Omertà: The Finger Points to McNulty

By Scott Horton

As chronicled in the “omertà” series, a concerted effort was made to silence the dismissed U.S. attorneys. Indeed, two U.S. attorneys – John McKay in Seattle and Paul Charlton in Phoenix – say they were shocked by it. Both compared the caller’s behavior to that of a thug trying to secure the silence of a witness in a criminal conspiracy. The caller was Michael Elston, chief of staff to Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty.

We learn through Murray Waas in the National Journal that Michael Elston spoke about the “hush calls” on March 30 when he was interviewed by Judiciary Committee investigators. Waas, who has a copy of the Elston transcript, summarizes it this way:

[Elston] said that he was directed by McNulty to tell the fired U.S. attorneys that the Department of Justice did not have a formal position as to whether they should testify.

Elston said that McNulty directed him to place calls to fired U.S. attorneys Paul Charlton of Arizona, Bud Cummins of Arkansas, and John McKay of Seattle, all of whom said they felt pressured to keep quiet.

The thrust of those call was unmistakable: a threat to tarnish the reputation of any U.S. attorney who testified before the Judiciary Committee. It was a transparent effort to obstruct a congressional inquiry which was shortly to reveal that McNulty, Gonzales and Moschella all misled or provided false statements to Congress.

At their hearing, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a career prosecutor, asked Bud Cummins to evaluate the situation. There was an interesting exchange:

“Mr. Cummins, let me ask you first. I’d like to ask you to put your U.S. attorney hat back on,” Whitehouse said. “You’re still in office, and think of a significant grand jury investigation that you led as United States attorney in your district. And consider that a significant witness in that grand jury investigation has just come into your office to relate to you that prior to his grand jury testimony he was approached about his testimony and [told] . . . essentially exactly the words that Mr. Elston approached you. What would your next step be as United States attorney?”

Cummins responded: “We take intimidation of witnesses very seriously in the Department of Justice and the U.S. attorney’s office, so we would be very proactive in that situation.”

To date, no criminal inquiry has been opened into McNulty’s and Elston’s conduct. The Bush administration’s political officers apparently feel they have a plenary license to obstruct investigations into criminal conduct and commit other crimes, to the extent it suits the interests of the White House. And it remains clear that all the obstruction which has been thrown up is geared not to the protection of McNulty or Gonzales so much as to the protection of Karl Rove.