Former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman already has 112 former state attorney generals petitioning for his release from federal prison. Now, he may also have the support of Vice President Joe Biden.
Siegelman's daughter Dana recently spoke to HuffPost Live about the fight to free her father, who is currently being held on bribery charges despite a six-year battle to overturn his conviction. Siegelman discussed an encounter she had with Biden during a meeting of the Democratic party chairs in Washington D.C.
"I was able to sneak up and shake his hand, I held it tight and told him I was on a mission to free my dad," she told HuffPost Live. "His eyes got very big and he generally announced to the people around me, and to me, 'I am too.'"
Dana Siegelman said Biden's words "meant the world" to her and seemed to indicate that the White House is aware that the Department of Justice hasn't been doing a thorough job.
Gov. Siegelman entered a minimum security federal prison in Louisiana last September to serve his sentence. But the Democrat has maintained his innocence and argued that the conviction was the result of Republican operatives trying to block him from a second term.
Former Alabama Congressman Parker Griffith previously told HuffPost Live that Republican strategist Karl Rove had "his hands all over" Siegelman's imprisonment. Griffith is among a group of Republicans who support Siegelman's release, and an online petition calling for his release has more than 45,000 signatures.
Dana Siegelman told HuffPost Live that she thinks politics continue to play a role in why her father remains in prison.
"The president is aware he has to work with Congress over the next four years," she said. "The last thing he wants is a kickback from overturning a lot of these Bush appointees that are still there. I believe only 30 percentage of the Department of Justice has been replaced with Obama appointees. So you still have 70 percent. We don't know if they're pledging allegiance to the former president or not, but it is disheartening to see people who 10 years ago approved the prosecution against my father being the same ones denying his freedom now."