With so many Republican scandals to keep track of, the latest ones always seem to push the prior ones to the back burner. For the past few days, I've had this uneasy feeling that we may be missing a major part of the picture in regards to the firing of 8 United States Attorney's. Simply put, is any of this related to the investigation of Jack Abramoff?
We have speculated, and evidence suggests, that a number of these Attorney's were fired because of investigations into Republicans or for a lack of investigations against Democrats.
The Department of Justice was investigating a number of crimes and obtained a conviction against Jack Abramoff. Jack Abramoff agreed to cooperate with the Justice Department and provided information linking as many as 60 Republican Congress Members to the scandal. What happened to those investigations?
At this point, we know the investigations have implicated Tom Delay from Texas, Bob Ney from Ohio, Conrad Burns from Montana and one John Doolittle from California. With the recent revelations on the US Attorney's, I have to wonder, is there still an active investigation by the Department of Justice into the Abramoff scandal?
From Wikipedia on Jack Abramoff:
On March 29, 2006, he was sentenced to five years and 10 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution of more than $21 million. His prison sentence was the minimum permitted under a plea bargain with federal prosecutors, in part because of his purported cooperation in the federal investigation and also because over 100 influential political allies—some very recognizable names in American public policy—wrote the sentencing judge on Abramoff's behalf, urging leniency. In October 2006, over six months after his sentencing, he was ordered by a federal judge to report to federal prison by November 15, 2006.
"The corruption scheme with Mr. Abramoff is very extensive," Alice S. Fisher, head of the Justice Department's criminal division, said at a January 2006 news conference. But she refused to name all of the Abramoff associates under current investigation. "We name people in indictments," she said. (Emphasis mine)
With so many corrupt Republicans to investigate, is it possible this attorney purge was to block investigations into Abramhoff's associates? With Jack Abramhoff safely locked away in a Federal Prison, far removed from access to the press, one has wonder... At this point in the investigation, we are aware of only two Congressman who remain under investigation, Conrad Burns and John Doolittle.
Also from Wikipedia on John Doolittle
John Doolittle has been entangled in the scandal involving Jack Abramoff. Doolittle has denied any wrongdoing, and on April 18, 2006 he hired David Barger, a former prosecutor from Ken Starr's office, as his media adviser on the matter. Doolittle has estimated that he received about $50,000 from clients of Abramoff, mostly Indian tribes. Abramoff also personally donated $14,000 over the period 1999-2004 to Doolittle's congressional campaigns. Doolittle also used Abramoff's luxury sports box for a fundraiser without initially reporting it. Doolittle is currently being investigated by a federal probe into his relationship with Abramoff. As of October 2006, Doolittle had reported paying an attorney more than $38,000 to talk to the Justice Department concerning its investigation.
This little section just begs for an answer to the question, who at the Justice Department was conducting the investigation into John Doolittle?
There has been lots of speculation into the ongoing investigation of Carol Lam, but there doesn't seem to be much information out there on possible reasons for the firing of Frank V. Ryan United States Attorney for the Northern District of California. It is unclear whether Doolittle's District would fall under the jurisdiction of Frank V. Ryan, but Richard Pombo, another former Republican Congressman with close ties to Jack Abramoff, was in a California District that would likely fall under Ryan's jurisdiction.
I believe it would be against the law for any United States Attorney to speak openly about an ongoing investigation. If they were being terminated because of investigations that had yet been made public, they would not be able to make a statement on those investigations.
It's unfortunate for our country that we can no longer trust our own Department of Justice to investigate crimes particularly when they could possibly involve Republican politicians.
For me, the question remains. What happened to the Jack Abramoff investigations, and just who at the Department of Justice was assigned to those investigations? And, are there other suspected Republican politicians who might have been involved with Abramoff residing in the jurisdictions of the fired Untied States Attorneys? Time will tell!