Sue Bob Revisits Abramoff

Sue Bob's got a different take on the Abramoff matter -- from her perspective as a sharp attorney, she sees it likely there's no crime. Here's her latest post in its entirety; follow the links for more detail on her take on the story:

I wrote here about my skepticism over the charges against Abramoff, given what I read from the indictment, information and plea agreement. Also, I agreed with Dr. Jack Wheeler’s assessment about aggressive prosecutors.

Jack Kelly writes about Dr. Wheeler’s assessment and also Rep. Dana Rohrabacher’s insistence that Abramoff is not the monster he’s being made out to be. Group pile-ons always seem animated by herd instinct. When I see such pile-ons, I try to resist the instinctive pull and, instead, analyze facts. I think that Rep. Rohrbacher was very courageous in his comments and resistence to the pressures of the frightened herd.

I like what Rep. Rohrbacher said to wit:

“I don’t defend anything illegal he’s done, and I didn’t know that he was doing anything illegal,” Rohrabacher said. To say that he cheated his clients is “not the case, from what I’ve seen so far,” he said. “Jack always watched out for his clients.”

Given what Dr. Wheeler said about the Indian tribes making $1 billion, and paying Abramoff $80 million, I don’t see a clear case of cheating his clients being made. Furthermore, that’s not what he pled too. He pled to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and one count of wire fraud that consisted of a fax he didn’t sign, and that wasn’t sent from his office. Also, he pled to one count of tax evasion. As for the conspiracy charge–that’s fluff.