{"id":1775,"date":"2007-05-24T15:33:00","date_gmt":"2007-05-24T21:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/05\/iglesias-walking-a-fine-line-between-amplifying-and-contradicting-previous-testimony-before-congress\/"},"modified":"2007-05-24T15:33:00","modified_gmt":"2007-05-24T21:33:00","slug":"iglesias-walking-a-fine-line-between-amplifying-and-contradicting-previous-testimony-before-congress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/05\/iglesias-walking-a-fine-line-between-amplifying-and-contradicting-previous-testimony-before-congress\/","title":{"rendered":"Iglesias walking a fine line between amplifying and contradicting previous testimony before Congress"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>In a new interview, former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias<\/a> comes close to contradicting testimony he gave before a Senate committee in March that has led to an ethics inquiry into the actions of Sen. Pete Domenici<\/a>. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In an interview published today in the weekly Alibi<\/a> in Albuquerque, Iglesias said he doubts Domenici intended to interfere in the federal investigation into construction of the Bernalillo Metro Courthouse, which has since resulted in the indictments of four, including former state Senate President Manny Aragon, and plea bargains for three others.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cCould his phone call to me (concerning the timing of charges in the courthouse corruption investigation) constitute a criminal offense? I\u2019m not sure. I suspect ethics charges are more likely than criminal charges as I doubt he called me to interfere with the courthouse cases,\u201d the Alibi quoted him as saying.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Saying Domenici didn\u2019t intend to interfere in the investigation is quite a shift from what Iglesias has said previously. Though it doesn\u2019t directly contradict what he told senators under oath on March 6, it\u2019s different.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

He said on that day that Domenici called to ask whether indictments would be issued in the courthouse probe before November \u2013 the implication being that he was concerned about the November election. When he said he doubted indictments would come before then, Iglesias said Domenici told him he was \u201cvery sorry to hear that\u201d and hung up on him.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI felt sick afterward,\u201d Iglesias told senators. \u201c\u2026 I felt leaned on. I felt pressured to get these matters moving.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 it\u2019s true that he did not direct any specific action. But the fact that he would call and ask about an investigation, I felt, was a threatening phone call,\u201d Iglesias said that day.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

At the very least, Iglesias implied in his testimony that Domenici and U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson<\/a> called him in October of last year to ask about the investigation with the intent of speeding indictments in order to affect the outcome of the election.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cPublic corruption was a huge battle being waged by Patricia Madrid and Heather Wilson, and I assiduously tried to stay out of that,\u201d Iglesias said under oath, adding that Domenici\u2019s inquiry, because of that, was inappropriate and threatening.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Iglesias also said in the Alibi interview that Domenici and Wilson \u201cnever pressured me to take action\u201d on voter fraud allegations, saying that was done by other New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> republicans.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Iglesias didn\u2019t allege in his congressional testimony that the two pressured him to file voter-fraud charges.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In recent weeks, Iglesias has been honing and more carefully crafting his message about why he believes he was fired. Though he hasn\u2019t directly contradicted himself, it\u2019s fair to say that his statements have evolved. Defenders might say that\u2019s because he has learned, along with congressional investigators, more about what happened. Others might say it\u2019s because he\u2019s telling fibs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a new interview, former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias comes close to contradicting testimony he gave before a Senate committee in March that has led to an ethics inquiry into the actions of Sen. Pete Domenici. In an interview published today in the weekly Alibi in Albuquerque, Iglesias said he doubts Domenici intended to interfere […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1775\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}