Nearly six years after he pleaded guilty in the Jack Abramoff scandal, a former aide to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay will likely be sentenced in the near future. But because of a joint motion granted by the federal judge hearing the case against Tony Rudy, the public wouldn’t see the filing listing agreed upon facts in the case.
The reason? National security.
The feds and Rudy’s defense team wrote that the disclosure of “sensitive information related to national security matters” likely “would compromise and negatively impact ongoing intelligence efforts.” They said the sensitive information had “no relationship to the Department of Justice’s investigation of Jack Abramoff or related persons.”
Abramoff said the request was as big of a mystery to him as it was to TPM. “Not a clue,” he said in an email to TPM. “Wow.”
A DOJ spokeswoman declined to comment, as did Rudy lawyer Kelly Kramer. “I didn’t realize you all were still monitoring the Abramoff cases,” he wrote in an email.
Rudy is the last remaining defendant in the Abramoff case who has yet to be sentenced, though several are in the appeals process. Though he pleaded guilty on March 31, 2006, the feds continued to delay his sentencing because he was cooperating against other defendants. Under the plea deal federal prosecutors would recommend a sentencing of between two years and two years and six months and Rudy will pay at least $250,000 in restitution. A sentencing date hasn’t yet been set.
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