Former DOJ Official Pleads Guilty in Abramoff Case

Sometimes it's not what you know, it's who you know. And it worked in at least two ways for former Justice Department official Robert Coughlin II.

NPR's Peter Overby reports that Coughlin has admitted that he did favors for Jack Abramoff's lobby firm. He pleaded guilty to one count of conflict of interest in federal district court in Washington.

It was a short appearance. The proceeding only took 21 minutes. Coughlin made no statement. He just gave terse answers to questions by the judge.

Coughlin worked at the Justice Department, where he promoted the interests of Kevin Ring, a friend who was on Jack Abramoff's lobbying team. Ring took Coughlin to sports events, concerts, fancy meals and a golf course. The gifts were worth between 48 hundred and 62 hundred dollars.

(Interestingly, the government and defense disagree over the value of skybox seats for Redskins games.)

Coughlin has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. He is the third former Bush administration official to be snared in the probe. One GOP congressman has served prison time. Four others have been defeated or given up their seats.

Abramoff's Republican lobbying network collapsed in 2004, and he's now in prison.

But there's a twist to this tale ...

Now, the DOJ is hardly shy when it comes to prosecuting people involved in the Abramoff case. After all, they've been on this investigation since 2005 and they want us to remember. Typically they send out 2 press releases: one when the indictment or criminal information is filed, another when the defendant pleads.

But here's a case where DOJ said nothing. No press release. No release of the court documents. When DOJ public affairs was asked for the documents by reporters, they never replied to the requests.

There has been 13 prosecutions in the Abramoff probe. This is the only one that has been played in this way.

2:55 PM ET | 04-23-2008 | permalink