Thursday, March 22, 2007

Following The Money

and a new angle on Gonzogate?

Prosecutor Says Bush Appointees Interfered With Tobacco Case - washingtonpost.com: "...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 D. McCallum, then-Assistant Attorney General Peter Keisler and Keisler's deputy at the time, Dan Meron.

News reports on the strategy changes at the time caused an uproar in Congress and sparked an inquiry by the Justice Department. Government witnesses said they had been asked to change testimony, and one expert withdrew from the case. Government lawyers also announced that they were scaling back a proposed penalty against the industry from $130 billion to $10 billion..."

A $120 billion savings will buy quite a few politicians...

No comments: