{"id":4212,"date":"2009-02-05T01:36:00","date_gmt":"2009-02-05T07:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/02\/grand-jury-probing-domenici-news-outlet-says\/"},"modified":"2009-02-05T01:36:00","modified_gmt":"2009-02-05T07:36:00","slug":"grand-jury-probing-domenici-news-outlet-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/02\/grand-jury-probing-domenici-news-outlet-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Grand jury probing Domenici, news outlet says"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Talking Points Memo says investigation centers on whether the former senator and others improperly pressured the former U.S. attorney to speed a criminal investigation; Domenici disputes report<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

A federal grand jury is investigating former U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici\u2019s<\/a> role in the Bush administration\u2019s U.S. attorney scandal, according to an Internet news site that won a prestigious journalism award in 2008 for its coverage of the scandal.<\/p>\n

The criminal investigation, according to an exclusive report by Talking Points Memo<\/a>, is focused on \u201cwhether Domenici and other political figures attempted to improperly press (former U.S. Attorney David) Iglesias<\/a> to bring a criminal prosecution against New Mexico Democrats just prior to the 2006 congressional midterm elections,\u201d which, if it happened, might amount to obstruction of justice.<\/p>\n

Investigators are scrutinizing Iglesias\u2019 allegation that he was fired because \u201cDomenici and others believed that he would not manipulate the timing of prosecutions to help Republicans,\u201d the article states.<\/p>\n

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According to the Albuquerque Journal<\/a>, Domenici and his attorney dispute the report.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t believe that\u2019s right,\u201d the Journal quoted Domenici as saying.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe suggestion in their story that there is an investigation under way that is focusing on Sen. Domenici is false,\u201d Domenici\u2019s attorney, Lee Blalack, was quoted as saying, but he also said he\u2019s \u201cnot privy to everything the U.S. government does.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Talking Points Memo\u2019s article states that the focus on Domenici was confirmed by \u201ca federal law enforcement official, two witnesses who have been recently been asked to answer questions from investigators, and an attorney representing a former Justice Department official who has been told that investigators want to question his client.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Domenici and former U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson<\/a> both called Iglesias in October 2006 to discuss an ongoing criminal investigation weeks before the November 2006 election, in which Wilson was facing a tough re-election battle that she ended up narrowly winning. Iglesias alleges that Domenici and Wilson pressured him to speed indictments to sway voters, a charge both deny. Weeks after the election, Iglesias was fired.<\/p>\n

Watchdog probe suggested possible criminal activity<\/span><\/p>\n

Domenici, who retired at the end of 2008, was severely criticized in September in a long-awaited report<\/a> from two Justice Department watchdog offices for refusing to cooperate with their investigation. Officials with those offices sought the criminal probe, according to Talking Points Memo, in part because Domenici, his chief of staff Steve Bell, and several White House officials would not cooperate with their investigation.<\/p>\n

The report from the watchdog agencies concluded that Iglesias was removed \u201cbecause of complaints to the Department of Justice and the White House by New Mexico Republican members of Congress (Sen. Pete Domenici and Heather Wilson) and party activists about Iglesias\u2019s handling of voter fraud and public corruption cases.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the watchdog agencies\u2019 report states that those who sought Iglesias\u2019 removal may have done so \u201csimply because they believed he was not competently prosecuting worthwhile cases,\u201d it also provides an alternative possibility:<\/p>\n

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\u201cHowever, if they attempted to pressure Iglesias to accelerate his charging decision in the (Bernalillo Metropolitan Courthouse case<\/a>) or to initiate voting fraud investigations to affect the outcome of the upcoming election, their conduct may have been criminal. The obstruction of justice makes it a crime for any person who \u2018corruptly… influences, obstructs, or impedes, or endeavors to influence, obstruct, or impede, the due administration of justice…\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we found no case charging a violation of the obstruction of justice statute involving an effort to accelerate a criminal prosecutor to indict a case for partisan political reasons, we believe that pressuring a prosecutor to indict a case more quickly to affect the outcome of an upcoming election could be a corrupt attempt to influence the prosecution in violation of the obstruction of justice statute.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Talking Points Memo won a George Polk Award<\/a> in 2008 for its coverage of the U.S. attorney scandal. The news organization has frequently been the first to break stories related to the scandal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Talking Points Memo says investigation centers on whether the former senator and others improperly pressured the former U.S. attorney to speed a criminal investigation; Domenici disputes report A federal grand jury is investigating former U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici\u2019s role in the Bush administration\u2019s U.S. attorney scandal, according to an Internet news site that won a […]<\/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-4212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4212","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=4212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4212\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}