Did Bush Lawyers Give Big Tobacco a Break?

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/07/doj_official_to.html

DOJ Official to Testify Today in Tobacco Lawsuit

Associate Attorney General Robert McCallum will be deposed this morning in a lawsuit seeking information about why the Justice Department drastically reduced the amount of damages it was seeking in a suit against the big tobacco companies.

Last June, following a lengthy trial, DOJ officials announced they were cutting the amount of damages they were seeking from tobacco companies, from $130 billion to $14 billion.

That decision prompted the lead attorney in the government's case, Sharon Eubanks, pictured above, to quit, saying that Bush political appointees undercut the government's case against big tobacco.

"The amount sought by the U.S. government was dictated by the political appointees of the Department of Justice," Eubanks, a 22-year veteran, told ABC News last year. "It was very difficult to work with political officials," she said, "I did not receive their support or encouragement."