BREAKING: U.S. ATTORNEYS PRESSURED TO GO EASY ON THE TOBACCO COMPANIES

[Halliburton]

<snip>
WASHINGTON--The former leader of the Justice Department team that prosecuted a landmark lawsuit against tobacco companies said Wednesday that Bush administration political appointees repeatedly ordered her to take steps that weakened the government's racketeering case.
Sharon Eubanks said Bush loyalists in Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' 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.

She said a supervisor demanded that she and her trial team drop arguments that tobacco executives be removed from their corporate positions as a possible penalty. He and two others instructed her to tell key witnesses to change their testimony. And they ordered Eubanks to read verbatim from a closing argument they rewrote for her, she said.

``The political people were pushing the buttons and ordering us to say what we said,'' Eubanks said. ``And because of that, we failed to zealously represent the interests of the American public.''

Eubanks, who served for 22 years as a lawyer at Justice, said three political appointees were responsible for the last-minute shifts in the government's tobacco case in June 2005: then-Associate Attorney General Robert McCallum, then-Assistant Attorney General Peter Keisler, and his deputy at the time, Dan Meron.
<snip>

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/3/14/232921/770 (will be in the Washington Post later tonight)

:wow:

[SeattleGirl]

1. The sh*t just keeps piling higher, does it? n/t

[blueguynredcity]

33. And, Jack Abramoff is getting a sentence reduction!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6500283,00.html

The pile gets higher still.

[newyawker99]

35. Hi blueguynredcity!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[sellitman]

2. Good find.

Kicked and voted.

When will it ever end? There is so much dirt against these rats I cannot believe they are not sporting striped suits right now.

[Hepburn]

3. When does it end?????

Is there ANYTHING about BushCo that is NOT corrupt?

[merh]

18. You may want to buy this book and read it.

Blocking the Courthouse Door: How the Republican Party and Its Corporate Allies Are Taking Away Your Right to Sue
by Stephanie Mencimer (Author)

From Publishers Weekly
Investigative reporter Mencimer, a contributing editor to the Washington Monthly, takes on tort reformers with an energetic "serve and volley" approach. First Mencimer serves the arguments that proponents of tort reform make to support their agenda—limiting judicial remedies for victims of accidents, product liability suits, medical malpractice suits and the like—and then volleys those arguments back with statistics, anecdotes and conceptual arguments. She guides readers through many of the tort reformers' most cherished poster children of tort system abuse—the McDonald's scalding coffee case, the supposed abuses in medical malpractice and the tort reform movement's bête noire, the diabolical system of punitive damages—and systematically, and usually convincingly, debunks each of them. Mencimer identifies the architects of the tort reform movement as Republicans, corporations and professional groups that stand to gain politically or economically if the tort system is limited. The book's conclusion addresses the larger issue of the wisdom of requiring wrongdoers to pay for the damages from their actions, as opposed to other systems that employ social safety nets to spread the cost of such harm throughout the society. Although the author's advocacy is occasionally too zealous, she provides much food for thought. (Dec. 5)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
By demonizing trial attorneys and exaggerating high-profile litigation awards--the famous McDonald's hot-coffee case--campaigns for limiting damage awards threaten to jeopardize the American right to civil jury trials guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. Investigative reporter Mencimer examines the Republican campaigns for tort reform that would protect large corporations from "frivolous lawsuits." The campaigns carry the dual benefit of supporting the interests of corporations that are major Republican campaign contributors and hurting trial lawyers, who are part of the contribution base of Democrats. Mencimer criticizes the media for their lack of understanding about civil litigation, willingness to swallow reports of litigation abuses, and failure to understand that Republican tort reform will also limit the ability of news organizations to sue for information. Drawing on national data and scrutiny of individual cases, Mencimer defends the civil justice system and its reliance on jurors, average citizens who are the same people who vote. This is an eye-opening look at an important issue for readers concerned with the civil justice system. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

http://www.amazon.com/Blocking-Courthouse-Door-Republican-Corporate/dp/0743277007

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/0743277007/ref=dp_image_0/002-7851320-4615252?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books

It touches on part of this. John Edwards has been saddled with the evil moniker of "trial lawyer", as if he should be ashamed of the fact that he has represented plaintiffs, the little guys against the corporations.

It's been going on for years, they tried it under Reagan and Poppy, but not with the success they have enjoyed under GWB. The judicial activists are their own appointments, the hold out carrots of position and power and threaten with replacement and being left behind.

Look into the impeachment of Judge Walter Nixon and the removal of Judge Hastings, it can be done and these folks know that and so do their appointees.

[orleans]

4. okay--would waxman investigate this too? that poor man is going

to be totally overwhelmed!

k&r.

[CrazyOrangeCat]

10. He must be astonished . . .

that he finally got a chance to go after these thugs.

kick.

[robinlynne]

5. wow!!!!

[deminks]

6. Was just going to post. Here is a CBS article when she quit in 2005

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/12/01/national/main1090650.shtml

(AP) The lead trial lawyer in the government's landmark lawsuit against the tobacco industry, including three North Carolina-based companies, has quit the case and left the Justice Department. The move comes at a particularly sensitive time when the companies and the department could still negotiate a settlement.

Sharon Eubanks, who had aggressively pursued the racketeering case against the tobacco industry, was withdrawing effective Thursday, the government said in a one-sentence filing in U.S. District Court.

