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 in a prepared statement the investigation would continue "with respect to other co-conspirators."
The co-conspirators Lam was referring to included Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, the former executive director of the CIA, who resigned from the agency in early May 2006, a few days before search warrants were executed on his residence. McKay believes 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 directly 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 emailed 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 writes. "Given the wide publicity of the Cunningham political corruption case ... it is reasonable to conclude that Gonzales, [former Deputy Attorney General Paul] McNulty, Sampson and other senior Justice Department officials were aware of the underlying judicial proceeding being handled by Carol Lam, Gonzales, McNulty and Sampson, at minimum, will have to demonstrate that their complicity in the removal of Lam had nothing to do with her aggressive prosecution of power Republicans for public corruption. In addition to the Sampson email ... investigators will seek to establish whether other senior officials knowingly sought her removal in connection with the Cunningham investigation. If such evidence is found, removal of the United States attorney in where the US attorney was personally supervising the case would undoubtedly come within the omnibus provisions of the federal obstruction of justice statute."
McKay discusses the politics surrounding his own firing as well as that of Paul Charlton, the former US attorney for Arizona. Moreover, he uses the public record to demonstrate Gonzales and McNulty may have knowingly lied to Congress, a felony.
"McNulty also may have sought to conceal an important phone call from Senator Domenici regarding US attorney Iglesias, instructing Monica Goodling to delete reference to that call from his Senate testimony," McKay writes, drawing upon Goodling's prepared testimony before Congress earlier this year, to back up his argument. "Others who likely have serious concerns (and even more likely who have retained criminal defense lawyers) are Kyle Sampson and former McNulty staffers Will Moschella and Michael Elston Sampson appears to have knowingly concealed from Congressional investigators the forced resignation of Todd Graves from the Western District of Missouri, and the role of Karl Rove in securing the appointment of Timothy Griffin in Eastern District of Arkansas to replace the US attorney Bud Cummins."
McKay adds that Elston may have lied about the criteria the DOJ and/or the White House used in placing the nine US attorneys on a list. Moschella has maintained that the White House was not involved in the firings but evidence that has surfaced thus far has contradicted his assertions.
If the DOJ's inspector general investigation concludes further investigation into possible federal crimes is warranted and refers the case to the US attorney's office for the District of Columbia to probe the matter, McKay said a special prosecutor should be appointed instead because the US attorney in DC is Gonzales's former chief of staff.
"The Justice Department must seek a special prosecutor who will be seen as independent of the White House and of the Justice Department itself," McKay writes.
The co-conspirators Lam was referring to included Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, the former executive director of the CIA, who resigned from the agency in early May 2006, a few days before search warrants were executed on his residence. McKay believes 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 directly 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 emailed 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 writes. "Given the wide publicity of the Cunningham political corruption case ... it is reasonable to conclude that Gonzales, [former Deputy Attorney General Paul] McNulty, Sampson and other senior Justice Department officials were aware of the underlying judicial proceeding being handled by Carol Lam, Gonzales, McNulty and Sampson, at minimum, will have to demonstrate that their complicity in the removal of Lam had nothing to do with her aggressive prosecution of power Republicans for public corruption. In addition to the Sampson email ... investigators will seek to establish whether other senior officials knowingly sought her removal in connection with the Cunningham investigation. If such evidence is found, removal of the United States attorney in where the US attorney was personally supervising the case would undoubtedly come within the omnibus provisions of the federal obstruction of justice statute."
McKay discusses the politics surrounding his own firing as well as that of Paul Charlton, the former US attorney for Arizona. Moreover, he uses the public record to demonstrate Gonzales and McNulty may have knowingly lied to Congress, a felony.
"McNulty also may have sought to conceal an important phone call from Senator Domenici regarding US attorney Iglesias, instructing Monica Goodling to delete reference to that call from his Senate testimony," McKay writes, drawing upon Goodling's prepared testimony before Congress earlier this year, to back up his argument. "Others who likely have serious concerns (and even more likely who have retained criminal defense lawyers) are Kyle Sampson and former McNulty staffers Will Moschella and Michael Elston Sampson appears to have knowingly concealed from Congressional investigators the forced resignation of Todd Graves from the Western District of Missouri, and the role of Karl Rove in securing the appointment of Timothy Griffin in Eastern District of Arkansas to replace the US attorney Bud Cummins."
McKay adds that Elston may have lied about the criteria the DOJ and/or the White House used in placing the nine US attorneys on a list. Moschella has maintained that the White House was not involved in the firings but evidence that has surfaced thus far has contradicted his assertions.
If the DOJ's inspector general investigation concludes further investigation into possible federal crimes is warranted and refers the case to the US attorney's office for the District of Columbia to probe the matter, McKay said a special prosecutor should be appointed instead because the US attorney in DC is Gonzales's former chief of staff.
"The Justice Department must seek a special prosecutor who will be seen as independent of the White House and of the Justice Department itself," McKay writes.
Originally published on Truthout.org
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