Abramoff prosecutor to get a promotion

January 26, 2006

I’m not one to buy into conspiracy theories, but the timing of this nomination is a little odd.

President Bush on Wednesday nominated one of the Justice Department’s lead prosecutors in the Jack Abramoff corruption probe to a U.S. District Court seat in New Jersey.

Noel Hillman, chief of the department’s public integrity section, was nominated for a federal judgeship in New Jersey, where he served in the U.S. Attorney’s office under Michael Chertoff, now secretary of Homeland Security. […]

During a news conference earlier this month following Abramoff’s guilty plea on corruption-related charges, Assistant Attorney General Alice Fisher said Hillman played an important role in providing leadership in the investigation.

An aggressive federal investigation is working with Abramoff on a massive corruption investigation, which might even include the White House. Shortly after Abramoff struck a deal with prosecutors in exchange for his cooperation, the president decides it’s time to give a lead prosecutor in the case a promotion, which would take him off the case.

Just to be clear, I’m not necessarily criticizing the nomination or casting aspersions on Hillman’s qualifications for the federal bench. I’m just saying that the coincidental timing here is interesting, isn’t it?

If Hillman is all that, it would be great if he would say “I’d be honored to serve as a judge, sir, effective as soon as I have completed my work in the Abramoff investigation. it is simply too important an issue of national integrity for me to not see through to conclusion.”

  • Looks to me like he is being rewarded.

    If I had to guess, the WH is rewarding the prosector for getting Abramoff to cut a deal where he will implicate Congressmen but not the WH itself. Is that too far-fetched?

  • You might have something there, Gridlock–given that Abramoff is convicted and has flipped, kicking the lead prosecutor upstairs to get him out of the way would seem to not make a whole lot of sense at this late date. Especially given the Bush track record of vindictiveness toward those who obstruct their plans.

    The only explanation that would seem to fit with the administration pattern would be that they arranged a quid pro quo with the lead prosecutor to nail the small fish (or those too tainted) and let most of the big fish go. I had suspected in earlier posts that Abramoff’s attorney was right now fielding dozens of offers from GOP politicians, with the low bidders getting fingered. My suspicion is totally without evidence, but would be consistent with how Congress has operated in the last 150 years and this corrupt GOP congress in particular. Hillman must have kept his end of the bargain, so now he gets his reward.

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