While Tonto and I differ on political parties and strategies, I feel confident when I say we are both opposed to corruption by either party.

Louisiana Rep. William Jefferson was caught in an FBI sting in 2005 when he accepted $100,000 from an FBI informant and was filmed taking the money. Bribery of foreign governments, conspiracy and wire fraud seem to be what the government is going after.

If you recall, when Hurricane Katrina hit, Rep. Jefferson had the National Guard take him by boat to his house in New Orleans where he supposedly retrieved the money.

A subsequent raid on his Washington home found $90,000 hidden in the freezer of his refrigerator, which gave a new meaning to the phrase “cold, hard cash”.

The FBI subsequently got a search warrant to search his congressional offices, and then-Speaker Dennis Hastert and others screamed bloody murder because a representative of Congress had his office searched.

Remember, though, in our country no one is above the law.

Congressman Jefferson went to court to get his seized hard drives and paper records back. He lost that battle in the court last July and has appealed the decision to the District Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

The government has answered his allegations in the appeal, saying the documents were taken legally.

The government said that although members of Congress have protection for some public offenses, they have no immunity from the execution of a validly obtained search warrant. It noted that the warrant sought only non-legislative materials.

“[The warrant's] design provided for careful procedures to screen arguably protected legislative materials from prosecutors and, as implemented under orders of this court, it will result in no executive branch official having any further access to the seized materials,” the government said.

“The narrow issue presented is whether the incidental review of arguably protected legislative materials during the execution of the search warrant so taints the activity that a constitutional violation must be found and then remedied by the return of all documents to Rep. Jefferson — including documents as to which he has not asserted or cannot sustain a claim of privilege,” it said.

In an 85-page motion, the government said the execution of the search warrant was constitutional and procedures used by the FBI during the search were sufficient to protect Mr. Jefferson’s rights.

Attorneys for the Louisiana Democrat asked the court in February to order the Bush administration to return all documents seized during the unprecedented 18-hour search last May, saying the Justice Department violated Congress’ right to withhold certain information from the executive branch.

Mr. Jefferson said 19,000 pages of documents and electronic files were seized, all of which were covered by Congress’ separation of powers privilege to shield certain legislative material from executive review.

“The only remedy that will vindicate and protect the fundamental principles of separations of powers and legislative independence … is return of all of the seized materials,” he said.

I find the underlined quote to be interesting given the fact the Congress has asserted the Executive Branch should turn over all documents in the US Attorney firings and have the president’s advisers testify under oath to the facts in the firings, but it could lead to a fishing expedition on any other topic if they are under oath, even though it is understood they must tell the truth when testifying to Congress.

The government argued that the agents who conducted the search and the team that will review the seized materials for privilege will be screened from the prosecution team, ensuring that no privileged materials would be used against the congressman. It said Mr. Jefferson also would have the opportunity to assert the privilege before any documents were given to the prosecution team.

FBI agents seized several computer hard drives, floppy disks and two boxes of paper documents from Mr. Jefferson’s office in the Rayburn House Office Building. The lawmaker was videotaped in July 2005 accepting $100,000 in $100 bills from an FBI informant, and agents found $90,000 hidden in a freezer the next month in his Northeast Washington home, authorities have said.

The Jefferson investigation has focused on accusations of conspiracy, bribery and wire fraud. He is suspected of taking payments to promote the sale of telecommunications equipment and services to Nigeria, Ghana and other African nations. The government is also investigating whether Mr. Jefferson planned to bribe officials in Nigeria and elsewhere.

Mr. Jefferson has not been charged in the case and has denied any wrongdoing.

It is important to note there have been no charges filed against Rep. Jefferson, but it’s also important to note the prosecutors will not have access to any material that is covered by congressional privilege.

If a crime was committed it needs to be prosecuted as any other crime would be.

It was wrong of Hastert and the other congressional leaders to scream a congressman’s office is sacred ground when criminal investigations are ongoing and a legitimate search warrant has been obtained.

Written by ~J~

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