Reply #8: Whistleblower Charges Justice Dept. with Misconduct (Chertoff)

[seemslikeadream]

Whistleblower Charges Justice Dept. with Misconduct in Chertoff's Prosecution of John Walker Lindh

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But as his record comes under fresh scrutiny, questions are being raised about his handling of the case of John Walker Lindh - the so-called American Taliban. As head of the criminal division of the Justice Department, the 2002 prosecution of Lindh was one of Chertoff"s biggest triumphs.

But the case resurfaced the following year in Senate confirmation hearings after Chertoff was nominated to be a federal appellate judge. At that time, Senate Democrats questioned Chertoff extensively about concerns that the FBI might have improperly questioned Lindh in Afghanistan even though his family had hired a lawyer for him.

The questioning yielded potentially damaging admissions from Lindh that factored into his decision to later plead guilty to felony charges, resulting in his 20-year prison sentence.

At his 2003 confirmation hearing, Chertoff said he and his deputies did not have an active role in discussions about ethics warnings in the case from lawyers elsewhere in the department. But a Justice Department whistleblower tells a different story.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/01/13/1455248

The Trials of Jesselyn Radack
Douglas McCollam
The American Lawyer
07-14-2003


Sitting in her well-appointed living room in a leafy northwest Washington, D.C., neighborhood, Jesselyn Radack seems an unlikely candidate for martyrdom in the war on terror. For three years the Yale Law School graduate and self-described soccer mom made her living telling other government lawyers how to stay out of trouble.

The 32-year-old former U.S. Department of Justice ethics adviser says she thought she'd be a career government lawyer. But that was before she decided to object to the government's tactics in the John Walker Lindh case last year.

Since then she's lost two jobs -- pushed out of her Justice post and then fired from the firm that had taken her in -- and now finds herself unemployed and in limbo. Her personal challenges are daunting: under criminal investigation, ailing from multiple sclerosis, and expecting a third child in January. But far from singing the victim's song, Radack appears composed and stalwart, telling her story with short, chopping hand strokes and near-encyclopedic recall.

And her story grows more ominous as new details emerge about how far the government will go in pursuit of one of its own.

http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1056139907383

Thursday, January 13th, 2005
Whistleblower Charges Justice Dept. with Misconduct in Chertoff's Prosecution of John Walker Lindh

We speak with former Justice Department attorney, Jesselyn Radack, who charges that department officials under Michael Chertoff improperly questioned John Waker Lindh and that her memos raising ethical concerns about his interrogation were purged and not turned over to a criminal court.
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Michael Chertoff, President Bush's Homeland Security Chief nominee, was praised by Senate Democrats and state lawyers this week as being a tough but fair prosecutor who would serve well as Tom Ridge's replacement.
But as his record comes under fresh scrutiny, questions are being raised about his handling of the case of John Walker Lindh - the so-called American Taliban. As head of the criminal division of the Justice Department, the 2002 prosecution of Lindh was one of Chertoff"s biggest triumphs.

But the case resurfaced the following year in Senate confirmation hearings after Chertoff was nominated to be a federal appellate judge. At that time, Senate Democrats questioned Chertoff extensively about concerns that the FBI might have improperly questioned Lindh in Afghanistan even though his family had hired a lawyer for him.

http://mparent7777.blog-city.com/read/1005311.htm


Chertoff worth millions, documents show
By LARRY MARGASAK

Associated Press


WASHINGTON - Michael Chertoff, the president's nominee to head the Homeland Security Department, had assets worth between $2.1 million and $4.9 million at the end of 2003 but few investments were in individual stocks, documents show. <snip>

Chertoff, an appellate judge whose salary this year is $171,800, only listed one active stock investment at the end of 2003: holdings in Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc., a company that specializes in research, development and sale of drugs used primarily to treat and manage pain. The stock was worth up to $15,000 at the end of 2003. <snip>

Chertoff's wife, Meryl, formerly worked in the legislative affairs office of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the disaster response agency that is part of the Homeland Security Department. <snip>

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/world/106...