The FBI agent in charge of the campaign-finance probe of Southfield lawyer Geoffrey Fieger denied that he was abusive to possible witnesses as they have claimed. Jeffrey Rees said that he was merely trying to get them to tell the truth. There has been no action taken against Rees, even though some of these accusers appear quite credible and his alleged misconduct has undermined the federal case.
Rees conduct was the subject of a prior entry, click here.
Rees insisted that “[t]here was no undue pressure” but one cooperating witness was so upset by his conduct that he refused to testify with Rees in the room. He further said that be “doesn’t believe” taht he told anyone that they committed a felony. He did admit to making mistakes on reports in the investigation.
I tend to believe these witnesses in such a case. This also conduct that I have seen repeatedly by agents. The question is the source. This is a senior agent. For such conduct to be common, there is obviously a tolerance or even an encouragement within the agency. There is certainly a lack of deterrence due the failure of the Justice Department to police itself.
For the full story, click here
I know Geoff personally. He can be an Ass, but as I heard someone say he may be an ass but he’s my ass. Or something like that. No he is a very good person that ran a foul of the Supreme Court in the state of Michigan.
The policy is in Michigan is to take down the Attorneys that do well. Former Joketice Clifford Taylor to wit was appointed by John Engler who was terrible for the state. Heck as soon as he (Engler) had accompolished all of the damage he could and inflict pain for generations to come, left the state of Michigan. He was privately employed and kept that job for 6 months. Heck he has the House, Senate and Governor retirments to contend with.
If any of the Judges had been any good as Prosecutors they would have not left the job. Most Prosecutors are ill educated in the case and rely upon the Judge to cover them when their mistakes become apparent.
The level of Incompetence of Judges in the state of Michigan exceeds the level of current Unemployment.
Michigan has 84 counties. I have practiced in about 24 of them at various times before retiring.
It was in the out counties that I found the smartest, well reasoned and genuinely nice Judges most of whom were former defense attorneys. In the counties with the most propulations they were usually career seeking prosecutors.
What I find in irony is when a law does not make the prosectors case they change the law. To Wit, Jack Kervokian.
If you will notice, when Jack lost Fieger was not on the case. He had been warned by the Court not to take it anymore. At that time he had over 250 million in verdicts pending in the Court of Appeals or Supreme Court.
Rees also conceded on cross-exam to Gerry Spence, that he made “mistakes” in his testimony before the Grand Jury as well. Curious how all those mistakes furthered his case and didn’t undermine it. I wish I could always have that outcome with my “mistakes”. Just lucky I guess.
In reading the original link it was interesting to see that 80 agents were dispatched on this case. Obviously, this was a political prosecution (persecution?). While many other administrations also engaged in unconstitutional violations of individual’s rights and the FBI has long been compromised by unscrupulous leadership (whether DOJ or its own Director), this administration has taken bad practice to new lows. The only saving grace, there are so few, is that the incompetence of this administration compares unfavorably to the policing techniques of the Keystone Kops. While this was also true of the Watergate Break-in, we had a court system in place then that served as an effective balance to the criminality of that regime. We are not so lucky today with an overabundance of Judges that believe more in their own political dogma, rather then believing in the rule of law and the constitution.