{"id":3146,"date":"2008-04-25T12:33:00","date_gmt":"2008-04-25T18:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/04\/iglesias-awaits-magnum-opus-on-attorney-firings\/"},"modified":"2008-04-25T12:33:00","modified_gmt":"2008-04-25T18:33:00","slug":"iglesias-awaits-magnum-opus-on-attorney-firings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/04\/iglesias-awaits-magnum-opus-on-attorney-firings\/","title":{"rendered":"Iglesias awaits ‘magnum opus’ on attorney firings"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>David Iglesias<\/a> says Thursday\u2019s \u201cqualified admonition\u201d of U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici<\/a>, 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. <\/p>\n

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

The former U.S.<\/st1:country-region> attorney for New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>, in an exclusive interview, said he was celebrating on Thursday evening after learning about the letter<\/a> the committee issued to Domenici upon the conclusion of its investigation. While finding no \u201csubstantial evidence\u201d that Domenici \u201cattempted to improperly influence an ongoing investigation\u201d in his October 2006 phone call to Iglesias, the committee scolded the senator, saying he should have known that the call would create \u201can appearance of impropriety that reflected unfavorably on the Senate.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Iglesias said he agrees that Domenici\u2019s actions created the appearance of impropriety.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThis was a public rebuke for improper actions on Domenici\u2019s part,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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

The committee didn\u2019t find that Domenici had pressured Iglesias to speed indictments in a public corruption probe in time to sway voters in the November 2006 election \u2013 allegations that Iglesias has made publicly and under oath. Iglesias said he stands by his sworn testimony<\/a> before the Senate Judiciary Committee in March 2007, in which he said calls from Domenici and U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson<\/a>, R-N.M., were inappropriate, and he felt pressured to expedite indictments in an ongoing case that involved high-ranking Democrats.<\/p>\n

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

Iglesias pointed out that the letter states the committee did not find \u201csubstantial evidence\u201d that Domenici pressured him, not that it didn\u2019t find any evidence.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cRemember, Domenici did publicly apologize for his inappropriate phone call. You don\u2019t apologize if you didn\u2019t do anything wrong,\u201d Iglesias said.<\/p>\n

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 \u201cthe distraction this controversy has caused.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Domenici characterized the Senate committee\u2019s finding as favorable to him because the committee did not find that he pressured Iglesias. But Iglesias said the admonishment will serve \u201cas a warning to other members of Congress that contacting United States<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> attorneys in this matter is impermissible and unacceptable behavior.\u201d He said Domenici, like any career politician would, \u201cis casting the facts in the most favorable light to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

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\u2019s coming retirement and health were factors in that decision, but he does believe Domenici\u2019s retirement and degenerative brain disease \u201cwere important factors considered by the committee.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

The larger investigation<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Iglesias was quick to point out what the Senate committee made clear in its letter to Domenici \u2013 that it only considered the senator\u2019s phone call to Iglesias, not the larger controversy surrounding the December 2006 firings of Iglesias and several other U.S.<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> attorneys \u2013 firings that many, including Iglesias, allege were political in nature and inappropriate.<\/p>\n

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

That controversy, initiated in part by Iglesias\u2019 allegations that Domenici and Wilson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> 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.<\/p>\n

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

The Department of Justice\u2019s Office of Inspector General and Office of Responsibility are conducting a sprawling investigation into whether Justice officials lied to Congress, violated the Hatch Act<\/a>, tampered with witnesses or took other inappropriate action, including whether they took improper political considerations into account when deciding which attorneys to fire.<\/p>\n

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

In addition, a House committee\u2019s investigation into Wilson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>\u2019s call is ongoing, Iglesias said. Wilson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> has said the call was entirely appropriate.<\/p>\n

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

Iglesias said the OIG\/OPR probe will be the \u201cmagnum opus\u201d on the attorney firings. He said it will be a \u201cmassive document, probably the most important investigation it has done since the offices were created in the 1970s after Watergate.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cOne 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<\/a> and his Deputy Paul McNulty<\/a>,\u201d Iglesias said.<\/p>\n

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

Iglesias said he hasn\u2019t been given a date for the release of that report, but he hopes it happens soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

David Iglesias says Thursday\u2019s \u201cqualified admonition\u201d 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 […]<\/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-3146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3146","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=3146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3146\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}