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 [attorney general] was not going to be discussing their situation during his testimony."

McKay had been told by the Justice Department on Dec. 7 to resign. A week later, the Seattle-based U.S. attorney announced that he would step down effective Jan. 26 to return to the private sector, but did not say why.

At the time of Elston's call, McKay still had not divulged that he had been fired.

Elston wanted to keep it that way, according to McKay.

Elston told him Gonzales "would be holding to general statements about U.S. attorney resignations in his upcoming testimony," and said the Justice Department had no intention of circumventing Senate confirmation in naming replacements for McKay and other fired prosecutors, McKay said.

"I greatly resented what I felt Mr. Elston was trying to do: buy my silence by promising that the attorney general would not demean me in his Senate testimony," McKay told the House panel, though McKay did not say precisely what Elston said that constituted a threat.

"I clearly and slowly told Mr. Elston that his description of what the attorney general would be saying would have nothing to do with what I said or didn't say publicly," McKay continued. "I told him that nothing he could say in Washington, D.C., could demean me in Seattle, and made clear that I did not appreciate his offer."

McKay said he considered Elston's tone "sinister."

McKay did not confirm publicly that he had been fired until Feb. 7, the day after McNulty told the Senate that McKay and six other U.S. attorneys had been dismissed for "performance-related" reasons.

McKay's comments were contained in his written response to questions that the House Judiciary Committee sent him and after he testified before the panel March 6.

David Bowermaster: 206-464-2724 or dbowermaster@seattletimes.com