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William Welch

Zachary Roth | October 22, 2009, 4:39PM

Fmr. Sen Ted Stevens (R-AK)

The head of the Justice Department's beleaguered Public Integrity unit is stepping down.

William Welch, who supervised the department's botched prosecution of former Alaska senator Ted Stevens, will remain with DOJ but return to Massachusetts, the Washington Post reported yesterday.

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Topics: Eric Holder, Jack Abramoff, Justice Department, Kevin Ring, Ted Stevens, William Welch

John Ensign

CREW: DOJ Integrity Unit "Punted" On Ensign Complaint

Zachary Roth | July 20, 2009, 5:17PM

The Justice Department has responded to a formal complaint filed by a good-government group over the John Ensign matter by saying in a letter that the complaint should be filed with the FBI, rather than the department's public integrity unit, reports the Las Vegas Sun. And the good government group -- Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) -- has itself responded to DOJ's bureaucratic fastidiousness with what we can only describe as a sassy retort that rubs salt in some recent DOJ wounds.

As requested, CREW has forwarded its complaint to the FBI. Executive Director Melanie Sloan writes:

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Topics: FBI, John Ensign, Justice Department, Sex, Ted Stevens, William Welch

Alaska

Justice Unit Being Probed For Contempt In Stevens Trial Brought Similar Case In 2006

Zachary Roth | April 15, 2009, 4:02PM

Are the Ted Stevens prosecutors in line to get a taste of their medicine?

As we've reported, six federal prosecutors from the Stevens case -- members of DOJ's Public Integrity unit, including its head, William Welch -- are now being investigated for knowingly withholding evidence, a potential criminal act.

Prosecutions for this offense -- known as a Brady violation -- are exceedingly rare. But it turns out that in 2006, an Assistant US Attorney was tried on the charge -- and acquitted amid allegations that his prosecution was over-zealous. In fact, the prosecutors who argued the case against the AUSA were with -- you guessed it -- the Public Integrity unit. And for part of that time, they were supervised by Welch himself. (For more on the Stevens Six, go here.)