``They're using Scanlon to get everybody''

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aM0MEONh7DpE&refer=us

excerpt:

U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle today accepted a plea agreement proposed by the Justice Department and Scanlon, which may help prosecutors widen the probe to include lawmakers. The Justice Department asked that sentencing be delayed while Scanlon cooperates. He faces a maximum of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and repayment of $19.7 million to clients.

Scanlon, 35, will help prosecutors make their case against Abramoff and investigate his contacts in and around Capitol Hill. Scanlon, a one-time aide to former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, had intimate knowledge of Abramoff's dealings.

``They're using Scanlon to get everybody,'' said Melanie Sloan, a former federal prosecutor who now heads Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, an advocacy group. ``That's how it works. You keep rolling people. I'm sure Tom DeLay is unhappy today to hear Michael Scanlon has made a deal.''

Abramoff's former role as a leading Republican lobbyist may add to the difficulties already facing his party. President George W. Bush's popularity is at a record low as the death toll mounts in Iraq and scandals shake Congress and the White House. Last month, White House aide I. Lewis Libby was indicted in a probe of the disclosure of a covert CIA agent's identity. DeLay was charged with money laundering in Texas, his home state.

...more...

:popcorn:

:popcorn:











:D

:popcorn: :popcorn:

period between his plea and his sentencing. (I'm sure his sentencing date will come up in the next few months.)

This period btw plea and sentencing is the most dangerous time for any federal witness who "rolls over". Seriously, they sometimes get killed. I've even known of cases.

During Watergate, after former Nixon White House counsel John Dean decided to help the prosecution, he spent nights in a safe house run by the feds, and days in the courtroom. He said this yesterday, on Sunday Monitor (KPFT-Houston)

Rawhide!

Think Blues Brothers.

:popcorn: :9

Through all kinds of weather,
We're hell-bent for leather.
Keep those puggies rolling...

but I can't say I trust a single one of this crew any farther than I can throw a grand piano by one leg, and I'm talking arthritis since I was 14.

I sincerely hope they've managed to put the fear of a long imprisonment into him, have gotten him completely outraged that he's been made a patsy, and that he'll spill all the beans he knows about. I would dearly love to see Congress cleared of every member who took a dime of Abramoff's dirty money, as well as Reed and Dobson being frog marched off to the pokey for very long terms (for their own protection, of course, I have a sneaking suspicion about what those Indian tribes they robbed would like to do to them).

I just have little hope that this will actually occur. I think all these scumbags are feeling that nothing can possibly be done to them because they know Chicken George will pardon the lot of them. Consider Delay's smile, Lay's smirk, and Fastow's expression of righteous indignation. These men know their debt to society will go unpaid.

And the GOP equates with the dirt. It couldn't have happened to a more deserving group.

without pleading a sentence deal. He's got the goods on the GOP and he's talking, big time.

the Feds have got a solid case against but not enough for eveyone else. This is HUGH!!11

That is what Delay is now facing if found guilty and sentenced the Max. This is a very serious charge and I am sure Republicans in high places are very nervous. Especially all the Republican aides and staff members. They are usually the ones doing the dirty work and the easiest for office holders to jettison.

panties when he heard Scanlon took a plea!!!! LOL

:popcorn:

and I'd be shitting my pants if this is what my life was shaping up to look like at 35. Granted, I don't know how to relate to someone who would screw Native American tribes out of millions of dollars, but I know I sure wouldn't like being indicted of any crime, let alone something this serious.

I hope he rolls and gets everyone of these hypocritical RW bastards tangled up with him.

involves up to about 60 Congressman........if they roll Abramhoff too, I can see a whole lot of vacant seats as the Capitol. They have every e-mail, every written. Abramhoff wrote sometimes up to 400 a day.

should be entertained for months.

more popcorn...this is better than, a Saturday night at the movies.:popcorn:

:popcorn:

about the Democrats were doing this to him? Looks like he will need to come up with another excuse for his illegal actions.

This is one guy I will be happy to see fall flat on his ass and I don't take any pleasure in seeing anyone get into legal trouble but this guy, well let's just say he deserves everything he gets as far as being convicted....

I haven't been following this affair too closely, but it seems as if a lot of Congresspeople are involved. Does this include Dems, or is it entirely a repuke scandal?

with all the lobbying efforts I'd have to believe it touches some Dems too. Power & influence peddling it casts a wide hand.