Villafuerte Withdraws as Nominee for Colorado US Attorney

Attorney General Eric Holder to “initiate a Department of Justice investigation into this matter,” it was not just Republicans who wanted to know more. The Denver Post, whose Editorial Board endorsed Bill Ritter in 2006, has said Villafuerte “owes the public some answers” and that her letter to Senators Udall and Bennet “reveals a nagging inconsistency about her recollection of events.”

On the federal side, Senator Sessions alluded to ICE malfeasance in his questioning of Secretary Napolitano: “ICE presented a supervisor for criminal prosecution to the US Attorney for felony offenses including perjury….But apparently ICE is yet to take any action against the supervisor but they’re continuing to seek to remove Mr. Voorhis.”  

The supervisor, Tony Rouco, was indeed found to have lied (and confessed) during a July, 2008 polygraph examination. Indeed, an FBI agent close to the case told Cory Voorhis that if Rouco had told the truth initially (about Voorhis having informed Rouco right away about his contact with Beauprez’s office), Voorhis would most likely have not been charged with a crime and there would not have been a trial.

Although the Senate Judiciary Committee will not hear more from Stephanie Villafuerte, and her withdrawal takes the pressure off Colorado’s Democratic Senators, there must still be several nervous people in Denver today.  While Rouco’s is the only name among senior Denver ICE officials to have received public scrutiny, several others have reportedly also been investigated for perjury and other violations of rule and law. And members of the Denver District Attorney’s office must be aware that they did the same thing for which Cory Voorhis was prosecuted.

If there is a serious investigation — something which has been stymied both at the state and federal levels so far — officials of both state and federal government will have some hard questions to answer.

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