"View profile I Was the Subject of a Political 'Witch Hunt.' Matt Whitaker Directed It."

[progressoid]

Matt McCoy is a state senator from Iowa's 21st District.

On the morning of April 7, 2006, two FBI agents knocked on my door. They informed me that I was being investigated about issues related to bribery and violation of the Hobbs Act. As I tried to recall what the Hobbs Act entailed (robbery and extortion, mostly), they prolonged their visit by pressing “play” on a tape recorder. I was shocked to hear a conversation I had conducted with my business colleague, Tom Vasquez.

...

According to my attorney, Jerry Crawford, during the trial he walked over to the prosecuting attorneys and asked them to save face, saying, “Pull this case now. I’m embarrassed for the United States of America.” Both of the attorneys he spoke to, one of whom had been flown in from Washington, D.C., by the DOJ, said they were instructed to carry out the case to its fullest extent. Somebody in Washington—or in Whitaker’s office—was making this call, and the trial prosecutors didn’t have control over it. They knew they were out-lawyered, and they were getting slaughtered daily in court. But they couldn’t bring it to a close, which would have saved them both money and time.

Whitaker’s office clearly wanted to give the evangelical right within the Republican Party a trophy, and that trophy was me—one of the state’s most prominent young Democrats at the time. Whitaker is a social conservative who supported the Iowa Christian Alliance, the pre-eminent group in the state for like-minded conservatives. In 2014, he was executive director of the Foundation for Accountability and Civil Trust (FACT), a conservative watchdog, which Slate described as a “Dark Money-Funded Clinton Antagonist … [which] largely publicized what it described as ethical lapses by prominent Democrats and requested that government agencies and law enforcement investigate them.”
...

Whitaker has attempted to establish his own career in Iowa politics. He lost a run for state treasurer in 2002, lost a Republican primary bid for the U.S. Senate in 2014, and was not selected for a seat on the Iowa Supreme Court despite angling for the job. It’s hard to believe he could carry out the important job of United States attorney general with a sense of fealty to the law and to the Constitution, rather than to the Republican Party.

The government’s invasion of my privacy during the case Whitaker’s office brought against me was hardly unusual for such an investigation, but considering my innocence and exculpation it was appalling: I was followed, my conversations were recorded, and my financial records were seized. Family members, co-workers, legislative colleagues and acquaintances were questioned. My emails were read. The emails and financial records of a business colleague were subpoenaed. My reputation and future were damaged. The emotional stress took its toll on my physical and mental health. I lost both actual and potential income, along with my savings. When the DOJ wields its power in a partisan manner, it ruins lives. Whitaker almost ruined mine.

I left in debt, and with and a shattered sense of security. Whitaker left noting his “complete confidence in the jury system.”

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/11/11/matthew-whitaker-iowa-witch-hunt-222408?fbclid=IwAR1w7mxCqLq7Fxr5a9L3b2gCU6RZqlUTsWRyqtfDeF1cC10Y-bnckbEG3AE

Cross posted in the Iowa forum

[exboyfil]

1. This would make a hell of a movie

Perhaps out in time for the 2020 election.

Hello Hollywood!!!! Are you listening.

[Pacifist Patriot]

2. Yes, it certainly would!