There’s some interesting follow-up in today’s WaPo to the prosecutor purge story we discussed yesterday, highlighting David Iglesias’ allegations that he was fired for political reasons. Of particular interest, of course, is the fact that Iglesias may have been contacted by two members of Congress, who allegedly pressured 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.”
There are multiple angles to this, so let’s break it up into specific questions.
* Who pressured Igelsias? — Spokespersons 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 Domenici and Rep. Heather Wilson, did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Wilson, however, appears to be the focus of the most attention, with rumors in New Mexico going as far back as December suggesting she may have been involved.
* Did Igelsias’s performance lead to his dismissal? — Iglesias released a copy of a letter from Michael 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 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 Comey praised Iglesias this week as “one of our finest and someone I had a lot of confidence in as deputy attorney general.” I think it’s safe to say Justice Department officials were lying about the motivation for firing Iglesias.
* Was the White House involved? — Josh Marshall raises a good point that I hadn’t considered: “If you’re a nervous member of Congress in a tight election and you’re pissed you can’t get any action out of Iglesias, you probably don’t call the DOJ. You call the White House, specifically the political office. So who at the White House got called? And what did they do?”
* What happens next? — Republicans no doubt wish this would go away, but it’s just getting started. The Senate Judiciary Committee will be sending a letter to each of the eight fired prosecutors, asking them to testify voluntarily. Because most will probably decline, the committee will consider issuing subpoenas for their testimony next week. The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law is apparently skipping the first step and will vote today on whether to issue subpoenas to four of the fired U.S. attorneys: California’s Southern District’s Carol Lam, Nevada’s David Iglesias, Arkansas’ Eastern District’s H.E. “Bud” Cummins, and Washington’s Western District’s John McKay.
This is going to get good….
Post Script: It’s not particularly relevant, but I found it interesting that Iglesias was a defense lawyer in the Navy Reserve and was the basis for the Tom Cruise character in the movie “A Few Good Men.”