Siegelman: New Revelations "More Frightening Than Anything That Came
Before."
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/11/siegelman_new_revelations=
_are.php
Zachary Roth - November 14, 2008, 11:34AM
Former Alabama governor Don Siegelman says that new revelations about
his prosecution amount to "outrageous criminal conduct in the US
Attorney's office and the Department of Justice," and are "more
frightening than anything that has come before." And he believes that
his case is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of politicized
prosecutions by DOJ.
Siegelman was reacting in an interview with TPMmuckraker to the news,
first re****ted this morning by Time, that the US Attorney on his case,
who had recused herself because her husband was a top GOP operative
who had worked closely with Karl Rove -- and even run the 2002
campaign of Siegelman's gubernatorial opponent -- continued to advise
prosecutors on the case.
At times while speaking to TPMmuckraker, Siegelman appeared to have
trouble maintaining his composure. He called the news -- which came
from a whistleblower in the US Attorney's office who passed on emails
and other information to the House Judiciary Commitee -- "another
shocking revelation in the misconduct of the US attorneys offices and
the DOJ."
The news appears to contradict previous statements from DOJ on the
matter. When Congress investigated the affair earlier this year, DOJ
had said that the US Attorney, Leura Canary, had recused herself
"before any significant decisions ... were made."
Siegelman continued: "If what [the whistleblower] says is true, it's
one issue. But the fact that it was never disclosed to the defense or
the judge, and then was covered up by DOJ, is a crime, even if what
she said wasn't true."
He added: "At every stage of this investigation, either by lawyers or
the House Judiciary Committee, DOJ has refused to turn over do***ents"
or otherwise cooperate.
The authenticity of the key emails provided by the whistleblower has
not been questioned, according to Time.
Siegelman also said he was shocked by other revelations from the
whistleblower, including that one of the jurors had expressed romantic
interest in an FBI agent working with prosecutors. He called it
"astounding" that this hadn't been revealed to the judge and the
defense.
And Siegelman, a Democrat, left no doubt that he believes that the
apparent politicization of his prosecution was just one example of
many such cases. "If this were isolated to just the middle district of
Alabama, it would be shocking enough. But I guarantee this kind of
misbehavior has been going on all over the country."
He added: "Whoever is the new Attorney General has to be strong enough
to weed out the Karl Rove clones who have been embedded in US
Attorneys' offices throughout the United States. If not, it is going
to eat at our system for years to come."
At one point, Siegelman turned philosophical: "If I've been put
through this for a reason, it's to expose the fact that this is not an
isolated incident. I am prayerful that Congress will dig in and demand
the truth. These folks have got to be weeded out."
[][] [][] [][]
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]
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