US prosecutor fired over interview he gave during Irish visit

FEDERAL prosecutor John McKay travelled to Ireland intending to visit family in Nenagh and get away from his political trouble with the Attorney General’s office.

It turned out to be the trip that got him fired.

“Even when [McKay] is in Ireland he causes problems! He needs to stop writing letters,” wrote Michael Elston, chief of staff of the Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, last September.

Mr Elston sent his email, uncovered by a joint congressional hearing, to Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez’s White House liaison, Monica Goodling.

During his visit to Ireland John McKay gave an interview to the Seattle-Post Intelligencer, which quoted a letter he sent to local law- enforcement agencies in the US warning of Justice Department budget cuts.

It was then the Attorney General’s office decided to get rid of Mr McKay.

Emails show that the office waited two months after Mr McKay returned from Ireland to fire him. He was one of eight US attorneys fired in what senior Democrats say was a concerted effort to purge prosecutors considered disloyal to the White House.

Although the article did not say he was in Ireland that week, the Attorney General’s office knew.

“Any US attorney who leaves the country has to register it with the Department of Justice. I guess there were some very small people in the Attorney General’s office and they were monitoring pretty closely,” said McKay.

When the article appeared in Seattle, the emails were flying. Spokesman for the Justice Department Brian Roehrkasse sent the article to Deputy AG Paul McNulty and wrote: “These comments are not exactly helpful ... anything we can do?”

Republicans were infuriated by Mr McKay’s refusal to convene a federal grand jury to investigate allegations of voter fraud following the hotly contested 2004 Washington governor’s race. Democrats suggest that’s why he was ousted.