From McClatchy, via Atrios:
A senior Justice Department official has resigned after coming under scrutiny in the Department’s expanding investigation of convicted super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, according to a Justice Department official with knowledge of the case.
Making the situation more awkward for the embattled Department, the official, Robert E. Coughlin II, was deputy chief of staff for the criminal division, which is overseeing the Department’s probe of Abramoff.
He stepped down effective April 6 as investigators in Coughlin’s own division ratcheted up their investigation of lobbyist Kevin Ring, Coughlin’s long-time friend and a key associate of Abramoff.
Okay, let's try to parse this:
- Coughlin was a lead official in the division of the Justice Dept. responsible for the probe of Abramoff.
- Coughlin was also a long-time friend of Kevin Ring, one of Ambramoff's key associates.
- Kevin Ring was part of Abramoff's team at lobbying firm Greenberg Traurig.
- Kevin Ring resigned his most recent job with another lobbying company one the same day that the FBI raided the office of his former boss, California Rep. John Doolittle.
Here is more:
Coughlin appears to be the first Justice Department official to come under scrutiny in the wide-ranging probe that has implicated a veteran congressman, a deputy Cabinet secretary, a White House aide and eight others. Abramoff has pleaded guilty to three counts in the corruption probe and could face up to 11 years in prison.
It was unclear whether Coughlin is a target in the investigation, which would mean he is under intense scrutiny, or whether he is a subject in the investigation, which would mean investigators have not yet determined whether he committed any wrongdoing.
A Justice Department spokesman declined to respond to any questions about the Abramoff investigation because it is still ongoing. Spokesman Bryan Sierra, however, confirmed Coughlin had resigned. He also said Coughlin had recused himself from the Abramoff investigation.
On the surface, at least, it appears that investigations that resulted in Ring's resignation from his current lobbying job might have reached Coughlin. If not, it seems that the fire was getting so hot that 1) Coughlin had ended up recusing himself from the Abramoff investigation and 2) he eventually resigned from the job.
A couple of take-away points:
- We now know that Abramoff's tentacles reached all the way into the Justice Department through personal friendships between members of his team and at least one Justice Dept. official.
- Coughlin deserves further scrutiny. Yes, he recused himself, but if his ties to the Abramoff team were substantial, we need to know whether or not this affected the prosecution of the Abramoff cases and related cases.
- We need to be vigilant and wonder to what degree the Justice Department became just another partisan arm of the Republican Party, and whether criminal investigations were carried out or hampered or delayed based on partisan goals.