I find this very interesting and disturbing

[Pam-Moby]

While listening to Mike on air america tonight he said that the prosecutor handling the Abramoff case is Alice Fisher. She is connected with the law firm that handled Bill Frist's family medical suit with the government and possibly Tom Delay's defense case. She was placed there by Bush while the senate was at recess. Wonder why then? I just have to wonder about this being a conflict of interest. I ran the name on the web search and found Alice Fisher and yes she is linked to assisting Frist's Family HCA inc law suit against them. I am not sure yet about Delays defense team.

I think it would be in all of our interest to contact MSM and senators and congressman about this conflict of interest. This maybe a whitewash of any real prosecuting.

[Erika]

1. Good catch

We all need to check it out.

[Digit]

2. I agree, great catch

Recommended as well.

[Kingshakabobo]

3. Good catch. This has been my concern-Who is running the prosecution. nt

[Emit]

4. Good catch.

Sez here there was a hold on her nomination (prior to her recess appointment) based on her involvement with her "knowledge of abusive interrogation techniques used on prisoners detained at Guantanamo..." Jeesh. What a tangled web!

Alice Fisher was nominated as the Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division in April and approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee in May, but a hold on her nomination by Michigan Senator Carl Levin has stalled the process. According to a Newsweek article (here) in early August, Levin is seeking additional information, apparently including a personal interview with an FBI agent, concerning Fisher's knowledge of abusive interrogation techniques used on prisoners detained at Guantanamo. While Fisher's involvement in the entire affair seems modest at best, Levin is involved in a tug-of-war with the Department of Justice over access to the FBI agent, whom Justice interviewed but has refused to make available to the Senator. Being a pawn in that kind of fight often means the nomination will linger while the two sides glare at each other. Even the intercession of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales did not budge Senator Levin.

http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:QwTgMH2swSEJ:lawprofessors.typepad.com/whitecollarcrime_blog/2005/08/when_will_the_s.html+Alice+Fisher+Abramoff&hl=en


Edited to add:

Alice S. Fisher was appointed (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050831-5.html) by President George W. Bush in a recess appointment August 31, 2005, as Assistant Attorney General to head the Criminal Division in the Department of Justice.

Fisher was nominated March 29, 2005, and her nomination was sent to the Senate April 4, 2005. Her nomination was stalled over interrogation tactics at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, naval facility.

Fisher "had a substantive law firm career, and she worked for two years in the Criminal Division overseeing the Department’s prosecutions in the high-profile areas of counterterrorism and corporate fraud. She also been a long-time protégé of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff," Vermont Senator Patrick J. Leahy said (http://www.senate.gov/comm/judiciary/general/member_statement.cfm?id=1500&wit_id=2629) in his May 12, 2005, statement. "I am somewhat concerned, however, that Ms. Fisher is nominated for one of the most visible prosecutorial positions in the country without ever having prosecuted a case, and she brings to the position minimal trial experience in any context," he said.

Leahy also expressed concerns about Fisher's "views on checks of controversial provisions of the Patriot Act and her opposition to the Act’s sunset provision; her participation in meetings in which the FBI expressed its disagreement with harsh interrogation methods practiced by the military toward detainees held at Guantanamo, and her ideas about appropriate safeguards for the treatment of enemy combatants." Leahy was also concerned about "reports that she has had ties to Congressman Tom DeLay’s defense team" and "also to know what steps she to take to avoid a conflict of interest in the Department’s investigation of lobbyist Jack Abramoff and possibly Mr. DeLay."

http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:sy11QQUYaVYJ:www.sourcewatch.org/index.php%3Ftitle%3DAlice_S._Fisher+Alice+Fisher+Abramoff&hl=en

[Pam-Moby]

5. This just makes me sick.

Do these people have any morals? Liars, cheats and thieves. I emailed KO, Conyers, Levin, Stabenow, ACLU and Will. I will also call the senators and congressmen in the morning. God I am so pissed and concerned.

[AuntiBush]

27. I'm Sick With You!

Reminds me of an ole' saying from way back when: "It's all mind over matter. They don't mind, and we just don't matter."

Too much power = greed beyond belief.

[Trevelyan]

16. It looks like they made an offer Levin couldn't refuse according to the

courageous CCR.com Center for Constitutional Rights who have been fighting against torture and the Iraq war.

http://www.witnesstorture.org/
http://www.ccr-ny.org/v2/reports/report.asp?ObjID=VJQl1vGD5N&Content=684==Center for Constitutional Rights Statement on Dangers of Court-Stripping and Graham-Levin Amendment

Synopsis

As Congress supposedly outlaws torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment by its support of the McCain Amendment, it will at the same time foster both torture and indefinite detention without judicial oversight if it supports the Graham-Levin Amendment. What McCain gives with one hand, Graham-Levin, as now proposed takes away with the other.

