UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA ciRCU[ftited ^ court of Appeals For the District ot Columbia circuit Division for the Purpose of Appointing Independent Counsels FILED 2 2 2000 Ethics in Government Act of 1978, As Amended SftCCfal Division In re: Bruce Edward Babbitt Division No. 98-1 Before: SENTELLE, Presiding Judge, FAY and CUDAHY, Senior Circuit Judges. ORDER Upon consideration of the motion of Independent Counsel Carol Elder Bruce requesting authorization to release and publish her Final Report, it is ORDERED that the motion be granted. It is therefore ORDERED, ADJUDGED, and DECREED that the Final Report of Independent Counsel Carol Elder Bruce, inclusive of an appendix containing all comments or factual information submitted by any individual pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 594(h)(2), shall be released to the public. Per Curiam For the Court: Mark J. Langer, Clerk by larilyn-R. Sargent Chief Deputy Clerk ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Upon my appointment on March 19, 1998, as Independent Counsel in the matter of Bruce Babbitt, I immediately set about the task of assembling an able staff, finding office space, and reviewing the files of the Department of Justice's preliminary investigation of the matter. Having previously served as a Deputy Independent Counsel under Independent Counsel James C. McKay in the second investigation of Edwin Meese and as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, and having been a white collar criminal defense attorney for over ten years, I was familiar with the requirements and sensitivities of a significant public corruption probe. I knew that the most important ingredient for achieving a just result was to hire lawyers, investigators, and support staff with strong legal or investigative case experience, integrity, good team skills, and excellent judgment. I also wanted a team wherein the players had no personal or political agendas and no sharp elbows or loose lips that would cause them to compromise the work of the office or needlessly damage other persons' reputations through the self-serving, unauthorized disclosure of confidential investigative information. As we submit this Final Report, I am grateful beyond words that we, in fact, were able to assemble precisely the team that was needed and that these professionals - each one of them - deserve the highest praise for their outstanding service to the United States government and to the cause of justice. Special thanks and appreciation are in order for my Deputy and old friend, Cary M. Feldman. Cary and I were classmates many years ago at the George Washington University Law School and have enjoyed similar career paths since then. Cary brought an enormous dose of investigative experience to the investigation, having served for over six years in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, including as Deputy Chief of the Grand Jury Section, and having been a very able white collar criminal defense attorney thereafter. The most important by-products of that investigative experience were Cary's common sense instincts and his straight-forward, plain-speaking, analytical approach to dealing with and solving all manner of issues - administrative and investigative - that confronted us on our journey. Cary generally oversaw the work of the lawyers and also served in the very necessary but time-consuming roles as the Designated Agency Ethics Official and the press spokesperson for our Office. I am grateful to Cary's firm, Piper, Marbury, Rudnick & Wolfe, for allowing Cary to perform this public service and I am very grateful to Cary for his service. I have been a lawyer conducting and defending against white collar criminal investigations for well over two decades and can say, without hesitation or doubt, that our three Senior Associate Independent Counsel who served as our three team leaders are among the best in the business. I owe each of them an enormous debt of gratitude. Each one of them were true professionals, skilled investigators, and respected leaders and, had there been any case to be brought, would have constituted an unparalleled trial team. Phil Inglima headed the so-called Washington Team that principally investigated lobbyist and other contacts with Members of Congress, the Democratic National Committee, and the White House. A consummate, unflappable professional who sets the standard in case preparation and cross-examination skills, Phil's grasp of the facts and the issues were rivaled only by his own keen ability to sense when a question should be phrased differently, deferred, revisited, or dropped altogether in light of the witness's given answers. In short, Phil always was well- prepared for a witness but not wedded to a script, and possesses what every trial lawyer -ii- wants - the ability to listen to a witness's answers and make adjustments in pursuing interrogation goals. Mary K. Butler, a very experienced public corruption federal prosecutor from Miami, Florida, brought a consistently excellent level of performance to her management of the so-called Interior team, a team that investigated both the Interior Department's internal decision-making process on the Hudson casino matter and any outside contacts with the Interior Department relative to that matter. Mary's style of interrogation was exemplified by an unfailingly courteous manner coupled with a razor sharp awareness of all of the nuances of the facts and issues laid out before her and any witness. Mary also was the "point person" in all contacts with the Interior Department's lawyers on document production and served this Office and United States well in the careful, methodical way she identified any deficiencies or issues with such productions. Shanlon Wu, an experienced federal prosecutor from the District of Columbia, had the greatest management challenge in organizing and leading the Wisconsin team in its investigation of tribal and lobbyist activity and local and regional community reaction relative to the Hudson casino proposal in places near and remote in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Shan displayed an ability for quickly garnering the loyalty and respect of lawyers, FBI agents and other investigative support personnel in this difficult and sensitive assignment. He inspired people to work long hours by his side and brought his considerable interpersonal skills and a polished, effective interrogation style to the task of collecting necessary evidence and testimony from disparate, sometimes difficult, sources. I also am very grateful for the considerable contributions of Associate Independent Counsels David B. Deitch, Eric J. Glover, Andrew L. Wexton, Vicki J. Larson, and Christopher -iii- P. Reid. Each worked on one or more teams in our small office to accomplish the investigation goals and each brought a different but invaluable professional experience and persona to the task. Eric, Andrew, and Vicki each had the benefit of having worked in large firms where they developed and honed their research, case organization, and writing skills. David had this experience, too, plus the added benefit of having served as an Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan. Chris brought the unique experience and perspective of having served on a United States Senator's staff and as a senior lawyer in the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office where he was responsible for, among other things, enforcing campaign finance laws violations. Each worked long hours and showed themselves to be excellent researchers, interviewers, and writers and each contributed mightily to the ultimate work product. The Office also was very fortunate to have the extremely able assistance of a number of paralegals, law clerks, and FBI interns for the life of the investigation. Two of our law clerks - Dennis A. Somech and Melissa Handrigan - hailed from George Washington University Law School and two - Ashley N. Bailey and Eumi K. Lee - from Georgetown Law Center. All managed to juggle their full-time academic loads and the demands of this office seemingly effortlessly and each one made a significant contribution to the development of our legal analysis in this case. The paralegals, Jessica L. Hately, Miles Clark, Matthew J. Flaherty, Kelli A. Perkins and Bethany C. Frye often worked long hours to log in and plow through reams of documents and transcripts to assist the attorneys in preparing for interviews and grand jury examinations. Moreover, they each took the initiative to develop individual and discrete areas of evidence - from the campaign contribution histories of the individual tribes to the fine chronological and connecting details that emerged from a careful review of several persons' records - e.g., time log -iv- and phone log entries and correspondence - surrounding key meetings and events. The Office also reaped the benefits of having an experienced and able group of legal secretaries on board for the life of the investigation, including Reva L. Lovett-Grisby, Amy J. Hoy, Currie C. Gunn, Carol M. Counselman, and Linda M. Cincotta. They each took to their individual assignments with genuine professionalism, skill, and good humor. During the particularly demanding days of the grand jury segment of our inquiry, they worked long hours without complaint in supporting the work of the lawyers and FBI agents as we readied for witnesses or prepared the all-important reports of witness interviews. Amy had the additional and thankless job of coordinating attorney usage of grand jury time and, for a while, had to coordinate that usage with another independent counsel's office who was using the services of the same grand jury. Near the end of our investigation we made the decision to reach outside our fine group of lawyers and other professionals to someone who could bring an independent and learned perspective to our case analysis. Were this Office a part of a broader prosecutor's office, this outreach would find us simply down the hall in the office of a colleague who had not worked on our particular case.