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Purged Prosecutor: DoJ Offered Me "A Deal"
It's easy to get lost among the scandals and subscandals that make up the administration's firing of eight U.S. attorneys, but one chief allegation is that the Justice Department did its best to discourage the prosecutors from talking to the media and Congress about the firings.
Bud Cummins, the former U.S.A. for Little Rock, Arkansas, testified before Congress about a call he received from Justice Department official Michael Elston in late February with the following message: if the prosecutors didn't stop talking, the Justice Department would hit back.
Now another prosecutor, Seattle's John McKay, says he got a similar call much earlier, before the firings had even been reported. From Newsweek:
After McKay was fired in December, he says he also got a phone call from a "clearly nervous" Elston asking if he intended to go public: "He was offering me a deal: you stay silent and the attorney general won't say anything bad about you."
As with his chat with Cummins, Elston doesn't deny that he made the call. But he tells Newsweek, that he "can't imagine" how McKay interpreted the call that way.
Similarly, Elston wrote in a letter earlier this week that he was "shocked and baffled" by Cummins' interpretation of that call. And he tells Newsweek that all he said to Cummins was that "it's really a shame that all this has to come out in the newspaper." Somehow, Cummins interpreted that as a threat.
Comments (30)
Anonymous wrote on March 11, 2007 2:16 PM:Corleone: "Well, yeah, I sent Hagen to talk to Woltz, but I can't for the life of me imagine how he interpreted that little equestrian thing as some kind of threat."
Mongo wrote on March 11, 2007 2:34 PM:The overarching theme of the Right really does seem to be that they can will reality into whatever they choose.
And that everyone had better listen to them, and toe the line. And, that whoever is stupid enough to believe are really fools, chumps, cattle -- who deserve whatever happens to them when the curtains come down.
I don't know whether to laugh at that kind of narcissistic drivel, or cry.
Dennis wrote on March 11, 2007 2:40 PM:OK. The cat is out of the bag. Question is, just what the Congress is going to do about it?
History says, "not very much".
There are so many wrongs here that nobody is going to really swing for any of this. The Democrats will have their day exposing all of the corruption and then will take a deal from the Republicans to drop the whole thing.
Congress is equal to Nero. Nero plays the fiddle while Rome burns and Congress plays politics while the U.S. nation goes to hell. And because of it, we as a nation are on the downhill slide.
We've peaked as a nation.
You don't have to be a blind conservative not to see it, just an ignorant one to deny it.
Ben Craig wrote on March 11, 2007 2:50 PM:Incredible. This is what life in a fascist state is like. Absolute power at the top, and if you dare cross them, they strike back immediately. This is the road Bush, Cheney, Condi and Gonzales have taken us down.
Mike wrote on March 11, 2007 3:13 PM:I find the underlying theme of this back story to be interesting… specifically the assumption from the Whitehouse that party loyalty trumps one’s duty to society.
Would a reasonable person not assume that if a political appointee had the integrity to resist the temptation to advance an indictment in front of the evidence that that same political appointee would also be inclined to tell the truth under oath? The fact that such thinly veiled threats were attempted at all speaks volumes. In the Alice in Wonderland world that is this Republican Whitehouse there is only the ‘party line’. Abstract concepts of Honor and Integrity do not exist. The candidate that ran on a platform of ‘restoring honor and integrity to government’ has abandoned any pretense of moral absolutes.
EasyRider wrote on March 11, 2007 3:15 PM:I still think Congress should have a Joint Session with U.S. Marshalls present. Haul these low lifes in front of the Congress.
Have them Testify under oath. When they lie vote for immediate impeachment, removal from office, and charged with conspiracy against the Government.
BroD wrote on March 11, 2007 3:20 PM:Then have the U.S. Marshall arrest them and straight to prison while it is determine if they have to charge with Treason against the Government as they have clearly participated in criminal activities to overthrow the rule of law in the United States of America and to destory of form of Government.
Impeach Bush, Cheney & Gonzales. Impeach them now. History will damn us if we fail to do this.
John Bertsch wrote on March 11, 2007 3:21 PM:These are Republicans dumping on Republicans. Maybe the Republican members of Congress should remember that fact especially the next time they face their voters.
Don't cry for me America!
KY3 Democrat wrote on March 11, 2007 3:28 PM:I think Dennis and Ben have it right; we've
peaked as a democracy and are well on the road
to being a facist state. We're in a kind
of rolling, on-going Iran-Contra/ Watergate/
Vietnam War state of affairs.
But there is still another way out. One of
these days, soon I think, this stuff is going
to get taken to the streets. Strikes, boycotts, protests, and more. Even Nixon trembled at some
of the protests he saw.
Ah ha! The Capcha code for this post was "crush"!
KY3 Democrat: "Why yes, I do know where the
gjdodger wrote on March 11, 2007 3:51 PM:nearest lamp post is..."
I just started laughing when I read that last line. Is this idiot Elston so tone-deaf that he doesn't realized he sounds like a mobster saying, "Nice career you've got, Bud; it would be a shame if somebody were to accidentally set fire to it"? I mean, he says damning things to the media and wonders aloud why people would thing there was anything sinister to them. I guess if you exist within a depraved culture, that stuff starts sounding normal.
Jim M wrote on March 11, 2007 5:16 PM:Dodger--I think you're right. Especially compared to Rove bellowing "we're going to f--- you!!" into a phone, this must have seemed like chit chat.
Great White North wrote on March 11, 2007 5:53 PM:Folks, try not to despair. Keep hounding the Dems to clean this up, and the MSM to bring it all to light, and we can make a difference.