McCain forbids torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading interrogation. Graham-Levin, on the other hand, authorizes the use of evidence obtained through these methods in military tribunals, "if probative," ie, if it is useful or relevant to the proceedings. Since virtually all information is "probative," this provision opens the door wide to the torture that McCain supposedly shuts. In addition, while we have one public document, the Army Field Manual, that forbids torture, the Administration has just introduced a secret "Addendum" to the manual that essentially sanctions torture.

Further, Graham-Levin prevents any victim of torture at Guantánamo from filing a lawsuit against those responsible. The message that Graham-Levin therefore sends is that regardless of what Congress says in McCain, there will be no public airing of torture when and if it happens, no sanctions for engaging in torture, and no compensation for victims of torture. For centuries, torture has been the most reviled thing that one person can do to another. This law will deny to victims of those acts the right they have held for centuries, to go to court and sue.

Most disturbing, Graham-Levin will eliminate the historic right of habeas corpus for anyone held at Guantánamo. Federal courts will be stripped of habeas jurisdiction for the first time in well over a century. By undertaking a major change in the jurisdiction of federal courts, by way of eliminating a right, the origins of which go back to the Magna Carta in 1215, Graham-Levin constitutes a beachhead in what we fear to be a campaign to undermine fundamental rights in the United States and around the world.

The New York Times called the Graham-Levin amendment "a malignant measure" in a critical editorial today, and warned that it "would do grievous harm to the rule that the government cannot just lock you up without showing cause to a court. This fundamental principle of democratic justice must not be watered down so the Bush administration does not have to answer for the illegal detentions of hundreds of men at Guantánamo Bay and other prison camps." The Center for Constitutional Rights stands with all the leading civil and human rights organizations to condemn the Graham-Levin amendment.

Nominated:kick:

[Emit]

22. Man. Thanks for that info Trevelyan...I hadn't really been keeping up

with the details of the McCain Amendment vs. the Graham-Levin amendment vs. the Bingaman version. I'm just sitting here scratching my head. WTF is wrong with Levin? I just don't get it. First, Levin blocked the nomination because he wants to talk to an agent who named Fisher in an e-mail about allegedly abusive interrogations at the US military prison camp at Guantanamo, then he puts out this amendment that strips people the right to petition a federal court for a writ of habeas corpus.

Just WTF is wrong with these people?!

Anyway, I see that the Graham-Levin Amendment passed in the Senate, but I can't find the status since it went to the House:

Update: The Senate at midday Tuesday approved the revised Graham amendment, now known as the Graham/Levin amendment, to restrict court review of the U.S. military's dealings with detainees. The vote was 84-14, with one senator from each party not voting. That proposal passed after the Senate had rejected, by a 54-44 vote, a less-restrictive version offered by Sen. Jeff Bingaman. The amended version was attached to the National Defense Authorization Act, S. 1042. That bill was passed, 98-0, and sent to the House. Here is the roll call on the Graham/Levin amendment. All of the No votes but one (that of Sen. Specter) were cast by Democrats.

http://www.scotusblog.com/movabletype/archives/2005/11/the_grahamlevin.html

[jbnow]

26. They couldn't stop Graham's amendment

Levin argued against it quite powerfully, but we are in the minority and it passed.

So Levin negotiated with Graham to get that amended so they at least had SOME rights of appeal. Under Grahams there was no appeal for anything. Under Graham/Levin they can appeal military court decisions at least, sentences of death or imprisonment for ten years or longer and to challenge his designation as a "combatant."
Levin wasn't happy with it either but he wanted them to have some rights of appeal. He wasn't for the limitations on appeal, his name is on it because he got some appeal rights in.

I was watching C-Span during these debates.

[Tuesday_Morning]

17. Fisher was a recent recess appointment

Does that mean she was appointed with Abramoff in mind? Hmmmm.


http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/09/02/bypassing_senate_president_appoints_a_top_justice_official/

Sept. 2, 2005

Bush used a ''recess appointment" Wednesday to name Alice S. Fisher to lead the agency's criminal division. Senator Carl Levin, Democrat of Michigan, had blocked the nomination because he wants to talk to an agent who named Fisher in an e-mail about allegedly abusive interrogations at the US military prison camp at Guantanamo.

The agent wrote that in weekly meetings with Justice Department officials, ''we often discussed techniques and how they were not effective or producing that was reliable." In the next sentence, the agent said Fisher, then the number two official in the criminal division, was among Justice officials who attended the meetings.

Fisher has said she does not recall participating in the discussions, and Justice officials have said the agent did not intend to say she had. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales declined to let senators question the agent, saying it would violate longstanding policy.

[radio4progressives]

6. Also alert the Dems in Congress - Their Home offices Should be Staffed

If they were on this, i think there's a good chance they'd demand a replacement..

[Pam-Moby]

8. OMG I sure hope so.

These people get away with everything. What a crock of shit.

[EFerrari]

9. Good call.

Call Nancy's Leadership office, Call one of her locations and ask to speak to the Leadership Office.


District Office - 450 Golden Gate Ave. - 14th Floor - San Francisco, CA 94102 - [phone]
Washington, D.C. Office - 2371 Rayburn HOB - Washington, DC 20515 - [phone]

[radio4progressives]

30. She's on my Cell Phone w/Boxer and Feinstein >>

:hi:But thanks so much for posting this for others...

this is important.. very important.

