US atty was fired after Senator complained to Bush: paper

RAW STORYPublished: Sunday April 15, 2007
"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," reports the Albuquerque Journal.
Domenici complained about the attorney to Alberto Gonzales, and later to President Bush, after Gonzales refused to fire Iglesias, according to the Journal.
"The senior senator from New Mexico had listened to criticism of Iglesias going back to 2003 from sources ranging from law enforcement officials to Republican Party activists," writes Mike Gallagher.
Gonzales told Domenici the only way Iglesias would be fired was at direct orders from the president, continues the report.

Excerpts from the article follow:
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.
The Journal confirmed the sequence of events through a variety of sources familiar with the firing of Iglesias, including sources close to Domenici. The senator's office declined comment.
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READ THE FULL ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL ARTICLE HERE