Eubanks said her supervisors' failure to support her work on the tobacco case influenced her decision to retire after 22 years with the department.

Her withdrawal follows a stunning reversal in June in which the Justice Department disregarded the recommendations of its own witness, Dr. Michael Fiore, and reduced the amount it was demanding from the tobacco industry for smoking cessation programs to $10 billion. Fiore had proposed $130 billion.

[Sydnie]

7. It will take weeks just to name the charges when they get charged

for impeachments!

Damn! Keep the punches coming!

[originalpckelly]

8. Well, my friends, this is definitely a very bad thing for the administration.

This is the smoking gun, it proves they were actually willing to interfere in the process of justice to pervert it and prevent allies from being prosecuted, or prosecuted harshly.

[CrazyOrangeCat]

13. This has been an astounding day.

I'm going to have to get off my ass and take a walk.

If I get deep-vein thrombosis, something tells me a dude in the hood isn't gonna get Crashcart's level of care.

:o

[MasterDarkNinja]

9. How much corruption & abuse must we uncover before we impeach?

What a surprise, more Bush corruption to help the special interest groups, oh wait, not really, he's Bush after all.

[grytpype]

11. Wow.

This is our Watergate.

Plamegate fizzled, but USAgate will take down Rove, Gonzo, and a bunch of Repug congressmen, at a minimum.

[Theduckno2]

12. The Bush Administration was protecting US manufacturing jobs.

You folks are looking through the wrong end of the telescope!

"He and two others instructed her to tell key witnesses to change their testimony." Orwell's Ministry of Truth is hard at work.

Nice find Halliburton. K&R

[AzDar]

14. Jeesus, pleesus. Just when you think they can't sink any lower...

tobacco!
:wow:

[Straight Shooter]

15. "He and two others instructed her to tell key witnesses to change their testimony."

OMG. My jaw just dropped. That's called suborning perjury.

"The criminal offense of procuring another to commit perjury, which is the crime of lying, in a material matter, while under oath.

It is a criminal offense to induce someone to commit perjury. In a majority of states, the offense is defined by statute.

Under federal criminal law (18 U.S.C.A. § 1622), five elements must be proved to convict a person of subornation of perjury. It first must be shown that the defendant made an agreement with a person to testify falsely. There must be proof that perjury has in fact been committed and that the statements of the perjurer were material. The prosecutor must also provide evidence that the perjurer made such statements willfully with knowledge of their falsity. Finally, there must be proof that the procurer had knowledge that the perjurer's statements were false.

When there is a criminal conspiracy to suborn perjury, the conspirators may be prosecuted whether or not perjury has been committed. It is also quite common to join both subornation of perjury and obstruction of justice counts in a single indictment when they arise from the same activity."

More at link: http://www.answers.com/topic/subornation-of-perjury-2

[tridim]

16. I still don't understand how they thought they would get away with this crap.

There had to be a WH failsafe plan that failed. Like blackmail information (wiretapped of course) that turned out to be bogus, or something similar.

This new crime is so illegal it makes my head spin.

[Craftergrl]

17. Just ripps me...

Government lawyers also announced that they were scaling back a proposed penalty against the industry from $130 billion to $10 billion.

Unbelievable.

Makes me just want to cry. Big tobacco is so frigg'n evil. They should all be in jail for the damage they've done and all their assets seized.

[deminks]

19. Here is the WAPO link

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/21/AR2007032102713.html

Prosecutor Says Bush Appointees Interfered With Tobacco Case

[Supersedeas]

27. thanks

[Clarkie1]

20. Investigate, investigate, investigate. Add this one to the Congressional queue

[roamer65]

21. The DOJ floodgates are busting wide open.

This is a second Watergate.

[Morgana LaFey]

30. And all I can say is: HALLALEUJAH!!!

Tho I'm not sure I spelled it right. :D

[Pachamama]

22. I'm so sick and tired of these MOFOs running our country into the ground & tied at the hip with the

corporate interests of Oil, tobacco and whatever industry is paying top dollar.

Make no mistake, our country isn't ours anymore - its owned and operated by the corporations and Bush and Cheney are their men.

[annabanana]

23. Didn't we all, here, in our heart of hearts, KNOW that the sudden

and "inexplicable" reversal in this case was most likely as explicable as all hell. Like the guy said..Bark up a tree, you'll find a cat!

[Cobalt Violet]

24. K & R

:kick:

[Roland99]

25. "Money, money, money, mon-ey. MONEY!"

[BuyingThyme]

26. We should start calling it the Obstruction of Justice Department.

[AikidoSoul]

28. Holy Crap! Another big one!! What an incredible week!

Once the ship starts sinking.....


K & R!!

[ThoughtCriminal]

29. You have to wonder about the 85 who were not fired

While there are probably some good USA's among them, but seeing what it takes to be a "Loyal Bushie", I have to believe that it's always going to be politics before public interest.

[moondust]

31. Politics uber alles.

They expect the US Attorneys, like themselves, to be political soldiers first and foremost. Justice rides in the trunk.

[blueguynredcity]

32. Abramoff is getting a sentence reduction!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6500283,00.html

The only one reporting this is Firedoglake.

This is another reason why this DOJ mess is so important.

[mod mom]

34. and what about the New Hamshire phone jammer?