MC: Some of your critics claim race plays into federal prosecutions. You see, for example, Black officials going down but the White businessmen they did business with get a slap on the wrist and walk away. How do you respond?
BM: I think that has been a problem in the past — a problem in fact and a problem in perception. And so we want to make sure we are addressing people in a much more uniformed manner, that we are not giving a free pass to people. In any criminal enterprise it is common to make deals with lower level defendants in an effort to convict higher level defendants. And so sometimes that dynamic has gone on but I think having a better awareness of that perception is really important because the perception of justice is sometimes just as important as justice in fact. People need to feel the system is fair, and trust the system for us to be successful.
MC: I have heard through the grapevine that your biggest fish are Kwame Kilpatrick and Bernard Kilpatrick. Is that true?
BM: I can’t comment on that.
MC: (laughs) You can’t comment on that?
BM: (laughs) No, I declined comment respectfully.
MC: But the Federal Bureau of Investigations just subpoenaed WXYZ for a tape of Kwame Kilpatrick’s first debate relating to comments he made about the civic fund and IRS.
BM: I don’t want to comment on what may or may not be in the grand jury subpoena. I read that in the paper as well.
MC: Do you have any gubernatorial ambitions?
BM: (laughs) No, I’m really happy to have this job. As an assistant U.S. Attorney this was kind of the dream job and I am really focused on doing the best I can.
MC: So you walked into that office 12 years ago with the mindset that you will one day become the U.S. Attorney?
BM: Oh I didn’t start with that. I walked in the office 12 years ago with the mindset that I want to be a really good prosecutor and I worked very hard. But as years went by I started thinking about how I’ll do things differently if I ever had the chance and with the election of President Obama I thought maybe I had a shot.
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