Frederick Black, the acting US Attorney for Guam, may have been the first US Attorney removed to prevent further investigations when Jack Abramoff coreographed his dismissal back in 2002. Ari Berman at The Nation examines the Black case -- and ties together all the players:
On November 7 Black informed the DOJ of his preliminary investigation of Abramoff. Days later, Guam's new Republican Governor, Felix Camacho, wrote a letter to the White House asking to keep Black on. Yet on November 19, a day after Black subpoenaed the Abramoff contract, the Administration announced that it was nominating Rapadas. Black was subsequently barred from handling any public corruption cases.
Did Black's Abramoff probe resurrect and fast-track Rapadas's nomination and seal his departure? That central matter in the IG inquiry remains unsettled today. "I just wonder whether they wanted to prevent Fred Black from staying on," says Sablan.
Black's story parallels that of dismissed US Attorney Carol Lam in San Diego, who successfully prosecuted Congressman Duke Cunningham on bribery charges. Kyle Sampson, who called for Lam's firing a day after she pursued search warrants for a top GOP military contractor and CIA official, also oversaw the ouster of Black, according to the IG's report.
The apparent purging of Black at Abramoff's behest demonstrates the clout the lobbyist wielded at both the DOJ and the White House. Then-White House political director Ken Mehlman, the recent chairman of the Republican National Committee, told White House official Leonard Rodriguez, a protégé of Karl Rove, to "reach out to make Jack aware" of all Guam-related information, including candidates for US Attorney, according to the IG report.
Last week, truthout.com questioned whether the IG investigators knew about the e-mails sent using non-governmental accounts. Members of Congress have asked for a re-examination of this case.
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