That's how we get into the other part of this story -- those 'hospitality suites', that moveable feast of food, poker and love, Brent Wilkes ran in Washington for maybe fifteen years. Josh Marshall 05/05/2007
Wilkes didn’t think much of the lobbying process and said so to the New York Times: “Offering a rare insider’s view, Mr. Wilkes described the appropriations process as little more than a shakedown.”
This was much more than a pay for play scandal in Washington or a political newbie showing up and throwing some money around. We’re talking about allegations that national security officials were bribed; a chilling thought since there are Wilkes all over the world in places not too friendly to the United States. In addition, there’s the sleazy entertainment angle with a 15 year history spoken of freely by a number of publications.
Stop Right There
There’s enough evidence in this well documented scenario to justify asking if Lam’s forced retirement was linked to her aggressive exposure of the Cunningham – Brent Wilkes - CIA connection. It’s bad enough to have free-wheeling, loose cannon, West Coast defense contractor bragging about paying off lobbyist shakedowns in order to gain congressional influence. It’s even worse to see an indictment describing how the number three executive at CIA took bribes and shared national security information But it’s utterly unbearable, if you know the public taste for scandal, to think that the story uncovered will lead with information about a scene like this described in Harpers magazine:
As to the festivities themselves, I hear that party nights began early with poker games (see Clarification, below) and degenerated into what the source described as a "frat party" scene—real bacchanals. Apparently photographs were taken, and investigators are anxiously procuring copies. My heart beats faster in fevered anticipation. Harpers Magazine 04/27/2006
On March 12, 2005 “Scoop” Independent News ran this:
Exposed and disgraced, Cunningham resigned after the indictment and apparently began singing the right tunes for the prosecutor. Lam widened her investigation and connected Cunningham’s cash cow, defense contractor Brent Wilkes, with a broader potential scandal involving Wilkes and former CIA executive Dusty Foggo.
That may not be the right reason to replace a hard nosed U.S. Attorney but, given the facts, it’s certainly a logical reason. At the end of 2005, researcher and blogger Joseph Cannon reported the findings of his extensive research:
The truth: Wilkes was a mechanism by which public funds earmarked for national defense were funneled to G.O.P. candidates and causes.
We can only imagine what’s hiding behind the public face of the scandal?
We may be stuck with only our imaginations if someone doesn’t start talking soon..
Will it be MaryBeth, who now knows that she was added to the list of U.S. Attorneys targeted for dismissal? Isn’t that what got the first eight fired federal prosecutors riled up and talking in the first place?
Report: U.S. Attorney Buchanan to meet with House Judiciary investigators
06/06/2007 (Associated Press)
PITTSBURGH -- U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan of Pittsburgh will meet privately Thursday with House Judiciary Committee investigators looking into the Justice Department's firing of eight federal prosecutors last year, her attorney told a newspaper.
Buchanan's attorney, Roscoe C. Howard J. -- the former U.S. Attorney of Washington, D.C. -- told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that he's representing Buchanan at the meeting in Washington.
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