Good riddance to more Bush rubbish: Alice Fisher, who more or less paralyzed DoJ's Criminal Division, joins the exodus--and this story may not be over

"She will leave a void that will be tough to fill."
--Andrew C. Lourie, "a former top aide to Fisher who is a defense lawyer in Washington," quoted by the Washington Post's Carrie Johnson on the departure at the end of this month of Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher [right], head of the Department of Justice's Criminal Division

Well, counselor Lourie, that's one view. However, it's emphatically not the one I'm getting from the legal eagles I consulted.

The contrasting view is that in nearly three years at the helm of DoJ's Criminal Division, responsible for overseeing the fight against public corruption and corporate fraud (a pretty awesome job in the Bush regime, of which public corruption and corporate fraud seem to be the very lifeblood)--our Alice pretty much brought whatever work was being done in these areas to a screeching halt. (She's described to me as a "Chertoff protege"--does that chill your blood the way it does mine?--and, oh yes, as having ties to Tom DeLay's defense. Better still!)

There's even a suggestion that flames of scandal may be rising in the direction of our Alice. Just last week her onetime Criminal Division subordinate Robert E. Coughlin II entered a guilty plea to felony conflict of interest, for swapping favors on an apparently routine basis with crooked lobbyist Kevin Ring, who's not only a crony of the crookedest lobbyist of them all, Jack Abramoff, but a former aide to California Rep. John Doolittle, who sits atop DWT's list of Republicrooks Most Urgently Still Awaiting Indictment.

McClatchy Newspapers' Marisa Taylor reported on April 22 that Coughlin made his admissions "as part of an agreement to cooperate with federal prosecutors in exchange for a lighter sentence." She added, "Prosecutors, who plan to seek four to six months in prison, declined to comment."

Firedoglake's Christy Hardin-Smith speculated last week about the implications of the Coughlin plea story, which came rife with mentions of "various government officials" and "officials, including those with the department":

Hmmmmm ... by my read, that puts a whole host of "other officials" (note the plural in that) -- both within the Department of Justice and within the government at large -- on the potential hook from Mr. Coughlin's cooperation deal. Were there higher-ups at DOJ pressuring him to help out good ole Jack? Or a pal of Doolittle [right] like Ring clearly was?

And, beyond that, is Ring now also cooperating with the government and/or soon to be indicted? Because he's been under substantial scrutiny for a while now. Have they reeled him in for a cooperation and plea information as well? How many others strands of the Republican corruption web does this tug on at once? How many more officials like Coughlin and Stephen Griles are dangling off the web, just waiting to be reeled in for more cooperation with the government on the next person up the chain of power?

Because that's how a complex corruption scheme is cracked, one cooperation plea at a time. Coughlin got nailed for failing to report gifts of food and beverage and such as required by DOJ regs -- and of such small infractions, large cases are cracked. This certainly puts a lot of pressure on Ring to flip on the next folks up the chain -- because someone with a straight arrow reputation like Coughlin is likely to spill everything in penance for his transgressions.

Word to the wise, Mr. Ring: he who spills earliest gets the best deal -- wait too long, and your buddy Doolittle will already have hung you out to dry. That sound you hear just might be Rep. Doolittle calling his lawyers ... again.

There could be a lot of mouths blabbering even as we speak, and that could be bad news for the head of a Criminal Division who may have been a tad fuzzy whether her mission was to combat or to promote corruption and fraud.

And that isn't the end of the speculation. My attention has been called to the fact that an Inspector General's report is expected soon on the handling of the torture question, within DoJ, and this could be deeply incriminating for our Alice. As I'm reminded, her involvement weighed heavily on the mind of Michigan Senator Carl Levin at the time she was nominated to head the Criminal Division.

Senator Levin went on to outline, then describe in great detail, his deep concerns about the administration's elaborate and persistent web of obfuscation and suppression of crucial information, which had marred not just Ms. Fisher's previous Senate confirmation hearings but also those of Michael Chertoff to become secretary of Homeland Security while he was head of the DoJ Criminal Division and our Alice was his deputy. There was good reason to believe, the senator suggested, that both of them were up to their eyeballs in knowledge of the already-in-place program of torture at Guantanamo.

In a speech he gave on the floor of the Senate in September 2006, Senator Levin said in part:

[T]he issue of detainee abuse at Guantanamo Bay is very much on our minds and in the headlines as we debate how we will treat detainees in the future. In this context, the nomination of Ms. Alice Fisher for the position of Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division at the Department of Justice is not just a routine appointment. Alice Fisher was the Deputy at the Criminal Division while the abuse at Guantanamo was occurring and while concerns about interrogation tactics were being raised within the Criminal Division at that same time. We are being asked to confirm Ms. Fisher today with unanswered relevant questions about any knowledge she may have had or actions she might have taken relative to those interrogation tactics. . . .

The information I have sought relates to what Ms. Fisher knew about aggressive and abusive interrogation techniques in use at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, during the time that Ms. Fisher served as deputy head of the Criminal Division in the Justice Department from July 2001 to July 2003. From publicly-released FBI documents, we have learned that FBI personnel raised serious concerns about these DoD interrogation tactics at weekly meetings between FBI and Department of Justice Criminal Division officials. I have sought to find out what Ms. Fisher knew about these FBI concerns over aggressive DoD methods; what, if anything, was reported to Ms. Fisher; and what steps, if any, she took in response.

If Ms. Fisher knew of aggressive interrogation techniques at Guantanamo and did nothing about it, or she knew about them but has denied knowing, then I would be deeply troubled. The Administration has repeatedly obstructed efforts to get this information, information which is, in my judgement, relevant to Ms. Fisher’s suitability for the position to which she is nominated. . . .

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Now the question is whether Judge Malarkey, the best darned U.S. attorney general we have at this particular moment, has given any thought to having his Criminal Division, in these waning months of his tiny tenure as AG, like, maybe, fight some friggin' crime.

Probably the real question, though is whether anyone has asked Senator Obama who he's thinking of sticking with the job of attorney general. Gadzooks, does that poor soul have his/her work cut out!

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