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The Daily Muck
Prosecutors Says Bush Appointees Interfered
"The leader of the Justice Department team that prosecuted a landmark lawsuit against tobacco companies said yesterday that Bush administration political appointees repeatedly ordered her to take steps that weakened the government's racketeering case. Sharon Y. Eubanks said Bush loyalists in Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales's office began micromanaging the team's strategy in the final weeks of the 2005 trial, to the detriment of the government's claim that the industry had conspired to lie to U.S. smokers." (Washington Post)
Chiara Slid From "Capital Leader" to Liability
"On the day she was told to resign, U.S. Attorney Margaret Chiara sent an e-mail to the attorney general's office in Washington, D.C., suggesting she already was given the likely reason for her firing: politics. 'The unwelcome news is not unexpected because (Deputy Attorney General) Chief of Staff Michael Elston advised me that it was a likely consequence of the recent election,' Chiara wrote to Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty on Dec. 7." (The Grand Rapids Press)
Democrats See a "Document Gap" in Dismissal
"Democrats on Capitol Hill were privately urging reporters on Wednesday to press the Bush administration to explain why in the thousands of pages of e-mail messages and documents turned over to investigators, there is almost nothing from Nov. 16 to Dec. 7, the day seven of the firings occurred. In contrast, there are hundreds of pages from the weeks after the dismissals." (NY Times)
Gonzales Schedules Many Meetings
"Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is trying to put out fires. Today, he lunched with Republican Sens. John Cornyn of Texas, Orrin Hatch of Utah, Jon Kyl of Arizona, Jeff Sessions of Alabama — all members of the Senate Judiciary Committee — discussing steps the Justice Department has taken to uncover all the facts in the dismissal of eight U.S. attorneys and to cooperate with the congressional inquiry." (Wall Street Journal)
Demoted US Attorney Protested Office Shutdown, Loss of Resources
"A U.S. attorney targeted by convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff complained to his superiors in Washington about losing investigative resources little more than a month before his demotion. Years before Abramoff was sent to jail, the Department of the Interior ignored an October 2002 letter from Frederick Black, then the acting U.S. attorney for Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, and had shut down the territories’ Inspector General’s office by the summer of 2003." (The Hill)
Court Reverses Phone Jamming Convictions
"A federal appeals court on Wednesday reversed the conviction and sentence of James Tobin, a former Republican National Committee official accused in a phone-jamming plot on Election Day 2002. The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston ruled that the statute under which Tobin was convicted 'is not a close fit' for what Tobin did and questioned whether the government showed that Tobin intended to harass." (Associated Press)
Reduced Sentence in Works for Abramoff
"Former Republican super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, sentenced to almost six years in prison for his fraudulent purchase of a South Florida gambling fleet, can receive a reduced sentence if he continues to assist prosecutors in a far-reaching Washington public corruption probe, federal officials said Wednesday. The U.S. attorney's office in Miami filed the paperwork seeking to reduce Abramoff's 70-month prison term stemming from the SunCruz Casinos case." (Miami Herald)
Why Did Feds Intervene in Civil Dispute?
"A federal judge's ruling Monday has brought into clear relief a question of importance to Nevada: Did Gov. Jim Gibbons, while serving in the U.S. Congress, influence the Justice Department - directly or through intermediaries - to intervene in a civil dispute on behalf of his friend Warren Trepp? The question arises because a federal judge has ruled that the government acted unlawfully when FBI agents searched the home and storage locker of Dennis Montgomery, who is in a dispute with Trepp over valuable military technology." (Las Vegas Sun)
PA Rep.'s Strange Union Deal Needs to Be Investigated
"It's one thing to 'stay in close contact' with a member of Congress. It's another thing to provide an ongoing pension for a member of Congress to the tune of $1,300 a month, as if he worked some 140 monthly hours, when the congressman himself admits that whatever work he may actually do for the union, it is much less than that amount. That's why we hope that one of those good-government groups in Washington, like the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, will call for an ethics investigation into the deal that U.S. Rep. Bob Brady (D-PA), now a candidate for mayor of Philadelphia, has going with the carpenters' union here." (Attytood)
Comments (52)
FMArouet wrote on March 22, 2007 10:10 AM:Obstruction of justice.
Repeat: this is not mere politicization of justice. This is obstruction of justice. The core value of the Bush/Rove/Gonzales team has been the obstruction of justice.
Oh, and follow the money. Investigators need to find out how much in "cash and other considerations," however laundered, went into the accounts and personal net worth tallies of those DOJ political hacks who delivered for Big Tobacco in this court case. One of them is now our Ambassador to Australia.
And how much in Big Tobacco-bundled political contributions went into the coffers of the Republican Party and to the campaigns of Republican candidates as a quid pro quo for these helpful services rendered in the obstruction of justice? More statutes than those on obstruction of justice will apply here.
"Sonny," "Tom," and "Fredo" seem to have been reincarnated. (Check out Sidney Blumenthal's excellent summary at Salon.com today.)
CarolSoprano wrote on March 22, 2007 10:16 AM:Yep ... follow the money is the operative sentence here, which includes following the Duke Cunningham/MZM trail, which will lead directly into the VP's office. He must be impeached (or resign) before Bush because a Cheney presidency will be FAR worse and FAR more dangerous than anything we've seen before.
georgia wrote on March 22, 2007 10:21 AM:I've said it before. There's an underlying problem, and it spans the entire Bush administration, going far beyond Gonzales.
From Ashcroft's prosecutorial guidelines, to the PATRIOT Act, the "Feeney Amendment", and "Section 502",the executive branch has sought to unconstitutionally expand to breadth of executive authority. Legislation underhandedly written by the executive branch and slipped through like-minded authoritarians in Congress cannot be ignored. The oath to "protect and defend" has clearly been broken.
