Last Night's Hardball with Chris Matthews debated the U.S. Attorney purge, and he had fired New Mexico U.S. Attorney David Iglesias (video; transcript will be here, when it is posted) explaining how he was shaken and stunned that a U.S. Senator would call him about whether charges would be filed against some Democratic office holders before last election day.  He was fired by AG Gonzalez less than six weeks later.

Before Iglesias came on the air, the three participants with Matthews said that Sen. Domenici should be subpoenaed as well, and one commented that "he has already lawyered up."

I'm not sure why this is news since it was all but assured in Jack Abramoff's plea agreement, but the U.S. Attorney in Florida has signaled he will be requesting a reduction in Jack Abramoff's 5 year 10 month sentence.

Abramoff's plea agreement is here. As I wrote at the time of his sentencing,

I don't think Abramoff will do more than three to four years. But, with a $21 million restitution order hanging over his head, he may never be a fat cat again.

....I ...think he will get a 50% reduction in the Washington case, and a further Rule 35 reduction in the Florida case so both come out to about or just under four years.

Abramoff has continued cooperating since his sentence and incarceration. He will get credit for everyone who he cooperated against who has since pleaded guilty or been found guilty. That's the way our system works. It's called moral bankruptcy.

The White House made a generous offer: "we'll let them talk, but no oath and no recording or transcripts." And the President and his talking head had the audacity to decry "partisan politics."  Apparently it's only "partisan" if a Democrat is doing it. If a Republican does, it is the order of the day.

The House said "No thank you. We'll subpoena you." When the White House treats the Just Us Department as its personal legal office and tempers justice with whether the prosecutor is a "loyal Bushie," and Karl Rove calls the shots because the President is disengaged or just doesn't care what happens in government, that is what it deserves.  

So, the showdown begins: The gunfight at the D.C. Corral:

Why did Thomas DiBiagio resign as the U.S. Attorney in Maryland? He explained to the NY Times that "he was forced out in early 2005 because of political pressure stemming from public corruption investigations involving associates of the state’s governor, a Republican." DiBaggio says he experienced "direct pressure not to pursue these investigations."

“The practical impact was to intimidate my office and shut down the investigations.”

While DiBiagio was being pressured to ignore Republican corruption, former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias was being pressured to pursue corruption charges against a Democrat.

More on the political mess the Bush administration has made of the Justice Department here and here and here.

Former Ohio Rep. Bob Ney reports to federal prison tomorrow in Morgantown, W.Va. to begin serving his 30 month sentence.

He sent his friends a farewell e-mail, quoting Garth Brooks' song, "The Dance."

and now i'm glad i didn't know
the way it all would end, the way it all would go
our lives are better left to chance,
i could have missed the pain,
but i'd have had to miss, the dance

Former Rep. Bob Ney's former chief of staff William Heaton followed Ney's lead by pleading guilty to a federal charge resulting from his corrupt relationship with Jack Abramoff. Talk about having your fingerprints all over the money:

Heaton was also was one of several recipients of a number of other [Abramoff-financed] trips abroad, concert and sporting-event tickets, meals and gambling chips, all taken with full knowledge the gifts were in exchange for official favors from Ney.

During one of those trips, Heaton and another staffer helped Ney conceal $5,000 brought into the country through customs and stored the money in a safe inside Ney’s congressional office. Court documents said Heaton “open[ed] the safe as requested so that Ney could make repeated withdrawals.”

It took some time, but an indictment has finally been returned against defense contractor Brent Wilkes and former CIA official Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, cronies of (and alleged co-conspirators with) former Rep. Randall "Duke" Cunningham.

The [grand] jury returned 11 counts against Foggo and Wilkes that include conspiracy, wire fraud, conflict of interest and money laundering. It charges Foggo with using his seniority and influence within the CIA to direct the awarding of contracts to Wilkes, his lifelong friend.

A second indictment, which included 26 counts, names Wilkes and New York-based mortgage banker John T. Michael, who co-owned a mortgage company that provided loans to Cunningham. It charges Wilkes with conspiracy, wire fraud, bribery of a public official and money laundering.

The Foggo-Wilkes indictment is here, and the Wilkes-Michael indictment is here (both in pdf).

For her hard work in bringing the indictments, US Attorney Carol Lam was given the axe. Even as she announced the indictments today, the Justice Department was interviewing "four of her top advisers for the position of interim chief while a committee searches for a long-term replacement."

Which federal crime deserves a harsher punishment? Selling 5 grams of crack or selling out your country? The crack sale triggers a 5 year mandatory minimum. Bob Ney's "significant and serious abuse of the public trust" (in the words of the sentencing judge) earned a sentence of 30 months -- three more than the government recommended.

“You have a long way to go to make amends,” Judge Huvelle told the former lawmaker, citing tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of luxury overseas travel and other gifts he accepted from [Jack] Abramoff and the corrupt Republican lobbyist’s partners in return for official favors.

J. Stephen Griles is now in the Justice Department's cross-hairs.

Federal prosecutors have notified a former deputy secretary of the interior, J. Steven Griles, that he is a target in the public corruption investigation of Jack Abramoff's lobbying activities, sources knowledgeable about the probe said.

The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that among the possible criminal charges being investigated is whether Griles made false statements to the Senate Indian Affairs Committee in 2005 about job discussions Abramoff initiated while Griles was deputy secretary. Griles's attorneys did not return calls seeking comment yesterday.

When Griles folds, will he implicate former Interior Secretary Gale Norton?

Via CREWE and Huffpo:

CREW was provided a photo of President Bush and Jack Abramoff taken at a campaign fundraiser in December 2003. The White House did not want anyone to see this photo.

ABC has more on how last spring Bush moved to restrict public access to White House visitor logs.

Via TPM, Brent Wilkes, the multi-millionaire defense contractor whom former Congressman Randy Cunningham named as one of those who bribed him, has added firepower to his legal team by hiring former Scott Peterson defender Mark Geragos. Wilkes is represented in D.C. by Nancy Luque.

Here's a long NYT profile of Wilkes in which he opened up to the paper.

Mr. Wilkes acknowledged that he was a willing participant in what he characterized as a “cutthroat” system in which campaign contributions were a prerequisite for federal contracts. “I attempted to get help and advice from people who could show me the way to do it right,” Mr. Wilkes said. “I played by their rules, and I played to win.”

Mr. Wilkes said he was speaking now to rebut false assertions about him by prosecutors and the news media. While it is unknown whether his account is complete and it is impossible to verify his recollections of certain conversations, many aspects of his story were confirmed by federal records, other documents and interviews with people involved in the events he described.

Republican fundraiser and coin dealer Tom Noe got a heavy jolt today in an Ohio courtroom. 18 years in state prison. Ouch.

Tom Noe, convicted last week on 29 charges for stealing from Ohio’s $50 million rare-coin fund, was sentenced to 18 years in state prison and ordered to pay fines and restitution by Judge Thomas Osowik this morning in Lucas County Courthouse.

The sentence will begin after Noe completes a 27-month federal sentence imposed in September for illegal laundering more than $45,000 to President Bush’s campaign, Judge Osowik ruled.