Family Ties

This is going to get worse before it gets better. So the Sun Herald scored an exclusive interview Monday with Mississippi Senator and local boy dun good Trent Lott about his involvement in the federal bribery case against his brother-in-law, Richard "Dickie" Scruggs. Turns out Trent recently got grilled by the G-Men, but swears he is only a potential witness, not a potential target, of the investigation.

Insert "Trent likes to watch" joke here.

From SunHerald.com

The Justice Department is investigating whether Scruggs tried to land a lifetime appointment to the federal bench for Hinds County Circuit Court Judge Bobby DeLaughter. Scruggs recommended to Lott that he appoint DeLaughter as a U.S. District Court judge, according to an attorney who has pleaded guilty in the case. In exchange, New Albany attorney Joey Langston said, DeLaughter was expected to rule in Scruggs' favor in a Hinds County lawsuit filed against him by another attorney over legal fees.

"I may be called as a witness," Lott said, "but I've been assured that I'm not under investigation, and rightly so because nothing was done to justify that."

Lott said he did talk to DeLaughter about the opening on the bench in early 2006. Because he is a potential government witness, Lott said, he could not offer details about what prompted him to call DeLaughter. But he said that, as a senator, he did receive numerous recommendations for judicial appointments and more than one person suggested DeLaughter, who has denied any wrongdoing in the judicial bribery case.

More is promised in tomorrow's edition.

I'm still trying to figure out who to root for. Or against.

h/t Atrios