Albuquerque Journal: Bush pulled the trigger on Iglesias.
We’ve always known it must have gone down something like this. But they’ve got the details. From this morning’s paper …
Former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias was fired after Sen. Pete Domenici, who had been unhappy with Iglesias for some time, made a personal appeal to the White House, the Journal has learned.
…
In the spring of 2006, Domenici told Gonzales he wanted Iglesias out.
Gonzales refused. He told Domenici he would fire Iglesias only on orders from the president.
At some point after the election last Nov. 6, Domenici called Bush’s senior political adviser, Karl Rove, and told him he wanted Iglesias out and asked Rove to take his request directly to the president.
Domenici and Bush subsequently had a telephone conversation about the issue.
The conversation between Bush and Domenici occurred sometime after the election but before the firings of Iglesias and six other U.S. attorneys were announced on Dec. 7.
Iglesias’ name first showed up on a Nov. 15 list of federal prosecutors who would be asked to resign. It was not on a similar list prepared in October.
So it sounds like Domenici had wanted Iglesias gone for a long time. But after Iglesias wouldn’t time an indictment of Manny Aragon to coincide with the November election, Domenici had had enough. He called President Bush, demanded Iglesias’s firing. And President Bush fired him.
For a detailed analysis of what this means for the larger US Attorney Purge story, see Paul’s run-down here.
