The Leak Wars: Revisiting the Pre-Indictment Leaks

/in /by

Since we’re talking about leaks in the Foggo-Wilkes trial, I wanted to return to the leaks leading up to the Foggo-Wilkes indictments. As a review, Wilkes lawyer Mark Geragos asked the court to dismiss the indictments, arguing that leaks just prior to the time Wilkes was indicted made it impossible for Wilkes to get a fair trial. I talk about the timeline in this post and this one. But we’ve got new details tied to Kontogiannis’ plea deal and recent document dumps, as well as the "results" of DOJ’s self-investigation of the leak.

My updated timeline (below) shows:

  • The disputed leak over Lam’s resignation appeared just days before the first leaks about the indictments. In other words, there was already a case of a disputed leak before the leaks specifically pertaining to indictments started.
  • The possibility of an imminent Kontogiannis indictment figured inseveral of the leaks; this was just a week before he signed a plea deal.
  • FBI Special Agent in Charge Dan Dzwilewskiappears to have stayed just long enough to see the supersedingindictments filed (he retired on April 30, the superseding indictmentswere filed May 11). Kontogiannis appears to have been cooperatingthroughout this period.
  • There was a significant delay before the USA for EasternCalifornia started investigating the indictment-related leaks, thoughthat investigation only took two weeks. The results of that investigation almost perfectly coincided with the unsealing of Kontogiannis’ plea deal (though there may be no connection between the two events). Most curious, the DOJ investigation into the leak didn’t start until Geragos inquired about its status; altogether, there was a roughly 2.5 month delay between the time SD’s USA office submitted Geragos’ complaint and the time when the investigation started.

In other words, the Kontogiannis involvement seems to be an underlyingtension behind the leaks, in addition to the indictments themselves.

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  1. William Ockham says:

    ew,

    In the version of OAG 856 (and OAG 864, they are the same document) that is in DOJDocsPt36-070320.pdf, you can clearly see that the subject line of Lam’s urgent report is: Urgent Report (6(e) Material: Indictment Sought for Foggo and Wilkes)

  2. Anonymous says:

    I need to look at all this a lot more closely. My one comment for now is that it my understanding that it was not Dzwilewski’s idea to â€retire†at that time; it was made clear to him that is what would be necessary.

  3. Anonymous says:

    WO
    Right–that’s my point. But since there were two sets of indictments that doesn’t mean anything about Michael, which is why I raised it.

  4. Taechan says:

    Could the June 14 â€concurrence of OIG and OPR†have something to do with the limitation of OIG’s ability to investigate the upper echelon at Justice?

  5. Anonymous says:

    bmaz

    Yeah, that’s the assumption, that he got canned after his comments and support of Lam. But I had never noticed, before, that he stayed almost all the way through the superseding, which I find interesting.

    Taechan

    The leaks SHOULD be investigated by OPR, which does have jurisdiction over lawyers (including the upper ecehlon). That said, it repors to AGAG, so if the leaks came from, say, Mike Elston, they might not get to look very closely.

  6. William Ockham says:

    This might be more appropriate for the last post, but I think I just figured out what is so weird about Elston’s comment claiming that Lam is trying to make it look like her leak is coming from Washington. There’s really nothing in the articles attached to that email that justify that comment at all. However, the SDUT article in that particular thread was the second article they had published on Lam’s firing. On January 12, 2007, the SDUT had published what I believe was the first article about Lam’s firing. Elston had read that one and forwarded it to McNulty (DAG 52). The first article started out like this:

    The Bush administration has quietly asked San Diego U.S. Attorney Carol Lam, best known for her high-profile prosecutions of politicians and corporate executives, to resign her post, a law enforcement official said.

    Lam, a Bush appointee who took the helm in 2002, was targeted because of job performance issues – in particular that she failed to make smuggling and gun cases a top priority, said the official, who declined to be identified because Lam has yet to step down.

    Elston’s comments make a lot more sense if he thought he was referring to the first article. On the other hand, the leaker clearly had the DOJ talking points down perfectly.

  7. Anonymous says:

    EW – If I recall correctly, the announcement of his leaving was earlier though. For the little it is worth, when I made that statement, it was not just my supposition (although that has always been my supposition) but also the scuttlebutt from another long time FBI supervisor who has retired and I just used as an investigator.

  9. Anonymous says:

    The announcement of Dzwilewski’s departure would place it precisely at the time when DOJ finally started pursuing the leak (though well before USA EDCA started on it.

    WO

    Thanks for that ealier leak, you’re right, that seems to make more sense. Law enforcement, of course, could be Dzwilewski, too. Which would make Elston correct, but not his later accusation that Lam had leaked the reasons.

    And there’s still the problem that Lam, at least, claims not to have been told those reasons at that point.