[EFerrari]

7. Yes! fly mentioned this on another thread.

Send it everywhere -- even as a question if you're not sure of the sourcing: "Is it true that Fisher was mixed up with Frist's and Delay's defense teams? Wouldn't that be a conflict of interest?"

You know the Thugs will try it, they'll try anything.

LTTE, Olbermann, Jon Stewart, your network, your radio guys. (Thanks, Mike!)

:kick:

[doublethink]

10. Here's another thread with more info on her .....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x41598 Peace. :)

[flordehinojos]

11. expect nothing different coming from bush and chertoff.

one of the guests on the hardball show 12/3/06 said that alice fisher had been placed at the JD by chertoff...and lauded that as if it were a great plussss for the democracy, honesty and integrity of the bush people.

i consider chertoff to be one of the dirtiest, most conniving, vilest human beings who thinks nothing about lying and doing anything to get his end.

so, how all this lying and conniving will play in the abramnoff case ... probably by finding a way to give bush and his cronies some sort of a pass. abramoff already got one his plea agreement and reduced sentence.

[Usrename]

12. kick n/t

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

13. She's handling the Abramoff case.

That doesn't necessarily mean she'd be involved in any theoretical case against Frist or DeLay.

[Nothing Without Hope]

14. ***MORE ON ALICE FISHER IN THIS EARLIER THREAD:***

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x41598
thread title (1/3 GD): Alice Fisher DOJ Prosecutor/ Ties to Gitmo Interrogations/Chertoff/DeLay

Oh yes, conflict of interest all right. Quite deliberately. The Bushies want the Abramoff scandal "handled" with minimal damage and with suppression of foreign influence peddling and larger connections.

This must be fought.

[The Witch]

15. Would a corrupt prosecutor have gotten Jack into this plea bargain?

How does his guilty plea and promise to cooperate benefit the evildoers?

[Spazito]

18. Because it may well mitigate the scandal, contain it, as it were

to a limited exposure. We won't know whether the plea agreement is in place to limit bush's exposure and Abramoff's involvement in other criminal activities that are connected to this scheme or is actually an above-board DOJ investigation that will follow ALL trails no matter where they lead.

Certainly finding out that the Asst AG in charge, Alice Fisher, is a bush recess appointee and has direct connections to Tom DeLay, Chertoff, etc, should be cause for great concern, imo.

[dennisnyc]

19. and she was Sec. of State Powell's aide that f*ed up his MTP appearance

Hold On, Alice! with russert trying to keep Colin answering questions she was the one trying to get him off air---amazing!

www.maddowonline.com
Rachel talked about it this morning and played the russert audio!

[ourbluenation]

20. I don't think that's correct. Different gal. eom

[Virginian]

21. That was Scanlon's ex who ratted this to FBI, not the proscecutor. n/t

[dennisnyc]

24. thanks for clearing that up--i stand corrected

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

31. No it wasn't Alice, it was "Beth" or something else if I recall...

[Pam-Moby]

23. We just called

Levin, Pelosi, and Boxers office about our concerns.

[fooj]

25. The MSM knows about Fisher. You can take that one to the bank!

Peace.

[Terre]

28. You all might want to check out this diary

over at Daily Kos discussing the same thing earlier.

One particular comment has some information that may be useful to balance this information with:

Hold on a minute (3.95 / 42)

Alice Fisher is the head of the Criminal Division, but she is NOT the prosecutor in this case. The hands-on prosecutor is Mary K. Butler. Alice Fisher just shows up for press conferences.

You may find this hard to believe, but Fisher will have little to do with this. Her name is not even on the plea agreement (PDF). Butler's is. She'a a career DOJ trial attorney, first joining the US Attorney's office in 1987. She has worked on public corruption since that time. Take a look at the plea agreement. It's a pretty stiff deal. And if Jack doesn't sing the proper tune 24/7, he is REALLY screwed because he has pled. His sentencing will be deferred until he is no longer useful.

It is clear from the plea agreement that some debriefing has already occurred. My experience with US Attorneys and career DOJ attorneys is that they are professional and courteous (since they hold all the cards, you can see why).

So before we go off screaming for Fisher, be advised that she does mostly paperwork and administration. Oh, and press conferences. Can't let the boss miss one of those.

We do not rent rooms to Republicans.

by Mary Julia on Tue Jan 03, 2006 at 11:45:11 PM PST

Personally, I'm sick of cronyism, along with everything else related to this administration, and she should simply recuse herself.

[stop the bleeding]

29. Where have I been with this thread. (hitting self in head) for not seeing

this great find sooner. I kept hearing about this but did not have time to investigate further yet.

So much in so little time

Nominated.

[hootinholler]

32. Daniel Schorr had a piece about her.

I wrote him a letter.

Her appointment to the case despicable, if not criminal. Next thing it will be in Judge Walton's chambers.

-Hoot