Fired Attorneys Build Case Against Gonzales
By Jason Leopold
t r u t h o u t | Report
John McKay, the former US attorney for the Western District of Washington, pieced together thousands of pages of internal Justice Department (DOJ) emails released earlier this year, reviewed public documents and pored through hundreds of pages of sworn testimony his former boss, Alberto Gonzales, gave to Congress about the firings of at least nine US attorneys last year.
McKay said evidence in the public record demonstrates the former attorney general and his underlings may well have obstructed justice.
McKay was one of the nine US attorneys fired in December 2006 for reasons that appear to be politically motivated. The DOJ's inspector general, Glenn Fine, is conducting an investigation to determine whether Gonzales perjured himself before Congress or sought to influence the testimony of Monica Goodling, the DOJ's former White House liaison who used a political litmus test to hire and fire attorneys, and resigned in disgrace earlier this year. McKay said that a special prosecutor should be appointed to further probe the circumstances behind the US attorney firings if the inspector general's report determines federal laws may have been broken.
In an upcoming issue of the Seattle University Law Review, Mckay said the firing of at least two US attorneys, David Iglesias of New Mexico, and Carol Lam of San Diego, appears to demonstrate Gonzales and top DOJ officials may have obstructed justice by interfering with public corruption cases and ongoing criminal investigations Iglesias and Lam had been involved in at the time of their dismissals.
McKay discussed elements of his Law Review article at a conference of former US attorneys in Miami earlier this month. Iglesias, as well as Bud Cummins, the former US attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, were also in attendance and participated in a panel discussion to talk to their colleagues about their firings and how it has impacted the integrity of the DOJ. About 100 former US attorneys from the Reagan, George W. Bush and Clinton administrations attended the conference, sponsored by the National Association of Former United States Attorneys.
(Continued here.)
t r u t h o u t | Report
John McKay, the former US attorney for the Western District of Washington, pieced together thousands of pages of internal Justice Department (DOJ) emails released earlier this year, reviewed public documents and pored through hundreds of pages of sworn testimony his former boss, Alberto Gonzales, gave to Congress about the firings of at least nine US attorneys last year.
McKay said evidence in the public record demonstrates the former attorney general and his underlings may well have obstructed justice.
McKay was one of the nine US attorneys fired in December 2006 for reasons that appear to be politically motivated. The DOJ's inspector general, Glenn Fine, is conducting an investigation to determine whether Gonzales perjured himself before Congress or sought to influence the testimony of Monica Goodling, the DOJ's former White House liaison who used a political litmus test to hire and fire attorneys, and resigned in disgrace earlier this year. McKay said that a special prosecutor should be appointed to further probe the circumstances behind the US attorney firings if the inspector general's report determines federal laws may have been broken.
In an upcoming issue of the Seattle University Law Review, Mckay said the firing of at least two US attorneys, David Iglesias of New Mexico, and Carol Lam of San Diego, appears to demonstrate Gonzales and top DOJ officials may have obstructed justice by interfering with public corruption cases and ongoing criminal investigations Iglesias and Lam had been involved in at the time of their dismissals.
McKay discussed elements of his Law Review article at a conference of former US attorneys in Miami earlier this month. Iglesias, as well as Bud Cummins, the former US attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, were also in attendance and participated in a panel discussion to talk to their colleagues about their firings and how it has impacted the integrity of the DOJ. About 100 former US attorneys from the Reagan, George W. Bush and Clinton administrations attended the conference, sponsored by the National Association of Former United States Attorneys.
(Continued here.)
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