Did Tom Reynolds try to strong arm a US Attorney?
Not sure how much you’ve been following the saga of the eight US Attorneys that Abu Gonzales has had fired (most likely for political reasons) over the past few months, but one of the fired US Attorneys is now speaking out:
The U.S. attorney from New Mexico who was recently fired by the Bush administration said Wednesday that he believes he was forced out because he refused to rush an indictment of local Democrats a month before November’s Congressional elections.
U.S. Attorney David Iglesias said two members of Congress separately called in mid-October to inquire about the timing of an ongoing probe of a kickback scheme and appeared eager for an indictment to be issued on the eve of the elections in order to benefit the Republicans. He refused to name the members of Congress because he said he feared retaliation.
Talking Points Memo lays out a list of suspects (for being among the Congressmen who called Iglesias) and Tom Reynolds (as head of the National Republican Congressional Committee) is on it. I’ll try calling Reynolds’ office for comment. If you’re a constituent, you might want to give it a try as well; the number is:
(202) 225-5265
Note: I doubt Reynolds was one of the callers. If you’re a Reynolds staffer and you’re reading this, feel free to drop us a line or leave comment verifying that Reynolds was not involved with this.
Update: Looks like the perpetrators were Domenici and Wilson of New Mexico.
Looks like it’s Heather Wilson and Pete Domenici, which makes sense.
I’m not convinced on Domenici yet. I think Wilson was one of them, for sure. I doubt Reynolds was involved but he had motive.