David Iglesias

Iglesias: "I Feel One Hundred Percent Vindicated"

Zachary Roth | August 13, 2009, 10:05AM

David Iglesias has reacted with a combination of satisfaction and indignation to this week's release of documents on the U.S. attorney firings.

"I feel 100 percent vindicated," Iglesias, the former U.S. attorney for New Mexico, whose dismissal was the most controversial of the bunch, told TPMmuckraker in an interview.

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U.S. Attorneys

Did Christie Play Politics With Probe? U.S. Attorney Docs Add To Questions

Zachary Roth | August 12, 2009, 4:28PM

Those newly released documents from the U.S. attorney firings raise a few questions about the Republican who may be his party's highest profile electoral contender this year.

That's Chris Christie, the former U.S. attorney from New Jersey, who's also leading incumbent Jon Corzine in that state's race for governor.

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Harriet Miers

E-Mails: On Election Eve, Miers Tried To Intervene With DOJ About Sensitive Renzi Case

Justin Elliott | August 11, 2009, 7:02PM

It's just days before the mid-term elections, and you're sitting in the White House watching a close Congressional race when it bubbles up that the the Republican incumbent, long dogged by corruption rumors, is under federal investigation.

That's the situation the Bush White House found itself in when it was reported in late October 2006, first on blogs, that U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton was investigating Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ).

And that's when the damage control machine kicked into gear.

Scott Jennings, deputy to Karl Rove, and White House Counsel Harriet Miers intervened to try to get the Justice Department to throw cold water on the reports of an investigation, despite the DOJ's policy not to confirm or deny the existence of ongoing probes, according to e-mails released by the House Judiciary Committee today. (Read them here.)

In the two days following Miers and Jennings' emails, articles appeared in the press quoting DOJ officials saying the investigation was in "preliminary stage" -- which it was not.

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Karl Rove

Rove: Remembering E-mails Is Like Remembering 'Raindrop In A Thunderstorm'

Justin Elliott | August 11, 2009, 3:47PM

The Washington Post does us the favor of tallying the "I don't recall"-s that saturate the hundreds of pages of Miers and Rove interview transcripts.

In 10 hours, Harriet Miers said she couldn't remember events almost 150 times.

Asked if Miers ever responded to an October 2006 email from Rove with the subject line "Domenici is calling me about the USA for New Mexico", Rove offered investigators this gem:

"I don't recall. I generally receive hundreds of e-mails a day, and asking me to remember replies is like asking me to remember a raindrop in a thunderstorm."

Read that section of the interview right here.

David Iglesias

Docs Belie Rove's Claim That His Aide Was "Freelancing" In Pushing For Iglesias Firing

Zachary Roth | August 11, 2009, 3:35PM

This won't come as a shock ... but the just released documents on the U.S. attorney firings make it clear that Karl Rove was far from straight with the House committee that interviewed him last month.

According to the transcript of the interview, Rove said that his top aide, Scott Jennings, was "freelancing" in trying to get David Iglesias fired in the summer of 2005. Rove told his interviewers that Jennings "had strong feelings about Iglesias" after having done political work in New Mexico.

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U.S. Attorneys

Rep Who Led Miers/Rove Questioning: Iglesias Case Was Most 'Pernicious Case Of Partisan Interference'

Justin Elliott | August 11, 2009, 3:30PM

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the House Judiciary Committee member who led questioning of Karl Rove and Harriet Miers, released a statement today skewering the Bush White House for considering "partisan and political considerations" in firing US Attorneys.

He concludes that "a weak and pliant leadership" of the Justice Department "largely refused to stand up to the pressure."

Schiff's office says the committee's findings will be forwarded, as expected, to prosecutor Nora Dannehy, who is investigating possible criminal wrongdoing in the firings.

Schiff's full statement:

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Karl Rove

Docs Show Rove Pushed For Iglesias Firing

Zachary Roth | August 11, 2009, 3:20PM

Perhaps the key takeaway from the just released documents on the U.S. attorney firings is this:

Karl Rove claimed recently that he and his staff acted merely as a conduit for passing on concerns about David Iglesias. But it's now clear that Rove's office pushed from 2005 for Iglesias to be canned, and was intimately involved in the decision.

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Karl Rove

'Very Agitated' Rove Called Miers From New Mexico To Complain About Iglesias

Justin Elliott | August 11, 2009, 3:12PM

We're digging through the trove of documents released today by the House Judiciary Committee on the US attorney firings and the politicization of the Justice Department under George W. Bush.

In a June 15 interview with House investigators, former White House Counsel Harriet Miers detailed a remarkable 2006 contact with Karl Rove, then on the road in New Mexico, regarding US Attorney David Iglesias.

Rove, Miers recalled, was "very agitated" about Iglesias, who was later ousted in the Bush Administration's purge of US Attorneys. Rove was getting "barraged" with complains by "political people that were active in New Mexico."

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U.S. Attorneys

U.S. Attorney Firings: White House And RNC Docs Released

Zachary Roth | August 11, 2009, 2:46PM

On the U.S. attorney firings, Congress has also released thousands of pages of White House and RNC emails and other documents pertaining to the firings.

Here are the White House documents. Here are the RNC documents.

U.S. Attorneys

House Judiciary Breaks Down 'Key Facts' In New White House Docs

Justin Elliott | August 11, 2009, 2:34PM

Below is a press release from the House Judiciary Committee on new facts about DOJ politicization brought to light by interviews with Karl Rove and Harriet Miers along with 5,400 pages of White House and RNC e-mails.

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Harriet Miers

Congress Releases Rove And Miers Interviews On U.S. Attorney Firings

Zachary Roth | August 11, 2009, 2:30PM

The House Judiciary committee has posted the transcripts of its interviews with Karl Rove and Harriet Miers, about the U.S. attorney firings.

The Rove transcripts are here. The Miers transcripts are here.

Have at it.