The latest twist in events surrounding the U.S. Attorney scandal has reached new heights and perilously low bottoms when it comes to basic human morality. It turns out that John McKay was singled out for removal a while back because of his fight with the Justice Dept to investigate the death of fellow U.S. Attorney Tom Wales.
From The Washington Post:
Several officials familiar with the investigation said McKay and other officials in Seattle believed that senior Justice officials were not paying enough attention to the case. Sampson did not cite specifics, saying only that McKay had demanded actions that led to conflicts, congressional aides familiar with his account said.
The suggestion of a connection between the firing and the unsolved Wales murder case generated angry reactions from McKay and others in western Washington yesterday.
"The idea that I was pushing too hard to investigate the assassination of a federal prosecutor -- it's mind-numbing" that they would suggest that, McKay said. " . . . If it's true, it's just immoral, and if it's false, then the idea that they would use the death of Tom Wales to cover up what they did is just unconscionable."
Well morality has never come easy to the top echelons of the Justice Department and their friends over at the White House. What is amazing is that they would want to drag McKay's feet on a murder investigation. What was the reasoning behind it? Did they just want McKay to focus on investigating Democrats, or was there something more sinister behind it? No senior Justice Department officials came to the funeral, which was considered very odd. Nor did Gonzales attend the fifth year commemoration of his death. He sent an underling instead. Perhaps the two events were out of carelessness for protocol, but who knows?
Either way, it is a travesty that McKay and several of his colleagues' ouster occurred in the manner that it did. Gonzales and the White House can continue to deny that they did anything wrong but the public sees it differently. We all do.
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