If impeachments across the board are the only way to fix what has been broken, so be it.
FMArouet wrote on March 22, 2007 10:28 AM:Check out this link on Randy Cunningham (and others in Congress) and Big Tobacco. It dates from 2000, so imagine what they were doing in subsequent years with a completely free hand in Bush Administration.
Follow the money. Quid pro quo. Favors for votes. Votes for favors.
It's called bribery. It's also called corruption. It's also called racketeering.
http://tobaccofreekids.org/Script/DisplayPressRelease.php3?Display=276
Anonymous wrote on March 22, 2007 10:29 AM:Guess what?
The US Attorney in Miami is taking steps to reduce Jack Abramoff's sentence "for good behavior."
Coincedence?
http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/nation/16948818.htm
..."Reduced sentence in works for Abramoff
BY JAY WEAVER
jweaver@MiamiHerald.com
Former Republican super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, sentenced to almost six years in prison for his fraudulent purchase of a South Florida gambling fleet, can receive a reduced sentence if he continues to assist prosecutors in a far-reaching Washington public corruption probe, federal officials said Wednesday.
The U.S. attorney's office in Miami filed the paperwork seeking to reduce Abramoff's 70-month prison term stemming from the SunCruz Casinos case, but did not specify any time off his sentence..."
dzman49 wrote on March 22, 2007 10:32 AM:"...a Cheney presidency will be FAR worse and FAR more dangerous than anything we've seen before..."
Aside from the obvious observation that a Cheney presidency is what we have now, IMHO Cheney won't submit to being the actual president. The public appearance schedule forced on a U.S. president would cramp his style.
Mrs Panstreppon wrote on March 22, 2007 10:34 AM:The US Attorney's office in South Florida is filing to have Abramoff's sentence in the Sun Cruz case because Abramoff has been so helpful in other corruption cases.
As far as I know, sentencing in Abramoff's other case has been delayed while he cooperates in the corruption cases.
All well and very good for Jack Abramoff but when do we see the results of all of this cooperation? Or is this another case of "running the clock out"?
Anonymous wrote on March 22, 2007 10:37 AM:And, on Abramoff, how do we know that the US Attorney in Miami is NOT reporting "major developments" back to the top leadership at Justice -- as is the practice?
Simply, we dont. And we have to assume that from Abramoff's mouth, there is a hotline back into the West Wing.
I'm only left to wonder if it's one or two way conversation. And if Abramoff's "desk" at the FBI has e-mail access to the gwb43.com or georgewbush.com domain.
Douglas Watts wrote on March 22, 2007 10:40 AM:Powerful editorial about the USAs in today's Boston Globe.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2007/03/22/let_in_the_light/
izzatxeaux wrote on March 22, 2007 11:03 AM:general question stemming from the whole scandal -
Revised Patriot Act with the No Senate Confirmation language was passed on 3/3/6
on 7/21/6, the Senate confirmed (voice vote)Brett Tolman for USA Utah
- was this just ceremonial, or were Senators Hatch and Specter putting on a little dog and pony show to keep their colleagues in the dark about the revisions ?!?!?
powkat wrote on March 22, 2007 11:27 AM:Nothing the Bush 'Justice Department" has done in the past 6 years can be trusted. I imagine the courts will soon begin to receive large numbers of petitions to look at cases they handled. The financial cost will be enormous and the cost to the rule of law incalculable.
T. GRay wrote on March 22, 2007 12:33 PM:What about Tom Noe in Ohio. He funneled money from the Ohio workmans compensation fund to friends and family to make himself a Bush pioneer, when caught and convicted the fiends and family got slaps on the wrist from the U S att
Mrs Panstreppon wrote on March 22, 2007 12:49 PM:This isn't the first time the USA-SDFL has caved in a politically-charged case. In 2002, the USA dropped covered up Charles A. Gargano's involvement in Eagle Building Technologies.
On the face of it, the Bush administration had great case to go after some big Democrats such as Rep. Wexler, Rep. Gary Ackerman, former Rep. Sam Gejdenson and big Dem donor, Meyer Berman.
Right wing hack, Amy Keller, did a hatchet job on the Democrats involved in the Eagle Building case in Roll Call on 12/9/02 entitled "Members Tangled In Firm's Troubles". Keller conveniently omitted the fact that the president of Eagle Building and Eagle Building had contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to the GOP in comparison to the few thousand dollars contributed to the Democrats.
Keller also never reported that Charles A. Gargano, Bush pioneer, had been an Eagle Building director long before any Democrats were involved in the company. At the time, Gargano, GOP fundraiser extraordinaire, was the vice-chairman of the NY-NJ Port Authority and president of the NY state economic development agency.
Between mid-2000 and late 2001, Gargano sat on the Eagle Building board with three major construction contractors, two of whom did business with New York State. One of the contractors was subsequently investigated for defrauding NYS.
No one, as far as I know, ever reported whether Gargano made a million bucks selling his Eagle Building stock options in the aftermath of 9/11. Eagle Building's share price increased from $3 to $12 after 9/11 when it falsely reported that it had anti-terrorism equipment to sell to the federal government.
Eagle Building president, Anthony M. D'Amato, was convicted on fraud charges in the Eagle Building case and another one. What the USA -SDFL apparently overlooked was the fact that D'Amato had ties to Gargano through another phony penny stock company.
The Democrats were let off the hook in the Eagle Builidng case because the Bush administration did not want Bush pioneer, Charles A. Gargano, investigated.
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