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Fired US Attorney Says Was Pressured to Probe Democrats    [

    Dems Seek Testimony From Fired Attorneys
    By Laurie Kellman
    The Associated Press

    Wednesday 28 February 2007

    Senate Democrats are moving to compel some of the eight U.S. attorneys who have been ousted to tell their stories publicly, under oath, after a federal prosecutor claimed he was fired for political reasons.

    The Senate Judiciary Committee this week will send letters to the dismissed attorneys asking for their voluntary testimony, according to fellow Democrat Charles Schumer of New York.

    The prosecutors have privately told the committee that they would not testify voluntarily, but would honor a congressional subpoena, according to Schumer.

    "If they say they won't come voluntarily, Sen. Leahy will authorize subpoenas," Schumer said Wednesday in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

    The panel would vote on whether to issue the subpoenas next week, said Tracy Schmaler, spokeswoman for Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.

    Spurring the developments was a new report that one of the eight, New Mexico's David Iglesias, claims to have been forced out after refusing a request by two congressmen to rush an indictment that might have helped Republicans in the 2006 election. In the story and a subsequent interview with the AP, Iglesias refused to identify the members of Congress.

    The Justice Department staunchly denied the charge that Iglesias or any of the eight federal prosecutors were dismissed for political reasons.

    "The suggestion that David Iglesias was asked to resign because he failed to bring an indictment ... is flatly false," Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said in a statement. "This administration has never removed a United States attorney in an effort to retaliate against them or inappropriately interfere with a public integrity investigation."

    As to why Iglesias was dismissed, Roehrkasse said: "We made our decision not to further extend his service based on performance-related concerns."

    Federal prosecutors serve at the pleasure of the president and can be fired for any reason - or none at all.

    But Democrats say the eight firings - some without cause, according to the Justice Department - indicate the Bush administration is using a new provision in the Patriot Act to reward political allies with coveted jobs as U.S. attorneys.

    The new provision, enacted a year ago with the reauthorization of the Patriot Act, removes a time limit within which appointees to such posts must be confirmed by the Senate. Democrats say that's a Bush administration effort to get around the confirmation process.

    Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has said he intends to submit the name of every nominee to vacant U.S. attorney posts to the Senate for confirmation.

    Still, Democrats tried to revive a bill Wednesday that would reimpose the time limit. An objection by Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., killed the measure. On Wednesday, its sponsor, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., tried to attach it as an amendment to an omnibus bill to tighten the nation's homeland security. Kyl was again expected to block the measure, his spokesman said.

    The Justice Department says a 120-day limit isn't enough time for an appointee to be recommended by home-state senators, nominated and confirmed.

    But raising the issue on the Senate floor allowed Feinstein to read a news story into the record that fueled the matter anew Wednesday.

    In Wednesday's editions, McClatchy Newspapers quoted Iglesias as claiming that two members of Congress contacted him in the weeks before the 2006 election to ask about an investigation of a kickback scheme. He said the members, whom he refused to identify, appeared eager to see an indictment just before the elections.

    Corruption charges against two previous state New Mexico treasurers - both Democrats - became an issue during the election; further charges could have helped the Republicans. Iglesias, a Republican, refused to name the members of Congress in the report because he feared retaliation, according to McClatchy Newspapers. Contacted by the AP, Iglesias said: "I've got nothing further to say about that."

    The Justice Department's Roeherkasse said that the U.S. Attorneys Manual calls on federal prosecutors to notify the agency of any calls from members of Congress.

    "We are unaware that anyone in Main Justice (department headquarters) was notified of any conversations between U.S. Attorney Iglesias and members of the New Mexico Congressional delegation," Roehrkasse said.

    Earlier Wednesday, Iglesias' last day on the job, he told reporters at a news conference in Albuquerque, N.M., that the Bush administration's call for his resignation came without warning and was rooted in politics - not performance.

    "This episode came like a thief in the night," he said of the Dec. 7 request for him to step down. He added, "Obviously, I tripped some wire."

    --------

    Associated Press writers Jennifer Talhelm in Washington and Sue Major Holmes in Albuquerque contributed to this report.

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    US Attorney Says He Was Pressured by Lawmakers
    By Dan Eggen
    The Washington Post

    Thursday 01 March 2007

Attorney suspects firing was retribution.

    A political tempest over the mass firing of federal prosecutors escalated yesterday with allegations from the departing U.S. attorney in New Mexico, who said that two members of Congress attempted to pressure him to speed up a probe of Democrats just before the November elections.

    David C. Iglesias, who left yesterday after more than five years in office, said he received the calls in October and believes that complaints from the lawmakers may have led the Justice Department to fire him late last year.

    Iglesias also responded to allegations from Justice officials that he had performed poorly and was too often absent, citing positive job reviews and data showing increasing numbers of prosecutions. He also noted that he is required to serve 40 days a year in the Navy Reserve.

