Iglesias awaits ‘magnum opus’ on attorney firings

David Iglesias says Thursday’s “qualified admonition” of U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., by the Senate Ethics Committee is reason to celebrate, but the most important investigation of the U.S. attorney scandal is yet to come.

The former U.S. attorney for New Mexico, in an exclusive interview, said he was celebrating on Thursday evening after learning about the letter the committee issued to Domenici upon the conclusion of its investigation. While finding no “substantial evidence” that Domenici “attempted to improperly influence an ongoing investigation” in his October 2006 phone call to Iglesias, the committee scolded the senator, saying he should have known that the call would create “an appearance of impropriety that reflected unfavorably on the Senate.”

Iglesias said he agrees that Domenici’s actions created the appearance of impropriety.

“This was a public rebuke for improper actions on Domenici’s part,” he said.

The committee didn’t find that Domenici had pressured Iglesias to speed indictments in a public corruption probe in time to sway voters in the November 2006 election – allegations that Iglesias has made publicly and under oath. Iglesias said he stands by his sworn testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in March 2007, in which he said calls from Domenici and U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., were inappropriate, and he felt pressured to expedite indictments in an ongoing case that involved high-ranking Democrats.

Iglesias pointed out that the letter states the committee did not find “substantial evidence” that Domenici pressured him, not that it didn’t find any evidence.

“Remember, Domenici did publicly apologize for his inappropriate phone call. You don’t apologize if you didn’t do anything wrong,” Iglesias said.

Domenici issued a public statement in March 2007 in which he said he regretted making the call and apologized. He also insisted that he did not pressure Iglesias about the case. On Thursday, the senator said he regretted “the distraction this controversy has caused.”

Domenici characterized the Senate committee’s finding as favorable to him because the committee did not find that he pressured Iglesias. But Iglesias said the admonishment will serve “as a warning to other members of Congress that contacting United States attorneys in this matter is impermissible and unacceptable behavior.” He said Domenici, like any career politician would, “is casting the facts in the most favorable light to him.”

The Senate committee opted against proceeding with a formal adjudicatory review that could have led to sanctions against Domenici. Iglesias said it was difficult to answer a question about whether the senator’s coming retirement and health were factors in that decision, but he does believe Domenici’s retirement and degenerative brain disease “were important factors considered by the committee.”

The larger investigation

Iglesias was quick to point out what the Senate committee made clear in its letter to Domenici – that it only considered the senator’s phone call to Iglesias, not the larger controversy surrounding the December 2006 firings of Iglesias and several other U.S. attorneys – firings that many, including Iglesias, allege were political in nature and inappropriate.

That controversy, initiated in part by Iglesias’ allegations that Domenici and Wilson pressured him during the phone calls, eventually led to the resignations of the attorney general and other top staffers in the Justice Department. Iglesias alleges he was fired because he refused their pressure.

The Department of Justice’s Office of Inspector General and Office of Responsibility are conducting a sprawling investigation into whether Justice officials lied to Congress, violated the Hatch Act, tampered with witnesses or took other inappropriate action, including whether they took improper political considerations into account when deciding which attorneys to fire.

In addition, a House committee’s investigation into Wilson’s call is ongoing, Iglesias said. Wilson has said the call was entirely appropriate.

Iglesias said the OIG/OPR probe will be the “magnum opus” on the attorney firings. He said it will be a “massive document, probably the most important investigation it has done since the offices were created in the 1970s after Watergate.”

“One possible outcome for the Bush Administration would be the recommendation of appointing a special prosecutor to look into allegations of criminal acts by former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and his Deputy Paul McNulty,” Iglesias said.

Iglesias said he hasn’t been given a date for the release of that report, but he hopes it happens soon.