  10. William Ockham says:

    I suspect that Johnny Sutton is the law enforcement source for the first SDUT article. He’s one of the few people outside of D.C. who would’ve known to leak that way. Also, he’s quoted in the second article.

  11. larue says:

    Seems to me all the answers looking back and connecting the dots are in this writing by Marc Leevy:

    http://journals.democraticunderground.com/leveymg

    So all roads lead back to this HUGE and long ongoing ’relationship’ between the Bush Family, House Of Saud, Post Cold War Ex-CIA roguues, The NeoCons and the US Military Industrial Complex.

    Cunningham and all those tied to HIS part in it all might not be long for this earth, in or OUT of prison.

    If the Greek Guy lives a year I’ll be surprised. Course, we LIKELY, will never hear about it . . . loose lips and all that.

    Them umbrella tips are nasty lil devil’s in a crowd.

  12. sponson says:

    On the one hand, the fanboy comments creep me out sometimes. On the other hand, I wonder sometimes how you can keep your mind in hyperdrive so many days in a row. Keep it up, but don’t wear yourself out. You don’t owe it to anyone. Look at the work of others that you’ve cited so often, it’s worth it sometimes to take a break.

  13. larue says:

    Sponson, not sure who yer referrin to . . . as it follows MY post, I’ll ask this in case you WERE referring to me:

    Do you have a world view and facts that disputes what Leevy writes and attributes?

    Most of it is pretty well documented history, albeit non-mainstream news.
    A lot of the history of what Leevy wrote of, was taught in undergrad journalism, com studies and broadcast classes I took over the years . . . some of it LONG ago.

    The blogs, in general, don’t seem to LIKE addressing the UGLY of reality.

    Only the skim surfaces.

    Guess it’s all about hits and making money and not getting on the ’watch list’.

    I appreciate what it is that Marcy Wheeler does though, and anyone ELSE who goes thru doc dumps like they do . . .

    But the ugly picture is the reality, and it’s pretty stifling.
    The UGLY is what’s needed to be changed.

    Here’s to change. Without it, it’s gonna be an ugly life for many. Soon.

  14. Albert Fall says:

    More DOJ misbehavior:

    Former USA is in touch with current DOJ employees here in the West. They need permission from main DOJ to get transcripts, make copies, etc. — basic functions of conducting prosecutions. Prosecutors are being told that there is not enough money budgeted for those items.

    Morale is completely shot.

    I do not believe that Congress has refused to allocate copying money to DOJ. Sounds more to me like WH way of micro-managing prosecutions.

  15. Anonymous says:

    Albert Fall – Which former USA, I just got up and haven’t read paper yet or anything, so maybe the answer will be obvious soon, but right now not so much. So give it up, who is it?

  17. Anonymous says:

    Albert – Thanks. Just for grins, is it a former USA or former AUSA? If you feel at liberty to say…

  18. Cheryl says:

    EW,
    Can you say what happened to Rep. Jerry Lewis’ involvement in the Cunningham, Foggo, Wilkes, Kontogiannis story? Last I heard he appeared to be involved and had spent over $800,000 in legal fees? What happened to Jerry?

  19. albert fall says:

    bmaz–

    Not sure I am at liberty to say, but he was a DOJ alum, in touch with the current inmates of that once august institution.

  20. Anonymous says:

    Albert Fall – Thats cool. As you probably know, I am here in the west as well. There are several people I still know in In the Arizona district, couple in California (although they may be gone by now, haven’t talked to them in a while). There is no question about the general malaise, even judges I run into talk about seeing it. There is a reason they often refer to these postings as â€career positionsâ€; they most often are. The nuts and bolts are NOT supposed to be politicized, and they have been. And they are jerked around every day in a variety of little ways, that never occurred before, and that are flat sapping the life out of really the backbone of our government. It is hard to put into words, especially for those not knowledgeable and experienced in the system, but there is a septic slow death creeping over the whole operation. There is a real chance that it won’t survive another year and a half of this and still have enough of the essential fabric necessary to rebuild it even under a new administration. This is a real problem that the great majority of people, even progressives in enlightened places like here, just don’t really fully understand. I will hazard a guess that your friends will back this up 100%.

  21. albert fall says:

    bmaz

    I echo your sentiments. When I hear about the Federalist Society and Regent University and â€loyal Bushie†hiring criteria, I recognize that Bush and his flying monkeys are trying to institutionalize rot in the system that will outlast the Bush term.

    The most telling story for me was a guy I talked to, a right winger and real Kool Aid drinker, who got interviewed by Kyle Sampson for a DOJ position and was asked repeatedly about why he hadn’t done more campaigning and wasn’t more political….and he didn’t get the job. The are looking for people who are going to follow orders, or â€know what is expected without following orders.â€

  22. sponson says:

    larue – It was a coincidence, I was referring to the occasional â€fan†type comments that have begun to crop up on the site. I will check out Leevy.