A senior Justice Department official has resigned after coming under scrutiny in the department’s expanding investigation of convicted super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, according to federal law enforcement officials with knowledge of the case.
Making the situation more awkward for the embattled Justice Department, Robert E. Coughlin II was deputy chief of staff for the criminal division, which is overseeing the department’s probe of Abramoff.
Now, Coughlin reportedly recused himself from the Abramoff investigation and “played no role in any aspect of the investigation during his tenure in the criminal division,” at least according to the official line from the Justice Department.
That said, it looks pretty bad. As McClatchy reported, “Coughlin stepped down effective April 6 as investigators in Coughlin’s own division ratcheted up their investigation of lobbyist Kevin Ring, Coughlin’s longtime friend and a key associate of Abramoff. Coughlin held two senior staff positions at Justice while Ring was lobbying the department on behalf of Abramoff’s clients.”
First, this is just what Alberto Gonzales’ Justice Department needed to inspire confidence, isn’t it?
Second, McClatchy explained Coughlin is “at least the second Justice Department official to come under scrutiny in the wide-ranging Abramoff probe, which has implicated five congressmen, a deputy Cabinet secretary, a White House aide and eight others. Sue Ellen Wooldridge, a top environmental prosecutor at the Department of Justice, resigned in January.”
And his resignation announcement was held until late on a Friday afternoon. Natch.