NYT: Demotion of a Prosecutor Is Investigated (Abramoff)

[grytpype]

Holy moley, is this Abramoff thing getting complicated! It looks like a lot of G-Men are closing in on Abramoff and his web of corrupt cronies... and that web goes up pretty high people! Now Abramoff is boasting about his ties to Ashcroft... ties that ended a criminal investigation of him!

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/27/politics/27lobby.html?hp&ex=1127793600&en=ff0ff80fa464904e&ei=5094&partner=homepage

WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 - The Justice Department's inspector general and the F.B.I. are looking into the demotion of a veteran federal prosecutor whose reassignment nearly three years ago shut down a criminal investigation of the Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff, current and former department officials report.

They said investigators had questioned whether the demotion of the prosecutor, Frederick A. Black, in November 2002 was related to his alert to Justice Department officials days earlier that he was investigating Mr. Abramoff. The lobbyist is a major Republican party fund-raiser and a close friend of several Congressional leaders.

Colleagues said the demotion of Mr. Black, the acting United States attorney in Guam, and a subsequent order barring him from pursuing public corruption cases brought an end to his inquiry into Mr. Abramoff's lobbying work for some Guam judges.

Colleagues of Mr. Black, who had run the federal prosecutor's office in Guam for 12 years, spoke on condition of anonymity because of Justice Department rules that bar employees from talking to reporters. They said F.B.I. agents questioned several people in Guam and Washington this summer about whether Mr. Abramoff or his friends in the Bush administration had pushed for Mr. Black's removal. Mr. Abramoff's internal e-mail messages show that he boasted to clients about what he described as his close ties to John Ashcroft, then the attorney general, and others at the department.

more at link

[NVMojo]

1. damn!!! now who else could be entangled! The possibilities are endless!

[EC]

2. Someone in this administration pissed off the FBI and the Justice

Department....at least they are still working on getting these guys, I'm really surprised they haven't been stopped yet, as well as Fitzgerald...Bush pushing to have the Supreme Court filled by Oct. has me uneasy though...

[Scout1071]

5. And the CIA, and the FEMA, and the EPA..who haven't these guys pissed off?

You piss off that many people, ruin that many careers and you think you are going to get away with it?

[alfredo]

6. You fuck with the intelligence agencies, you are going to get

payback.

It's a bitch.

[dusty64]

16. Thats what I've always

thought, but here I am STILL waiting. There remains a small glimmer of hope within me that the most evil, corrupt, and criminal government in our history will get whats coming to them. I've become so jaded that I think that this will all be whitewashed and shoved down the memory hole. That holes gotta be getting kinda full, wouldn't ya think.

[alfredo]

17. somebody is opening the spigot on all this dirt

Somebody that knows where the bodies are buried. Do you think all the crap coming out now would have come out if bush Inc had acted in good faith with other members of the federal government?

don't get mad, get even.

[Toots]

18. How is it you can write down exactly what I would have if you hadn't first

:shrug:

[swag]

3. kicked and recommended

As http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/002693.html says, Obstruction of Justice (with a capitol "J").

Hello, Mr. Fitzgerald? "Demoting" a Federal Prosecutor. That's On-Beyond Nixon "Saturday Night Massacre."

[progressoid]

4. I can't believe that with all of the shit this admin has pulled...

that someone hasn't grown a conscience and decided to deep throat them.

[DrZeeLit]

7. We can only watch, wait, and hope that SOMEBODY grows a conscience.

Please!

[Lochloosa]

11. Maybe someone has....

one can only hope

[fearnobush]

8. May the BFEE cartel burn heinously.

Now all we need is a match.

[antonialee839]

9. Ah, to see the pious John Ashcroft frog marched simultaneously

with Karl Rove to a maximum security prison would be like a little piece of Heaven.

[ShockediSay]

10. Like John Mitchell (disgraced AG)

& as John Dean wrote, this is WORSE THAN WATERGATE

(he should know)

[Nothing Without Hope]

12. But then who would run the hurricane "reconstruction" with Turdblossom

gone? Oh wait, that's right, there IS no reconstruction, only huge gifts of no-bid contracts to cronies to do favors for cronies.

Meanwhile, they haven't even bothered to declare the southern Louisiana areas directly hit by Rita and totally wiped out "disaster areas." FEMA says it can't help them because there's been no such declaration:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1806030

And of course all those small communities across the South after Katrina have simply been abandoned. The people can live or die, but the government will not lift a finger and the Press has been letting them get away with it. New Orleans is a martial law armed camp and the rest of the south is just destroyed - but those were poor Democrat voters, so who cares?

[ChairmanAgnostic]

15. so long as his roomie has nudes plastered over the cell walls

and thinks satanism is fun to preach in public.


The only person worse than John Ashcroft is Alberto Gonzales. He is smarter, sneakier and more evil.

[bklyncowgirl]

13. What can I say this is an outrage.

And what's even more outrageous is that this happened in 2002 and we aren't hearing about this until 2005.

This administration has been allowed to run roughshod over everyone and everything in their unstinting efforts to hand over the contents of the U.S. Treasury to their campeign contributers.

[IndianaGreen]

14. The Bush regime is a criminal enterprise from top to bottom

At the end of World War II we de-nazified Germany, we must do the same in the US after the Bush regime is driven from power.

