WP: FBI Raid on Lawmaker's Office Is Questioned

[smartvoter]

FBI Raid on Lawmaker's Office Is Questioned
Democrat Jefferson Denies Wrongdoing

By Dan Eggen and Shailagh Murray
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, May 23, 2006; Page A01

An unusual FBI raid of a Democratic congressman's office over the weekend prompted complaints yesterday from leaders in both parties, who said the tactic was unduly aggressive and may have breached the constitutional separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches of government...

(snip)
The Saturday raid of Jefferson's quarters in the Rayburn House Office Building posed a new political dilemma for the leaders of both parties, who felt compelled to protest his treatment while condemning any wrongdoing by the lawmaker.

(snip)
Republican leaders, who previously sought to focus attention on the Jefferson case as a counterpoint to their party's own ethical scandals, said they are disturbed by the raid. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) said that he is "very concerned" about the incident and that Senate and House counsels will review it.

(snip)
Insofar as I am aware, since the founding of our Republic 219 years ago, the Justice Department has never found it necessary to do what it did Saturday night, crossing this Separation of Powers line, in order to successfully prosecute corruption by Members of Congress," said. "Nothing I have learned in the last 48 hours leads me to believe that there was any necessity to change the precedent established over those 219 years."

Full article here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/22/AR2006052201080.html

[LA lady]

1. search warrant

The FBI's raid on the office of Congressman William Jefferson (D-LA) was the first such raid on Capitol Hill in history and came about only after lawyers for the House of Representatives refused to turn over the material the FBI sought, according to officials familiar with the case.

At the request of the FBI, the House General Counsel's office had secured copies of the documents and computer files being sought in the bribery investigation from Jefferson's office.

But officials say the House lawyers then refused to turn over the documents to the FBI.

The refusal by the House Counsel led the FBI to seek a search warrant from Judge Thomas Hogan to send agents into Jefferson's Rayburn Building office, room 2113, according to officials.

"Left with no other method, the government is proceeding in this fashion," states the search warrant application filed by FBI agent Timothy Thibault<1>


http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/05/jeffersons_cold.html

[shockingelk]

2. Yippie! Republicans stand up for corruption!

Whoda guessed?

[smartvoter]

3. My thought was they don't want it to happen to them... nt

[justice1]

4. Yep, they are only thinking about saving their own asses.

We the taxpayers own those offices, they shouldn't be safe havens for corrupt politicians.

[SoCalDem]

5. While I object to their tactics, let's not fall into Fristie's trap

He would love to have democrats getting all pissy about the SEARCH, and when the tapes are released to the public, showing Jefferson in all his Abscamian glory, Fristie will play back democrats' statements about the "illegal" search...making them look as if they are protecting a cheating, scamming, dirty congressman..

The best thing for them to do, is to let Frist scream and holler, and to try to get Jefferson to resign.. It might mean the loss of a (D) seat in congress if he cannot be replaced on the ballot before the election, but we MUST be on the proper side of the corruption accusations, or we cannot use that issue against their Corruption Brigade.