Officials Defend Raid on Lawmaker's Office==WaPo

[Demeter]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/23/AR2006052301739.html?referrer=email&referrer=email&referrer=email


Officials Defend Raid on Lawmaker's Office
Amid Uproar on Capitol Hill, Gonzales Says Jefferson Search Was Done Carefully

By Dan Eggen and Allan Lengel
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, May 24, 2006; Page A04

Justice Department and FBI officials yesterday vigorously defended a weekend raid on the Capitol Hill office of Democratic Rep. William J. Jefferson (La.), arguing that the unprecedented tactic was necessary because Jefferson and his attorneys had refused to comply with a subpoena for documents issued more nine months ago in a bribery investigation.

.......
Gonzales and other officials said the search was conducted carefully to avoid trampling on the constitutional privileges accorded to members of Congress -- including the use of a "filter team" of FBI agents and prosecutors not connected to the case who vetted documents to be sure nothing unrelated to the investigation or out of bounds was taken. Gonzales and the White House also said the administration had embarked on private talks with lawmakers about the issue.

"We believe, of course, that we've been very careful, very thorough in our pursuit of criminal wrongdoing, and that's what's going on here," Gonzales said. "We shouldn't lose sight of the fact that the Department of Justice is doing its job in investigating criminal wrongdoing, and we have an obligation to the American people to pursue the evidence where it exists."

Several law enforcement sources said yesterday, however, that a search of Jefferson's Rayburn office had been discussed by federal prosecutors and FBI agents as early as last summer, but that the idea was overruled by Justice Department lawyers. FBI agents conducted in August searches of Jefferson's New Orleans home and his Washington apartment, where they found $90,000 in alleged bribe money stuffed inside a freezer, according to an affidavit filed in connection with the Saturday search.
....
"I have got to believe, at the end of the day, it is going to end up across the street at the Supreme Court," Boehner said. "I don't see anything short of that."

[fooj]

1. STFU Gonzo...

private talks with lawmakers about the issue.

Assholes.

[Buzz Clik]

2. My sentiments exactly.

This sonofabitch thinks he can intimidate anybody by strongarm tactics. So now he pisses on the Constitution.

Hats off to Hastert for standing up to him.

[bleever]

3. The thing about a constitutional crisis is that it takes a lot of time,

and you can get a lot done under cover of the fireworks, including delaying your own criminal prosecution.

[hiley]

4. Bush is trying to change another precedent..

From obstructing any hope of Justice or oversight to unconstitutional raids on Congressional offices…




…The America we know, love and have died for is over.

NOTE: For those who don’t understand why a surprise Justice Dept. raid on a Congressional office is a big deal, imagine the Capital Police raiding the White House without the cooperation or knowledge of anyone in the Executive Branch. They’d be shot…or worse.

Even the ultra-conservative CATO Institute is screaming. Their latest report on our slide into Fascism: Power Surge – The Constitutional Record of George W. Bush

PDF: http://cato.org/pubs/wtpapers/powersurge_healy_lynch.pdf

Today we connect the dots, for in the recent words of former Nixon White House council John Dean:

“A nation that loses control of its check on its commander in chief, is something other than a democracy.”

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http://www.therandirhodesshow.com/live/

http://whiterosesociety.org/

Jack Cafferty's rant today
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/05/24.html#a8421