OpEdNews - Page 2 of Article: DOJ to Release Long-Awaited Report on US Attorney Firings Monday

"Gonzales has even admitted that one of the reasons that Iglesias was fired was because Sen. Domenici had ‘lost confidence’ in Iglesias," McKay wrote. "While these allegations are troubling under any analysis, a thorough and independent investigation is necessary to determine whether criminal laws have been violated. …

“Under the broad language of [the federal statute regarding obstruction of justice], it would be hard to imagine that 'corruptly influence' would not extend to firing of the United States Attorney in the middle of a public corruption case because he 'lost confidence' of a senator who sought to manipulate the indictments for crass political advantage."

McKay added that "McNulty also may have sought to conceal an important phone call from Sen. Domenici regarding U.S. Attorney Iglesias, instructing [then Justice Department liaison to the White House] Monica Goodling to delete reference to that call from his Senate testimony."

McKay said the firing of Carol Lam, the U.S Attorney for the Southern District of California, is just as troubling because it took place while Lam was "supervising the highest profile public corruption prosecution in America," that of Randy "Duke" Cunningham, Republican congressman from San Diego.

Cunningham pleaded guilty in March 2006 to mail and wire fraud and conspiracy to commit bribery and is serving an eight-year federal prison term. At the time of Cunningham's sentencing, Lam said the investigation was continuing "with respect to other co-conspirators."

Those co-conspirators included Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, executive director of the CIA who resigned in early May 2006 a few days before search warrants were executed on his residence.

McKay suggested that Lam's dogged pursuit of Cunningham's co-conspirators in the spring of 2006, a year in which Republicans faced tough reelection campaigns, may have led to her firing.

"Lam alerted the Justice Department that FBI agents would, at her direction, search Foggo's home in connection with the Duke Cunningham case, and the following day [former Gonzales Chief of Staff] Kyle Sampson e-mailed the White House from the Attorney General's office that 'we have a real problem with Carol Lam' and urged that she be dismissed at the conclusion of her term," McKay wrote.

"Given the wide publicity of the Cunningham political corruption case ... it is reasonable to conclude that Gonzales, McNulty, Sampson and other senior Justice Department officials were aware of the underlying judicial proceeding being handled by Carol Lam.”

Loyalist Mukasey

Despite the evidence, Iglesias said he believes it’s highly unlikely the White House will let Mukasey appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Gonzales, one of Bush’s closest allies. In his half year in office – after replacing Gonzales – Mukasey has proven himself to be a Bush loyalist.

Mukasey’s “got five months left,” Iglesias said. “There is no way he is going to right this ship that’s sinking in five months.”

The only way Gonzales and McNulty will be held accountable is if a new President decides to pursue the matter, Iglesias said, a move that Democrat Barack Obama has indicated he might do.

In testimony before Congress last year, Sampson and Goodling said McNulty and Gonzales did not testify forthrightly before Congress about their prior knowledge of the U.S. Attorney firings and the reasons behind the purge.

McNulty testified in February 2006 that the firings were “performance related” and the decision to terminate the federal prosecutors was made solely by the Justice Department.

McNulty also said Goodling and Sampson withheld key information from him before he spoke to investigators and testified before Congress.

But Goodling disputed McNulty’s assertions, saying he was well aware the White House was involved in the decision to fire the U.S. Attorneys.

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