McKay made firing list in March '05; was Wales killing a factor?

[flamingyouth]

Source: komotv.com

SEATTLE (AP) - Former U.S. Attorney John McKay's name was on a list of federal prosecutors to be fired in March 2005, 18 months earlier than previously reported and during the height of the controversy over the contested gubernatorial election in Washington, according to a document released by the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday.

At a hearing in the nation's capital, a Judiciary Committee member suggested McKay might have made the list, drawn up by the attorney general's then-chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, for requesting "some action" by the Justice Department with regard to the unsolved 2001 killing of Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Wales.

In questioning former Deputy Attorney General James Comey, Rep. Mel Watt, D-N.C., said: "It was suggested that Mr. Sampson had concerns or that concerns had been raised ... relating to the murder of an assistant U.S. attorney named Thomas Wales, in which Mr. McKay had requested some action by the department."

Watt based his remark on statements Sampson made to congressional investigators during a closed-door interview last month, a Judiciary Committee staffer confirmed to The Associated Press. The staffer requested anonymity because the interview was not public.


Read more: http://www.komotv.com/news/7317851.html

[librechik]

1. What the hell...Murder?

wake up national press!

[Jackpine Radical]

2. The paranoia runs deep these days.

My first thought on reading this story is that Wales was starting to investigate something the BFEE didn't want investigated, they took him out, & then they didn't want McKay rooting around in their homicide, so they put attack dog Sampson on the job of taking him out. It would be really interesting to know what Wales was working on when he was hit.

[TomInTib]

4. Check this out. I did a little search...

http://www.fbi.gov/page2/oct2006/wales101306.htm

I found a bit of strange stuff regarding Ass't USAs:

http://www.dogpile.com/info.dogpl/search/web/%252527assistant%252Bu.%252Bs.%252Battorney%252Bthomas%252Bwales%252527/1/-/1/-/-/-/1/-/-/-/1/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/417/top/-/-/-/1

[glitch]

8. Wow - "where he specialized in complex fraud cases." (one of the dogpile links)

complex fraud certainly fits the bfee profile. I actually wondered about this murder when the attorney general scandal broke. I would put no action beneath these people.

[Missy Vixen]

14. The suspect in the crime

is actually someone who was evidently prosecuted by the US Attorney's office in Seattle, according to an article in Seattle magazine earlier this year. Unfortunately, there is no available link.

Here's an article from the Times about the search as well: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003300493_wales12m.html

Mr. Wales was also the president of Washington Ceasefire, IIRC. Only a bit ironic that he ended up being shot to death.

Julie

[maddezmom]

3. K&R

heard this the first time today. I knowm I've missed lots of stuff, but this one left me wondering more than I want to be.

[flamingyouth]

6. Thomas Wales was my parents' neighbor.

It's a disturbing story all around, to say the least.

[MadMaddie]

9. I agree I moved here a couple of years before the Murder...

They have one suspect but that's all I have heard of late...theres more to the story....

[maddezmom]

12. Comey seemed disturbed as well n/t

[ewagner]

5. This is "comic book simple"

it's something the American public can understand, if only for the fact that they've watched TV murder mysteries like they're addicted to them.

This will keep the investigation going and keep the public interested in it for some time to come.

Oh yes


K & R

[flamingyouth]

7. McKay recalls Justice official's "sinister" call

Ten days before he stepped down as U.S. attorney for Western Washington, John McKay says, he received a "sinister" phone call from a senior Justice Department official that he interpreted as a threat to stay quiet about his forced resignation.

In a seven-page document released Wednesday by the House Judiciary Committee, McKay said Michael Elston, chief of staff to Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, "threatened" him Jan. 17, one day before Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Bob Driscoll, Elston's attorney, confirmed that Elston called McKay and Paul Charlton, the former U.S. attorney for the District of Arizona, on Jan. 17. But Driscoll disputed McKay's interpretation of the call's purpose.

"There was certainly no intention on Mike Elston's part to threaten anyone," Driscoll said. "He called McKay and Charlton simply to let them know that the was not going to be discussing their situation during his testimony."

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003690949_mckay03m.html

[brentspeak]

10. Wales wasn't just murdered; he was possibly assassinated

Somebody or somebodies fired into his house when he was sitting in his basement. There's been speculation that a gun-nut might have done it, because Wales was deeply involved in gun-control efforts. But of course, as a prosecutor, he probably had other enemies, as well.

[MnFats]

11. the extra postage, the scrawled lettering make me think of...

...the Zodiac Killer.
...I know, I know, it's ridiculous.
...but check www.zodiackiller.com to see the similarities.
....I know, it's totally ridiculous.

[flyarm]

13. K&R..incredible isn't it?? !!!!! eom

[freeplessinseattle]

15. K&R n/t