Duke Falconer writes in the ePluribus Media Spotlight article on Iglesias:

Ironically, of the seven US Attorneys purged by Alberto Gonzales last December, David C. Iglesias of New Mexico, who has received little attention in the press, is perhaps the most famous of the group...but most people just don't know it. While a Navy JAG officer in 1986 he was the defense counsel in a Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, court-martial of two men accused of assaulting a fellow Marine. Iglesias, and his defense in that case, later became the inspiration for the movie, "A Few Good Men."

Iglesias has announced a press conference for later today. Stay tuned. Bodgen, also stepping down today, was the subject of an ePluribus Media spotlight article three weeks ago that looked at what Bodgen was investigating. Full stories on each of the seven are available The Gonzales Seven: Who They are and Who is Replacing Them It is now generally accepted that the seven were asked to resign because the Bush Administration desires shifts in the direction of prosecution. Speculation has ranged from these new policy directions as:

• Federal enforcement of capital punishment (Charlton)
• Less focus on Republican political corruption (Lam)
• More focus on "opposition" investigation into Democrats (Cummins, McKay)
• More prosecution and focus on illegals (Lam, Iglesias)

In addition to the original Gonzales Seven asked to resign on Pearl Harbor Day, 2006, Margaret Chiara, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan, was a latecomer to the party. She announced her resignation Febuary 23 and Dan Eggen reported she was the 8th to be fired:

An eighth U.S. attorney announced her resignation yesterday, the latest in a wave of forced departures of federal prosecutors who have clashed with the Justice Department over the death penalty and other issues. ... Sources familiar with the case confirmed that she was among a larger group of prosecutors who were first asked to resign Dec. 7.

Update [2007-2-28 14:44:58 by ePluribus Media]: The AP (via Santa Fe New Mexican) has a report on the Iglesias news conference today.

Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty told the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month that most of the U.S. attorneys had been fired for "performance-related" reasons. But Iglesias said he called his news conference Wednesday to present evidence that's "demonstrably untrue" for his office. He displayed charts of statistics showing the number of defendants charged during his 5 1/2-year tenure rose 13 percent and immigration cases increased 78 percent. At the same time, the caseload of his assistant U.S. attorneys went up 24 percent, while the number of full-time employees in the office went up just 7 percent. ... He said he still feels "hugely disappointed" by his ouster. But he refused to criticize the Justice Department or the Bush administration and said he would testify before Congress about the issue only under subpoena.

Also, a piece by Marisa Taylor of McClatchy on Iglesias stepping down Political interference alleged in sacking of a U.S. attorney.

Two months later, on Dec. 7, Iglesias became one of six U.S. attorneys ordered to step down for what administration officials have termed "performance-related issues." Two other U.S. attorneys also have been asked to resign.

Iglesias, who received a positive performance review before he was fired, said he suspected he was forced out because of his refusal to be pressured to hand down an indictment in the ongoing probe.

"I believe that because I didn't play ball, so to speak, I was asked to resign," said Iglesias, who officially stepped down Wednesday.

Update [2007-2-28 16:2:58 by ePluribus Media]: Josh Marshall picking up from the McClatchy article:

Now, when Iglesias had his news conference this morning, McClatchy reports that he said that "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." Iglesias wouldn't name those members of Congress. But we want to know who they are.

And Paul Kiel is tracking down members of the New Mexico Congressional delegation to find out who made the calls. He has two responses posted so far at TPMuckraker.



Update [2007-2-28 17:3:44 by ePluribus Media]: Ellicatt in the comments reports:

Feinstein, Schumer and Whitehouse, in the past hour on the Senate floor, all spoke of this issue and specifically talked about the AP article, Iglesias, and Carol Lam's (sp?) firings. They talked about how Iglesias was contacted by two congressmen who wanted Iglesias to hand down an indictment against a Democrat the evening before the November election, and Iglesias refused to do it. Schumer relayed that his office was contacted regarding this situation and was told that Iglesias was willing to testify, but would do it under subpoena.

They also brought up that one of the appointees was closely aligned with Rove, and had a job that basically amounted to doing "dirt research" on democratic candidates. In their opinion, this man is not qualified to have received this appointment.

They were told by Alberto Gonzales that these new appointments were made to (paraphrasing) best serve the American public with the best available resources.

They are determined to get to the bottom of this, and they perceive the situation to be absolutely politically motivated.

TPMuckraker also is now reporting that Sen. Feinstein and Sen. Schumer both spoke on the Senate floor this afternoon and called for subpoenas to be issued to the fired U.S. Attorneys.


Update [2007-2-28 20:35:11 by standingup]: Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee have joined in seeking testimony from some of the fired U.S. Attorneys. The Associated Press is reporting:

A House subcommittee is slated to vote Thursday on subpoenas for four of the eight dismissed U.S. attorneys. The Senate Judiciary Committee, meanwhile, will send letters to those fired before voting next week on compelling their testimony, according to officials with both panels. The prosecutors have privately told both committees that they would not testify voluntarily but would honor a congressional subpoena, according to Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and an official close to the House subcommittee on commercial and administrative law. House subcommittee Chairwoman Linda Sanchez said her panel will vote on subpoenas for fired prosecutors Carol Lam of San Diego, David Iglesias of New Mexico, H.E. "Bud" Cummins of Arkansas and John McKay of Washington.

Over the last several weeks ePluribus Media has brought you several stories:

Previous ePluribus Media stories on the U.S. Attorneys: Here are some links to fact checked articles on the ePluribus Media Journal:

• The original story, where we provided the who, what, where and important background on The Gonzales Seven
• The background information on the March 2006 reauthorization of Patriot Act's effect and impact on how U.S. Attorneys are appointed, by Adam Lambert (clammyc) The Alberto Gonzales Appointments: How the Process Has Changed and Why this is so Important
• A mid-research snapshot of Drs. Shields and Cragan's longitudinal study in the U.S. Attorney offices' political profiling of Democrats The Political Profiling of Elected Democratic Officials: When Rhetorical Vision Participation Runs Amok
• Spotlight articles on each of the seven U.S. Attorneys asked to resign in the Pearl Harbor Day Massacre of the Gonzales Seven

On the ePluribus Media Community, check out these commentaries:

• 14 Serving U.S. Attorneys who have never been officially nominated by the President, and therefore, have not gone through the Senate confirmation process What We Know about 14 Acting, Interim or Serving U.S. Attorneys
• Duke1676's speculation on the whys in The Gonzales Seven: Update and Thoughts
• A recap of what we knew about the replacements, with a chart to keep score The Gonzales Seven: The Replacement U.S. Attorneys
• Rayne Today's focus on the Eighth U.S. Attorney who has resigned USAG's rolling Saturday Night Massacre reaches Michigan
• Speculation on four more, completing Gonzales's supposed 10 -11 who have resigned The + Four (4) to the Gonzales Seven

Many many contributors: Avahome, kfred, standingup, JeninRI, biblio, cho, roxy, wanderindiana, GreyHawk, Chris White, luaptifer, Rayne Today, Connecticut Man 1, Aaron Barlow, Bronxdem, Timroff, Duke1676, clammyc; on Kos: The Maven, Dc Pol Sci, macdust, carolita, MarkeTrustee, The Fat Lady Sings, madgranny, ellicatt

Please let us know of any one we may have missed.

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