By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers
The Justice Department's bid to jail another former federal official caught up in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal has hit a snag. Not only is former Voice of America and Labor Department staff chief Horace Cooper fighting the FBI, but a federal judge has slammed the case as sloppy and vague. Cooper is charged with taking sports and concert tickets and dinners from Abramoff, the convicted lobbyist. But U.S. District Court Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle, who this week tossed out one of five charges, wants proof that Cooper did something for Abramoff in return for the gifts. "I can't tell what he did," says the judge, ordering the feds to cough up a better case within two weeks.
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