the calls, a decision that violated department policy.
Update, 4:10 p.m.
Iglesias, under additional questioning, said he believes Domenici ended the October phone call by hanging up on him.
Cannon said he knows Domenici as an intelligent man and does not believe Iglesias’ characterization of the phone call.
“I just don’t believe your characterization of how the phone call happened,” Cannon told Iglesias.
Though the hearing is ongoing with other witnesses, the fired