Proof That Bush's Removal of the Abramoff Prosecutor was a Political Deal

[PhilipShore]

Huffington Post
Proof That Bush's Removal of the Abramoff Prosecutor was a Political Deal to Scuttle the Investigation
01.31.2006

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/martin-garbus/proof-that-bushs-removal_b_14818.html

On Friday, January 27, immediately after Bush announced Noel Hillman the federal Abramoff prosecutor was leaving his position to become a federal judge, I wrote that it was a political deal to stop the Abramoff prosecution. I posted an article on Huffington Post on January 29th.

We now know there was a political deal between the Bush Administration and New Jersey Democrats to get rid of the Abramoff prosecutor, Noel Hillman, by offering him a federal judgeship in New Jersey.

It's a deal that had been in the making for over a year.

[rodeodance]

1. i do not get it--why so important to nj Dems?

his year the Bush Administration agreed to give the Democrats who they wanted in exchange for the Democrats agreeing to remove the Abramoff prosecutor. Wingenton got her appointment; the Democrats agreed to the removal of Noel Hillman, and he accepted a judgeship.

The approval of the two Democratic Senators from New Jersey was necessary for Hillman's appointment. Corzine gave that quiet approval just before he became governor. Frank Lautenberg on his website issued a press release, today announcing both the Wingenton and Hillman appointments, under the title "President Nominates Federal Judges for New Jersey."

Both Corzine and Lautenberg knew they were removing Hillman.

Why?

Meanwhile the media has made no mention of the story.

[PhilipShore]

4. Abramoff was a crazy conspiracy theory a year ago

Around a year ago; Abramoff was top news in the political conspiracy theory world, and not -- mainstream news.

They probably thought the Abramoff Scandal was a theory, which would lead to -- no convictions.

[The Backlash Cometh]

2. Aren't these diplomatic Saturday night Massacres?

[spindrifter]

3. This is a very big deal and needs to be

re-posted when some of the SOTUS commentary subsides. We need to know the biographical information about Noel Hillman. Does he have the legal pedigree to qualify him as a fed. judge? If there is a chink in that armor, there is more hope for getting someone in the Corporate Media to pick this up.
Meanwhile, maybe this story can be researched some more and maybe some of the alternative stations or European press will grab it.

[PhilipShore]

5. Martin Garbus, Esq. bio

Huffington Post
Martin Garbus, Esq.
bio

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/contributors/bio.php?nick=martin-garbus&name=Martin%20Garbus

Martin Garbus is one of the country's leading trial lawyers. Mr. Garbus aggressively represents his clients in the courts and in the media. He has appeared before the United States Supreme Court as well as the highest state and federal courts in the nation. His devotion to ethics, justice and the law has earned him respect among the legal community and beyond as well as prominent awards. Time Magazine has named him "legendary . . . one of the best trial lawyers in the country," while Newsweek , the National Law Journal and other media agree that Mr. Garbus is America's "most prominent First Amendment lawyer," with an "extraordinarily diverse practice." The National Law Journal named him one of the country's top ten litigators.

Arguing before the United States Supreme Court after a trial in Alabama, he won a unanimous 9-0 decision striking down laws in 14 states that had disenfranchised 1,000,000 people. He filed in New York federal court Goldberg v. Kelly , a 5-4 decision of the United States Supreme Court that is arguably the most important due process case of the 20 th century.

During his legal career, Mr. Garbus has also represented and advocated on behalf of political dissidents such as Nelson Mandela, Vaclav Havel, Daniel Ellsberg and Andrei Sakharov. On behalf of Sakharov, and other Russian dissidents, he smuggled a list of political prisoners and their awful jail conditions out of the Soviet Union , personally delivering it in January 1980, two weeks before the inauguration, to then-President Jimmy Carter, who acknowledged this document as the beginning of his new American human rights policy.

[spindrifter]

6. The bios I'm

interested in are Hillman's and the magistrate who was also named to the fed. bench with him. I'm not so concerned about Mr. Garbus.