U.S. Attorney Scandal in New Mexico Deepens: The President Did It

By Scott Horton

Those following the U.S. attorney scandal have long been interested in the role of Senator Pete Domenici and his protégée, Congresswoman Heather Wilson. Of particular note was Wilson's extremely tough reelection battle in the fall of 2006, when she pressured U.S. attorney David Iglesias to indict a prominent Democrat. Wilson was running against the state's popular attorney general, Patricia Madrid, and anticipated that the prosecution would let her tar her opponent. Iglesias responded to her request in the way that the ethics rules require. Now the Albuquerque Journal unfolds the connections between these developments and Iglesias's dismissal.

Former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias was fired after Sen. Pete Domenici, who had been unhappy with Iglesias for some time, made a personal appeal to the White House, the Journal has learned.

Domenici had complained about Iglesias before, at one point going to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales before taking his request to the president as a last resort.

The senior senator from New Mexico had listened to criticism of Iglesias going back to 2003 from sources ranging from law enforcement officials to Republican Party activists.

Moreover, the Journal reports that Alberto Gonzales had refused direct instructions, making clear that decisions concerning the U.S. attorney replacements were to be made by the White House. So Domenici went straight to Bush:

Gonzales refused. He told Domenici he would fire Iglesias only on orders from the president.

At some point after the election last Nov. 6, Domenici called Bush's senior political adviser, Karl Rove, and told him he wanted Iglesias out and asked Rove to take his request directly to the president.

Domenici and Bush subsequently had a telephone conversation about the issue.

The conversation between Bush and Domenici occurred sometime after the election but before the firings of Iglesias and six other U.S. attorneys were announced on Dec. 7.

This marks the first linkage between President Bush and the decision to purge U.S. attorneys as part of a political campaign. And it helps to explain the current level of alarm within the White House surrounding the demands for emails, documents and testimony coming out of Congressional oversight committees.