On Tuesday in Washington, DC, the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by John Coneyrs, released thousands of pages of interview transcripts around the firing of U.S. Attorney David Iglesias of New Mexico and eight others.But, Wilson is blasting the committee's report. She says her email simply dealt with media leaks from an FBI investigation centered around Pennsylvania Congressman Curt Weldon.
The documents suggest an email from then Congresswoman Heather Wilson began a chain of emails in which, according to the committee, Iglesias was criticized for not bringing forward public corruption and voter fraud cases in the run up to the whisker close 2006 Election between Rep. Wilson and then New Mexico Attorney General Patricia Madrid.
But Wilson's email never mentions Iglesias.
UPDATED: Wilson released a statement and notes, including the entire email, on her Facebook page.
Wilson, who has been considering running for governor in New Mexico next year, responded to the committee's report. She told 770KKOB News Director Pat Allen the committee deliberately mis-characterized her October 2006 email.
While the email does not mention then U.S. Attorney David Iglesias directly, the committee's report says Jennings forward Wilson's email to Rove with a note complaining that Iglesias had been "shy about doing his job on Madrid," who appears to have been under investigation for work she did with a political action committee, Justice for America
A day after the Wilson's email was released she told us:
The documents released yesterday confirm that I had no contact with the Administration about Mr. Iglesias until after the decision was made to fire him.Wilson said at the time she believed it was possible "we would see a similar leak from law enforcement concerning Mrs. Madrid and that we could be asked by the media to comment on it:
My staff had contingency press guidance that, if asked, we would confirm that we had received an inquiry from the FBI about Attorney General Madrid and we were cooperating with law enforcement. The recipients of my email knew about the FBI inquiry and the contingency press guidance.
Wilson said the email to her staff, and Sen. Domenici's Chief of Staff Steve Bell, was intended to be "a heads up" to them. Wilson said because the investigation was not leaked, and did not become public, she didn't commented on her email until September 2008.
Iglesias Claims Reports Totally Vindicates Him
David Iglesias, has long contented he was a victim of a political witch hunt by state Republican leaders.
Iglesias tells 770KKOB that there was never any performance issues. He says they wanted to politicize U.S. Attorneys which the law can not allow. He says he wishes the White House would have shot straight with the American people.
Iglesias says he wanted to remain politically independent once he was in the office, and was punished for not playing ball.
Iglesias called from Washington, D.C. He's back on active duty in the Navy, working as a JAG on the Guantanamo Bay detainee cases and says it's the most challenging work of his career.
The Judiciary Committee's report also criticized former U.S. Senator Pete Domenici who allegedly asked Bush's Chief of Staff Josh Bolten to have Iglesias replaced. The report says, in October 2006 Domenici stepped up his campaign to have Iglesias replaced. And, according to White House phone logs and emails, as well as Rove's own testimony, Domenici spoke with Bolten about Iglesias as late as October 5th and four other times the same month.
Blogger Heath Haussamen reports Conyers, D-Mich., said the documents, which include e-mails and transcripts of testimony from Rove and Harriet Miers, prove that “Karl Rove and his cohorts at the Bush White House were the driving force behind several of these firings, which were done for improper reasons.”
“When Mr. Iglesias said his firing was a ‘political fragging,’ he was right,” Conyers said in a news release.
The committee's reports are available online for the public's review.
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