Cunningham said to be uncooperative(Duke's not talking)

Randy Cunningham has not been helping federal authorities as they continue to probe the former North County congressman's web of corruption, a top Pentagon investigator said Tuesday.

Rick Gwin, special agent in charge of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service's western regional office, said he is troubled by the lack of assistance, particularly in light of Cunningham's plea agreement that calls for him to tell all that he knows.

"In my opinion, he has not been cooperative and I have not gotten any information from him to further develop other targets," Gwin said in a telephone interview from his office in Mission Viejo. "I was hoping that from a jail cell, he might become more cooperative, but we just don't have the cooperation that I think we should have."


Cunningham pleaded guilty in November to bribery and tax evasion, admitting he took more than $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors.

K. Lee Blalack, Cunningham's attorney in Washington, declined comment Tuesday when asked about the former Republican's lawmaker's level of cooperation in the weeks since he was sentenced to a little more than eight years in prison. Immediately after the March 3 sentencing, Blalack said he hoped Cunningham's continuing assistance would ultimately lead to a reduction in his prison time.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/05/10/news/top_stories/21_35_485_9_06.txt

Are you kidding?

Sure. Yeah. They're gonna tell the truth - to the press. Starting right now.

Get serious.

He's singing like a canary in a coal mine as the gas level rises, and he's going to do less time because of it.

Don't believe anything you read anywhere, ever. Especially now.

and breathe a sigh of relief because the Dukester's not talking! Really, he's just sitting in his cell content with his 8 year sentence.

*

It's the FBI investigator who's saying that Cunningham isn't cooperating.

A little surprising, though, since the government's recourse is to put the Dukester on trial. Although for a 64-year-old cancer survivor, weighing the merits of an eight year term against a 30 year term is like asking whether you'd prefer to be shot or hanged. Cunningham will most likely be dead before he breathes the fresh air of freedom again in any case.

It's the press reporting.

See how it works?

Don't believe any of it. My god, why would you believe anything like this at this point in the game? Haven't the past five years taught people anything about "spin"?

Welcome to how the real world works.

Now, watch, and enjoy the show.

I'd be highly suspicious as well if this was typical media whore "government sources say" or "an official familiar with the investigation" kind of coverage. In this story, the investigator is identified by name, rank and office, which lends a certain amount of credibility to it; that is, Rick Gwin can be contacted again by anyone who cares to follow up.

You've figured it out.

Believe. Just believe what they say.

And you'll get another George W. Bush before you know it.

Why don't you call Mr. Gwin and see what he says for himself?

Sheesh.

Does that make it clearer?

Are Feds to Blame for Duke's Silence?
By Paul Kiel - May 11, 2006, 1:25 PM

Below, Justin noted the mixed signals coming from Rick Gwin, the Pentagon's top investigator into the Duke Cunningham case, about Duke's level of cooperation. I called legal experts and asked -- if Cunningham isn't talking to investigators, as Gwin claims, why not?

If Duke's staying silent, it's because prosecutors have already forfeited their only leverage to get him to talk, the experts said. In fact, they've given him incentive to hush up. Prosecutors rushed Duke's sentencing -- and now that he's in prison, he has little reason to talk to them, the experts told me. Even worse, if Duke tells them anything that implicates him in crimes they didn't know about, he's in for a new world of hurt for violating his plea agreement.

"If I were Duke Cunningham, frankly, I wouldn't be cooperating," Melanie Sloan, a former federal prosecutor and the Executive Director for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told me. "They sentenced him too fast -- once you're sentenced, you're done. There's no more carrot and stick." She went on to explain how an investigation with as wide a scope as the Cunningham investigation typically runs: "Generally, your deal is dependent on cooperating, and your sentencing is put off until your cooperation is complete." Prosecutors should have gotten everything they could from Cunningham long before they sent him off to prison.

Especially telling in this respect is that prosecutors sought the harshest possible sentence for Cunningham - 10 years. In cases where defendants provide a substantial amount of information on other investigation targets, prosecutors typically temper their requested sentence. It took a remarkably short amount of time for prosecutors to tie up the Cunningham case. The San Diego Union Tribune broke the story on June 12, 2005. By November 28, Duke had pled guilty. He was sentenced to 8 years, 4 months incarceration March 3, 2006. From start to finish, the investigation and prosecution lasted less than 9 months.

"They stopped looking very quickly. They stopped digging," Sloan said, pointing out that Cunningham had been accepting bribes for years - for at least six years, according to the prosecutors. Since the investigation ran its course so quickly, she doubted that they'd really gone back to explore the breadth of Duke's corruption. Jonathan Turley, a professor of law at George Washington University, agreed: "This was not handled in a way that would normally be done for an ongoing investigation."

more.........

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/000609.php

and...

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/000621.php

Sort of goes back to my original point: Cunningham's already in jail, and the prospect of serving eight years or eighty years doesn't make any difference to him -- he'll be dead before he serves out any kind of term. There's no incentive for him to talk to investigators, because the prosecutors got him before a judge and sent off to jail before the investigators could finish their work.

Not that I'm expecting any kind of sense out of this.

...a false sense of security??? Is that a common tactic?

Thanks OLL

he could pardon Cunningham - his dad pardoned all the Iran/Contra guys.

I say put "Top Gun" in a secret prison, strip him and smear him with feces and piss, have a vicious dog gnaw on him awhile, then waterboard him. Oh, and just to be sure, rape his wife and children while he watches. I bet he'll give all kinds of information!

But Duke has found Jeeezus, I'm sure he's being very cooperative.

1st I've heard about it.

army.

That's how the Rethugs keep everything under control. They will promise high-aying positions to family members (especially children) and make all kinds of veiled threats. I would not be surprised if Cunningham did not have a convenient heart attack while in jail.

Ask him again in a month. If that doesn't work, throw him back and ask him in two months. He'll come around.

would have been 'no comment' UNLESS his intent is misdirection. My bet is that is exactly what it is, my only question is: for whom is this misdirection intended?

oops shrub the crook that resides at the whitehouse will give po old Randy a pardon just before he leaves the house that Rove and Baker stole for him.Maybe just maybe the american people will wise up and elect a democrat house and senate,then the house can impeach and the senate will find the thug guilty,Dick the mastermind will take office,after twenty four hours in office,the house can impeach Chaney and the senate will find him guilty and send him to Gitmo along with shrub,and the rest of the bush gang,the long nightmare is over,JUSTICE AT LAST,oh by the way dick go ---- --------.

This seems to be the most likely case.