[dajoki]

19. NYT: Demotion of a Prosecutor Is Investigated

NYT
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/27/politics/27lobby.html?ex=1285473600&en=1324382306288c78&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
Demotion of a Prosecutor Is Investigated

By PHILIP SHENON
Published: September 27, 2005

WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 - The Justice Department's inspector general and the F.B.I. are looking into the demotion of a veteran federal prosecutor whose reassignment nearly three years ago shut down a criminal investigation of the Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff, current and former department officials report.

They said investigators had questioned whether the demotion of the prosecutor, Frederick A. Black, in November 2002 was related to his alert to Justice Department officials days earlier that he was investigating Mr. Abramoff. The lobbyist is a major Republican Party fund-raiser and a close friend of several Congressional leaders.

Colleagues said the demotion of Mr. Black, the acting United States attorney in Guam, and a subsequent order barring him from pursuing public corruption cases brought an end to his inquiry into Mr. Abramoff's lobbying work for some Guam judges.

Colleagues of Mr. Black, who had run the federal prosecutor's office in Guam for 12 years, spoke on condition of anonymity because of Justice Department rules that bar employees from talking to reporters. They said F.B.I. agents questioned several people in Guam and Washington this summer about whether Mr. Abramoff or his friends in the Bush administration had pushed for Mr. Black's removal. Mr. Abramoff's internal e-mail messages show that he boasted to clients about what he described as his close ties to John Ashcroft, then the attorney general, and others at the department.

[goclark]

20. kick

[MADem]

21. Wow

The wheels are sure coming off the bus, aren't they!!!!

[dajoki]

27. they're riding the rims n/t

[krkaufman]

22. Oh, pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease drag that pompous Asscroft...

... into this whole Abramoff-Delay-Gambino web.

[dajoki]

28. check posts 6 & 7...

Gambino is right on.

[Carolab]

32. And what about Bob Ney of Ohio?

To help land the deal, an Abramoff associate, Michael Scanlon, persuaded Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio) to officially criticize Boulis in the Congressional Record; later, Ney praised Kidan in the official publication of Congress.

Abramoff listed Tony Rudy, a top DeLay aide at the time, and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) as personal references on his loan papers. And he flew key members of DeLay's staff -- including his current chief of staff -- on a SunCruz jet and took them for a night of gambling on a SunCruz boat at the 2001 Super Bowl in Tampa. The Super Bowl trip came just days before Boulis's slaying.

Ney has said he was duped by Abramoff and Scanlon. DeLay's spokesmen have said he does not remember meeting the banker or sending the flag. His spokesman declined to comment. Rudy has declined to comment. Rohrabacher has said he gladly served as a reference for Abramoff.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/11/AR2005081101108_pf.html

[krkaufman]

33. Yeah, that's why I'd tossed in the Gambino bit.

For a moment there (based on your subject line), I thought they were already going after Ashcroft. (sigh) :)

[dajoki]

39. sorry if your pressure went up n/t

[ninkasi]

23. Yes!

All the repukes do is get rid of the whistle blowers, and fire the ones who try to prosecute the ones who commit crimes. Not only do they not penalize them, they usually promote them. Evil, corrupt, pond scum. The only way this country can survive is to keep the conservatives in check. They are ruining our country.

[dajoki]

24. the list of demoted or fired...

whistle blowers is getting quite long huh?

[ninkasi]

29. Yes, it is

Anybody who threatens the Bush cabal is subject for firing, or sleazing, or both.
They will not easily give up power, and do not want attention paid to their actions.

[dajoki]

31. here's a few...

i know there is turnover in every administration, but bush's is ridiculous. people have left because of incompitance, disgust, were fired because they dared to tell the truth or they needed a scapegoat. a few come to mind in no particular order; brown, tennent, ridge, christie whitman, colin powell, gen. shinsekie, gen. karpinski, richard clarke, paul o'niell, haliburtin whistleblower Bunnatine H. Greenhouse and the list goes on. name some if you can remember.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

35. Then there's Ari too. His abrupt departure makes some think

he turned for the Fitzgerald investigation...

[dajoki]

38. post #37...

was for you. oops!!

[Alizaryn]

25. Its great to see them coming at them

from all different angles! Today has been a great day.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/27/AR2005092700980.html

[dajoki]

26. AMAZING!!

Fort Lauderdale police said yesterday that they charged three men in the 2001 gangland-style slaying of a Florida businessman who was gunned down in his car months after selling a casino cruise line to a group that included Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

[sonias]

30. The sinking ship is leaking, big time

The can't plug all the holes fast enough. Old leaks are springing up. I hope Frederick A. Black remains in good health. His time to continue his hard work is at hand.

A good prosecutor never gives up a good case.

Sonia

[dajoki]

37. so many you forget...

btw, go yankees, it's crunch time now.

[insane_cratic_gal]

34. Not too mention he's donated 100k

to Bush's election campaign in 2004.


http://www.whitehouseforsale.org/ContributorsAndPaybacks/pioneer_profile.cfm?pioneer_ID=834

Looks like they are going to get to add some more criminal activity to his profile.

[Straight Shooter]

36. This will appear very bizarre to Joe Six-Pack and his wife Soccer Suzy.

They will surely wonder how organized crime has woven itself into the fabric of the bush administration. How can bush not know what DeLay has been up to? He keeps everybody under his petty vicious thumb.

Any meetings between Abramoff and bush that someone can verify?