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The Crooks Trying to Bail-Out Alberto Gonzales

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Let me start by stating that the words “legal” and “trust” don’t belong on a letterhead with Alberto Gonzales’ name blazoned at the top.

But that’s not the most interesting part of the letter soliciting donations for a legal defense fund for AGAG (linked by Main Justice). It’s the number of signers who were deeply embroiled in Bush Administration corruption. Starting, appropriately enough, with Bush himself.

President and Mrs. Bush have already made substantial gifts to the Judge’s legal expense fund.

But then there are people like Gale Norton, who resigned just as Gonzales’ DOJ began investigating an oil-trading scandal and who later was investigated for a slimy deal with her future employer, Shell Oil. Or Alphonso Jackson, who was also investigated by DOJ for cronyism in HUD contracts. Or Margaret Spellings, who declined to crack down on the pay-to-play scandal in the student loan business. Or Hank Paulson, who was buddying up to Goldman Sachs even as he was crafting out a bailout for them. I’d raise Condi and Rummy and torture; but then, Gonzales was involved as deeply as they were in torture.

Then again, the number of corrupt people soliciting money to pay off Gonzales’ legal bills may just be a function of the corruption in the Bush Administration. Because almost all of Bush’s cabinet secretaries signed this letter. So much so, that the people who didn’t sign may be more interesting than anything else. There are a number minor players here: former Department of Energy Secretary Sam Bodman, former Department of Education Secretary Rod Paige, former Ag Secretary Ann Veneman.

But there are three notable omissions among the major Secretaries: John Ashcroft, Paul O’Neill, and Colin Powell.

Oh, and one more rather notable Bush Administration guy missing from the list of people trying to help Gonzales out of his legal defense hole–a guy known to be rather fond of legal defense funds, in fact, for the right people: Dick Cheney.

Why doesn’t Dick Cheney want to help Alberto Gonzales pay for protecting the Bush Administration?