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It began in 2007, when McCoy was an emerging democrat in state politics and the state's first openly gay legislator. Whitaker was the US Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa at the time.
A grand jury indictment accused McCoy of using his elected office to extort $ 2,000 from a Des Moines residential security firm where he was a consultant. The charges were laid as a result of a complex undercover investigation during which the FBI asked McCoy's trading partner to carry a recording device. McCoy asked for money, he says, for his consulting work.
In an interview with CNN this week, McCoy said that Whitaker "has certainly tried to prove that I had done something really horrible when in fact it was one of a kind." trade dispute that should have been dealt with in a small claims court, if nowhere ".
The trial lasted more than a week. Prosecutors tried to prove that the commercial partner had never agreed to pay McCoy for his consultations and that the defense had torpedoed the testimony of this partner, unable to recall many details and confessing to have had problems of sobriety , according to Des. Monks Record articles on the lawsuit.
In the end, the jury returned its guilty verdict in an hour and a half, including lunch time, according to the Des Moines Registry.
"I think it was a political prosecution, no question, I'm quite sure," McCoy said, adding that he thought he was being targeted not just because he was a democrat, but also because he was gay. "As the American lawyer (Whitaker) spoke at the events of the Christian Coalition and often spoke about introducing God into his decision-making process and being guided by his hand" said McCoy, "and so I think he felt a lot of resentment towards my lifestyle, and I think that played a factor."
Since the day the indictment was announced in 2007, Whitaker is questioning about the political nature of the case. An editorial in the Des Moines Register shortly after McCoy's acquittal called on the government to compensate McCoy for his legal fees. "Was McCoy's lawsuit a product of bad judgment, inexperience, misplaced zeal, or partisan politicization? Maybe all the above."
A Justice Department official sent a statement to CNN to defend his case. "As US Attorney, the then US Attorney, Whitaker, was responsible for upholding the rule of law and bringing credible allegations of illegal activity. of Justice decided to bring the case, the FBI conducted an independent investigation and career prosecutors have the verdict of the jury does not override the obligation for law enforcement agencies to open a procedure when they feel that laws may have been broken. "
McCoy said the two-year legal battle had exhausted his finances and left a lasting impact on his life. "I was putting all my family into an emotional state as a result of that, I had elderly parents, I had a young son … It had an emotional impact on the people I had. loved and it was completely useless. "
McCoy was a senator for 11 years, a position he will occupy until January. He has just been elected to the Polk County Supervisory Board, winning with 82% of the vote.
Whitaker left his US law office in 2009 and ran for the US Senate unsuccessfully in 2014. He also unsuccessfully tried to seek a seat on the Supreme Court of Iowa before creating the Foundation. for Accountability and the Civic Trust, a non-profit organization funded by the State of Washington. entirely by black money. In 2017, he became the former chief of staff of Attorney General Jeff Sessions until this week, while he held the position of his former boss.
Scott Bronstein and Madeleine Ayer of CNN contributed to this report.
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