"But there is still another way out. One of
these days, soon I think, this stuff is going
to get taken to the streets. Strikes, boycotts, protests, and more."
What scares me the most is that Bush is still so high in the polls....
Cheryl wrote on March 11, 2007 6:33 PM:"He was offering me a deal: you stay silent and the attorney general won't say anything bad about you."
Someone tell Patrick Fitzgerald not to get to comfortable in his day job just yet.
Time to put some more worthless Judith Miller (so-called) journalist in jail again. Preferably someone who thinks blackingballing hard working employees is something everyone including the Washington Post does on daily basis. And really, isn't it time someone sue the current administration for libel?
chard wrote on March 11, 2007 8:29 PM:At what point will a telephone recording system become de rigeur for any government official?
Al in Austex wrote on March 11, 2007 8:34 PM:"We have nothing to fear but fear itself" FDR
stephen wrote on March 11, 2007 11:53 PM:Hey ya'll-- particularly Dennis, take awhile to consider -we have overcome much more then the BushCo crowd -as a country.
Ben Franklin said it best "You have a Republic if you can keep it !"
Well stop fearing -get active to keep our Republic . FYI I drive a cab in Austin .I carry around at least forty fares a day , & cutomers of all stripes & economic station are saying the same thing - BushCo has got to go !!
We the People still have the last say in who runs our Lives & Our Country !
"Domenici and Wilson acknowledge calling Iglesias, but deny pressuring him."
No they weren't presuring him. Lets see what could they have called for, rememebering that Iglesias said Domenici's call to him was let me see if I can remember OH YEAH "UNPRECEDENTED IT HAD NEVER HAPPENED IN HIS TENURE". So Wilson what were you calling about "....So how are the kids? Is the schooling going Ok? How are their grades? ANd your wife how is she doing? Are you guys planning your summer vacation yet?"
stephen wrote on March 11, 2007 11:56 PM:Oh this is getting very interesting very interesting...maybe that frog march is still in the kards for Rove after all.....We can hope! Hey when was Patriot Act II installed? What time of year was it and the little insertion about no Senate approval signed off.
mcrose wrote on March 12, 2007 1:47 AM:If I could see Rove and Cheney hauled off to jail, then perhaps I could believe in this country once again.
Until then, the only truth we have is that those who lied our country into war, and punished good and honest people in order to hold their power. . . they are rich.
We all know their sins, but they are rich and powerful, and they laugh at all of us who are stupid enough to do an honest day's work.
So unless, and until everyone sees Rove and Cheney put in a 10x10 cell, then the message will be that lies are the American way and you will be rewarded.
pj in jesusland wrote on March 12, 2007 3:33 AM:The increasingly lurid US Attorney details remind me of when Rep. Nick Smith complained in 2003 that GOP operatives bribed and threatened him on the floor of the House to change his No vote on the President's Medicare bill. It turned out the "bribe" offer came from Tom DeLay. The retiring Smith was also threatened that this son, who was running for his office, would never get elected if Smith didn't vote "Aye."
I said then that the GOP was behaving like an organized crime syndicate and I'll say it again. They act like they're running a political racket. They are cynical and completely self-serving. No notion of serving the public interest or the public good.
Al in Austex wrote on March 12, 2007 5:23 AM:Does any one know if these various threads in this corrupt & organized crime enterprise known as our 43rd Presidential Administration could be weaved into a RICO super indictment ? I mean it looks like if you followed the MONEY - you would find the same players..
Jeff wrote on March 12, 2007 12:48 PM:Could Sen Chuck (Zorro ) Hagel who is today announcing his run for the GOP nomination find out if RICO would apply. (By the way the Esquire article on Hagel was pretty good- thanks TPM for linking to it ..)
I have been endeavering to answer the following burning question.
How many Rebublicans does it take to screw in a light bulb?
I decided to use modern Republican Values in order to arrive at an answer.
So, how many Republicans does it take to screw in a light bulb?
Lets do the math.
1 to steal the light bulb
1 to deny that the light bulb was stolen
1 to question whether the light bulb ever existed in the first place
1 to offer lucrative deals to any scientist willing to write a thesis claiming
that there is no such thing as light bulbs, therefore how could one be stolen
1 to blame it on Bill Clinton
1 to claim that the light bulb had not actually been stolen, but just borrowed
in order to shed light on the much larger issue of Democratic light bulb theivery
1 to claim that the light bulb was stolen by a middle eastern country attempting
to stockpile light bulbs that will be used against us unless we pre-emptively
invade thier country
1 to claim that light bulb theft is not a real crime, therefore the Republican
responsible should not be held accountable
1 to insist on a presidential pardon for the Republican theif
All the rest to man thier keyboards, pointing out that anyone who disagreed with
the theft of the light bulb is un-patriotic
It is very difficult to arrive at an actual number because there is a big difference
kenga wrote on March 12, 2007 4:19 PM:between actually screwing in a light bulb and just spinning one.
Jeff,
Ellen wrote on March 12, 2007 6:33 PM:Prior to your analysis, I'd have said:
"Three - one to screw in the light bulb, and one to confuse the issue."
After reading your enumeration I've had to revisit the question, and I believe you're right.
Wow, the indignant, but proud look on that former U.S. Atty's face says it all... It is not easy being a GOOD Fed. prosecutor and standing up to big-time crime! We NEED good prosecutors!!
As an attorney myself who once found herself in a questionable govt. office with close ties to Bush, I can confirm that threats are not unheard of. I managed to get out, but it was daunting! These officials who lost their jobs are probably the most sterling prosecutors around--that's why BushCo has to snuff them out!
My legal contacts in New Mexico raved about former US Atty. Iglesias. He had a stellar rep and you have to earn that!
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