Democrats Want Shake-Up in Abramoff Probe - Yahoo! News

By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent
1 hour, 25 minutes ago



Two Senate Democrats asked the U.S. attorney general Thursday to appoint a special counsel to take over the investigation into congressional corruption involving lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

The letter came a day after the Justice Department announced the prosecutor heading the investigation would step down from the Abramoff investigation.

Noel Hillman, chief of the department's public integrity section, was nominated by President Bush for a judgeship on the U.S. District Court in New Jersey.

Hillman will step down as chief of the public integrity unit next week, but remain in the Justice Department's criminal division until he is confirmed, a department official said.

In a letter to the attorney general, Sens. Chuck Schumer and Ken Salazar argued an independent prosecutor "would ensure that the investigation and prosecution will proceed without fear or favor and provide the public with full confidence that no one in this country is above the law."

The two Democrats said that so far, the public integrity section of the Justice Department, which is in charge of the probe, has "pursued this case appropriately."

Rep. George Miller (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif. issued a statement supporting the request made by Schumer and Salazar. In addition to the points they raised, Miller noted that on Wednesday Bush nominated Hillman to a federal judgeship.

"It looks like the White House has reached in and tampered with an ongoing investigation," Miller said.

The White House was poised to nominate Hillman last summer after a deal on Bush's judicial nominations paved the way for New Jersey's Democratic senators to weigh in on Hillman. White House spokeswoman Erin Healy said the president makes all his nominations in a timely manner and was ready to move forward.

Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said, "There is no legal or ethical reason why the attorney general would need to recuse himself from this investigation as it continues to move forward successfully with a career prosecution team."

Abramoff pleaded guilty this year to several felony charges, some involving his dealings with members of Congress and their aides. His one-time business partner, former congressional aide Michael Scanlon, pleaded guilty last year in the same investigation.

Officials have said numerous former congressional aides remain under scrutiny, as does Rep. Bob Ney (news, bio, voting record), R-Ohio, who recently stepped down provisionally as a committee chairman in the House of Representatives.

Politicians of both parties moved quickly to shed campaign donations from Abramoff or his former clients in the aftermath of the lobbyists' admissions of guilt.

The scandal also has thrust congressional reform toward the top of the legislative and political agenda in the opening days of an election-year Congress. All 435 seats in the House and one-third of the 100 Senate seats are up for election in November.

Schumer and Salazar sent their letter several days after Democrats pressed the White House for information on contacts between Abramoff and President Bush or other top officials. So far, the White House has refused to release photographs of the president and the lobbyist together.

Asked about it at a news conference Thursday, Bush said, "There's thousands of people that come through and get their pictures taken.

"I'm also mindful that we live in a world in which those pictures will be used for pure political purposes," he said, "and they're not relevant to the investigation."

In their letter, Schumer and Salazar cited news reports that in addition to the presidential photographs, Abramoff organized at least one meeting with White House aides for his clients.

"These meetings with the president and the White House staff occurred while you were serving as White House counsel," they wrote Gonzales, who became attorney general a year ago. "Given the possible ties between Mr. Abramoff and senior government officials, we believe the appointment of a special counsel is not only justified, but necessary."

Schumer and Salazar wrote that the "highly political context" of the allegations may "lead some to surmise that political influence may compromise the investigation."