Former US attorney: Charges may be filed in US attorney firings scandal RAW STORY

Published: Wednesday May 9, 2007 Print This Email This Two of the former US attorneys at the center of the attorney firings scandal believe that criminal charges could be brought against high level Justice Department employees, reports the Seattle Times. John McKay, who was a US attorney for Washington state, and David Iglesias, who was the attorney for New Mexico, told the Seattle Times that they think White House adviser Karl Rove and his aides were behind the firings of selected US attorneys last December. "I think there will be a criminal case that will come out of this," McKay said. "This is going to get worse, not better." McKay said he believes that there is a possibility of obstruction-of-justice charges being filed. "McKay cited ongoing investigations into the dismissals by the Senate and House Judiciary committees, and inquiries now under way by the Justice Department's inspector general and its Office of Professional Responsibility," writes David Bowermaster. The firings of Iglesias and Carol Lam, the former San Diego US attorney, provide the most solid evidence for obstruction-of-justice charges, according to McKay. "There was an attempt to inject the virus of partisan politics into the prosecutorial process," Iglesias said. "That's been stopped because of Congressional oversight and because of media scrutiny." Excerpts follow: # McKay and Iglesias also have both concluded that the White House was behind the firings. They based their conclusions on thousands of pages of documents released by the Justice Department in recent weeks, as well as hours of public testimony by senior Justice Department officials and press reports of private depositions those officials gave to congressional investigators. "It seems that given that no one takes credit at the Justice Department, that it can only be coming from one place, and that very strongly means the White House," McKay said. # READ THE FULL SEATTLE TIMES ARTICLE HERE



