First, let me get you up to speed. During Governor Doyle's reelection campaign, a travel scandal was alleged against his administration, resulting in the conviction of Georgia Thompson, a non-partisan government official, who was sent to prison just weeks before election day.
She was recently released immediately from prison after a Court of Appeals found that the evidence lodged against her was ridiculously thin. That evidence was lodged by U.S. Attorney Steven Biskupic, a Bush appointee who may have been threatened with losing his job -- like several other U.S. attorneys did -- if he did not meet the political demands of the White House.
Now here is the great summary clip from Cohen:
Even if the evidence right now against Biskupic is thin, doesn't he deserve intense scrutiny for his decision? Shouldn't we be trying him? What goes around, comes around, right?Mr. Biskupic insists that he prosecuted Ms. Thompson only because he believed a crime was committed, and that he did not discuss the political implications of the case or the timing with anyone in the Justice Department or the White House. Congress has asked the Justice Department for all e-mail messages about the case to help resolve the matter.
But even if there were no discussions, Mr. Biskupic may have known that his bosses in Washington expected him to use his position to help Republicans win elections, and then did what they wanted.
That would be ironic indeed. One of the biggest weaknesses in the case against Ms. Thompson was that to commit the crime she was charged with she had to have tried to gain personally from the contract, and there’s no credible evidence that she did. So Mr. Biskupic made the creative argument that she gained by obtaining “political advantage for her superiors” and that in pleasing them she “enhanced job security for herself.” Those motivations, of course, may well describe why Mr. Biskupic prosecuted Ms. Thompson.
