As if the USA firings aren't enough, now comes word from a former Justice Department lawyer that the tobacco industry lawsuit was politicized with interference from Bush appointees ordering that the team change its strategies and instruct witnesses how to testify. The cost: $120,000,000,000! The Washington Post reports:
The leader of the Justice Department team that prosecuted a landmark lawsuit against tobacco companies said yesterday that Bush administration political appointees repeatedly ordered her to take steps that weakened the government's racketeering case.and she named names. Check out the full article with the appointees' names here: Prosecutor Says Bush Appointees Interfered With Tobacco Case.
Sharon Y. Eubanks said Bush loyalists in Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales's 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 recommendations 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 a closing argument they had rewritten 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."
Of course, the Bushies are in full denial.
High-ranking Justice Department officials said there was no political meddling in the case, and the department's Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) concurred after an investigation.If you believe that, there is still a bridge in New York that is for sale...
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