    Iglesias declined to name the lawmakers who called him, but he said in an interview: "I didn't give them what they wanted. That was probably a political problem that caused them to go to the White House or whomever and complain that I wasn't a team player."

    Iglesias's allegations were met with strong denials from the Justice Department yesterday but prompted the Democratic-controlled House and Senate judiciary committees to announce that they would issue subpoenas for testimony from Iglesias and other fired prosecutors if necessary. Iglesias said he would not testify unless subpoenaed.

    Spokesmen for Rep. Steve Pearce (R-N.M.) and the state's two Democratic lawmakers, Sen. Jeff Bingaman and Rep. Tom Udall, said the lawmakers and their staffs had no contact with Iglesias about the case. The offices of New Mexico's two other Republican lawmakers, Sen. Pete V. Domenici and Rep. Heather A. Wilson, did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

    Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse called Iglesias's allegations "flatly false." Roehrkasse said that Iglesias should have reported any calls from lawmakers, as required under department guidelines.

    "The administration has never removed a U.S. attorney in an effort to retaliate against him or inappropriately interfere with a public-integrity investigation," Roehrkasse said.

    In briefings about the firings on Capitol Hill, Justice Department officials had said that Iglesias was the target of complaints from members of Congress, according to several sources familiar with the meetings, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss personnel issues. The Justice briefers did not specify the nature of those complaints, the sources said.

    Iglesias, 49 and the son of a Baptist minister, is a Navy Reserve commander whose role as a defense lawyer in a famous military hazing case was the basis for the Tom Cruise character in the movie "A Few Good Men." He held a news conference in Albuquerque yesterday, in which he said that he was fired for political reasons.

    Iglesias was among seven U.S. attorneys notified by phone on Dec. 7 that they were being fired without explanation. An eighth prosecutor, in Little Rock, also was removed in December, to make room for a former aide to presidential adviser Karl Rove.

    The charges by Iglesias added a new dimension to the ongoing controversy over the fired prosecutors, at least four of whom were presiding over major public-corruption probes. Although other fired prosecutors have publicly defended their records, they have never alleged that political pressure related to an ongoing criminal investigation played a role in their dismissals.

    In addition to Iglesias's probe of Democrats, fired prosecutors in Arizona, Nevada and California were conducting corruption probes involving Republicans at the time of their dismissals.

    "These are extremely serious and very troubling allegations coming from a man of great integrity," said Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), who has been leading a Senate Judiciary Committee inquiry into the firings. "They call into question every other firing. We will continue to pursue this until we get to the bottom of what happened and pass legislation to prevent it from ever happening again."

    The dismissals have angered Democrats and some Republicans on Capitol Hill, in part because they followed a little-noticed change in federal law that lets Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales to appoint interim prosecutors indefinitely. Legislation has been introduced in both houses to repeal the provision.

    Justice officials have acknowledged that they did not fire Bud Cummins from his Little Rock post for cause but have said the others were ousted for "performance-related" reasons. Records show, however, that at least six of the prosecutors, including Iglesias and Cummins, received mostly positive job evaluations before they were forced out.

    In an interview Tuesday, Iglesias said the two lawmakers called him about a well-known criminal investigation involving a Democratic legislator. He declined to provide their party affiliation, but his comments indicated the callers were Republicans.

    New Mexico media outlets reported last year that the FBI and the U.S. attorney's office in Albuquerque had opened a probe into allegations involving former Democratic state senator Manny Aragon and government construction projects in Bernalillo County. No charges have been filed in the case.

    Iglesias said the lawmakers who called him seemed focused on whether charges would be filed before the November elections. He said the calls made him feel "pressured to hurry the subsequent cases and prosecutions" but said he did not receive similar contacts from anyone in the executive branch. He acknowledged he made a mistake by not reporting the calls to the Justice Department.

    Referring to the calls, Iglesias said: "I suspect that was the reason I was asked to step down, but I don't know that I'll ever know."

    Iglesias said other criticisms of his performance by the Justice Department "are demonstrably untrue statements." He added: "We all have a right to defend our honor. I felt like my honor and the honor of my office was attacked."

    Iglesias produced statistics showing that his office's immigration prosecutions had risen more than 78 percent during his tenure and said the office prosecuted record numbers of narcotics and firearms cases as well.

    Iglesias cited a January 2006 letter from Michael A. Battle - the Justice official who fired him - commending him for "exemplary leadership in the department's priority programs." A November 2005 evaluation obtained by The Washington Post also said Iglesias was "experienced in legal, management and community relations work and was respected by the judiciary, agencies and staff."

    Former deputy attorney general James B. Comey this week praised Iglesias as "a fired-up guy."

    "David Iglesias was one of our finest and someone I had a lot of confidence in as deputy attorney general," said Comey, now general counsel for Lockheed Martin.

    But Roehrkasse said Justice "had a lengthy record from which to evaluate his performance as a manager, and we made our decision not to further extend his service based on performance-related concerns."