Do The Crime, Do The Time

When you're wrong and you know it.

Newsweek reported recently that the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility report is “causing anxiety among former Bush administration officials.” Now, the Washington Post is reporting that Bush officials are lobbying the DOJ to weaken the report’s conclusions:

Former Bush administration officials are lobbying behind the scenes to push Justice Department leaders to water down an ethics report criticizing lawyers who blessed harsh detainee interrogation tactics, according to two sources familiar with the efforts.

In recent days, attorneys for the subjects of the ethics probe have encouraged senior Bush administration appointees to write and phone Justice Department officials, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the process is not complete.

Haunted by "Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law."

Source: Kevin Drum

UPDATE: The Washington Post also reports that a 200-page draft report of the memo, prepared in January before President Bush's departure, "recommends disciplinary action by state bar associations against two former department attorneys in the Office of Legal Counsel who might have committed misconduct in preparing and signing the so-called torture memos. State bar associations have the power to suspend a lawyer's license to practice or impose other penalties."

Which two lawyers are wetting their pants? Maybe Jay Bybee, John Yoo, or Steven Bradbury?