… into a political enforcement organization.
Think Progress, Center for American Progress

Iglesias: My Firing Was A ‘Political Hit’

Today on Fox News Sunday, former U.S. attorney David Iglesias beat back several misleading claims by Bush administration officials, and reasserted that his firing was a “political hit,” not done for performance reasons.

He pointed out that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales agreed to write him a recommendation even after he was fired. “If [my firing] was performance based, there is no way they would have agreed to have allowed me to list them as a reference,” he said. “In fact, they agreed, telling me that the true nature was political, not performance.”…

Iglesias rebutted criticisms from Republican leaders, such as the New Mexico GOP chairman, who complained to Karl Rove that the former prosecutor didn’t go after voter fraud aggressively enough. In those cases, “we didn’t have evidence beyond a reasonable doubt,” Iglesias stated. “Prosecutors can’t just prosecute on rumor and innuendo. I set up only one of two election fraud task forces in the country. In fact, the Justice Department asked me to speak at an election fraud seminar as a result of those task forces.”

Iglesias also resisted pressure from Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) and Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM), who made “unprecedented” — and possibly illegal — calls to him to prosecute Democrats before the Nov. 2006 elections…

Posted by Amanda March 18, 2007

[Click through to read the transcript and to watch the video.—Caro]

… into a political enforcement organization.
Think Progress, Center for American Progress

Iglesias: My Firing Was A ‘Political Hit’

Today on Fox News Sunday, former U.S. attorney David Iglesias beat back several misleading claims by Bush administration officials, and reasserted that his firing was a “political hit,” not done for performance reasons.

He pointed out that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales agreed to write him a recommendation even after he was fired. “If [my firing] was performance based, there is no way they would have agreed to have allowed me to list them as a reference,” he said. “In fact, they agreed, telling me that the true nature was political, not performance.”…

Iglesias rebutted criticisms from Republican leaders, such as the New Mexico GOP chairman, who complained to Karl Rove that the former prosecutor didn’t go after voter fraud aggressively enough. In those cases, “we didn’t have evidence beyond a reasonable doubt,” Iglesias stated. “Prosecutors can’t just prosecute on rumor and innuendo. I set up only one of two election fraud task forces in the country. In fact, the Justice Department asked me to speak at an election fraud seminar as a result of those task forces.”

Iglesias also resisted pressure from Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) and Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM), who made “unprecedented” — and possibly illegal — calls to him to prosecute Democrats before the Nov. 2006 elections…

Posted by Amanda March 18, 2007

[Click through to read the transcript and to watch the video.—Caro]