Eubanks: Bush Junta Sabotaged My Case Against Big Tobacco

The crap has hit the fan, kiddies:

Prosecutor Says Bush Appointees Interfered With Tobacco Case

By Carol D. Leonnig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 22, 2007; A01

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.

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.”

Can you say “obstruction of justice”, kiddies? I knew you could.

Go read the whole thing. It’s unbelieveable.

I understand that Chuck Schumer was on Countdown tonight saying that there are a lot of disgruntled Justice Department employees and that Bush’s people have two choices: They can see it all come out at once, or see it dribble out like this, a little at a time, just enough to keep BushCo off balance at the very least.