Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.)
Posted on 05/23/2006 3:07:34 PM PDT by Libloather
Feds Are Intruding, Says Angry La. Lawmaker Tied to Bribes
By Renee D. Turner, BET.com Staff Writer
Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.)
Posted May 23, 2006 – Democratic Louisiana Congressman William Jefferson, rebutting claims by the FBI that he is on tape accepting a bribe, said Tuesday that he would not step down.
"I expect to continue to represent the people who have sent me here," Jefferson told reporters, emphasizing that he will seek re-election in November.
The Saturday- through-Sunday search into Jefferson’s D.C. congressional offices was an “outrageous intrusion,” the New Orleans representative said at a news conference.
“…There are two sides to every story. There are certainly two sides to this story. There will be an appropriate time and forum when that can be explained and explicated. But this is not the time, this is not the forum,” Jefferson said.
FBI agents, acting under the direction of the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, refused to permit the general counsel of the House of Representatives or Congressman Jefferson's private counsel to enter the premises to observe the execution of the warrant, according to Jefferson’s attorney, Robert Trout.
"The government's actions in obtaining a search warrant to search the offices of a United States Congressman were outrageous,” Trout said in a statement Saturday. “… [T]he government knew that the documents were being appropriately preserved while proper procedures were being followed.”
Jefferson has not been charged and maintains his innocence.
But the government, in a nearly 100-page affidavit, said the Congressional Black Caucus member betrayed the public’s trust.
Government officials said they decided to search the Congressman’s office after failing to get Jefferson’s records through other means.
The FBI obtained the search warrant for Jefferson’s Congressional offices after filing an affidavit that included video and radio tapes that they say show Jefferson accepting a $100,000 bribe from an informant. As BET.com reported earlier, the government allegedly retrieved $90,000 from a freezer in Jefferson’s Washington, D.C., residence last August.
The document also allegedly includes excerpts of conversations between Jefferson and an unidentified business executive from northern Virginia who had agreed to wear a wire.
In the video released as part of the affidavit, Jefferson was allegedly seen accepting $100,000 from an FBI informant in a deal to use the cash to bribe a high-ranking Nigerian official to ensure the success of a business deal in that country.
The government says Jefferson got the money in a leather briefcase last July 30 at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Arlington. The $100 bills in the suitcase had the same serial numbers as those found in Jefferson’s freezer, according to the affidavit.
At one of the audio-taped meetings, according to The Associated Press, Rep. Jefferson chuckled about writing in code to keep secret what the government contends was his corrupt role in getting his children a cut of a communications company deal in Africa.
As Jefferson and the informant passed notes about what percentage the lawmaker’s family might receive, the congressman “began laughing and said, ‘All these damn notes we’re writing to each other as if we’re talking, as if the FBI is watching,”’ the affidavit says.
Trout, Jefferson’s lawyer, accused the prosecution of using the affidavit as part of a publicity stunt to embarrass his client.
“This disclosure by the prosecutors is part of a public relations agenda and an obvious attempt to embarrass Congressman Jefferson,” Trout said in a statement. “The affidavit itself is just one side of the story, which has not been tested in court.” Two of Jefferson’s associates have pleaded guilty to bribery-related charges in federal court.
BET.com reported last week that businessman Vernon Jackson of Louisville, Ky., admitted paying more than $400,000 in bribes to the lawmaker in exchange for his help securing business deals for Jackson’s telecommunications company in Nigeria.
Can't wait for the other side. I predict a touch of perjury in William Jefferson's (Democrat, Louisiana) future...
Yep.
crime is my bidness and bidness is good.
And he probably will be reelected...
[T]he government knew that the documents were being appropriately preserved while proper procedures were being followed.”
He noted that the papers were in the capable hands of
Sandy Berger...
You're probably right but he's going to have an interruption in office, the gray bar kind. :-)
I'm surprised this person isn't the Governor of LA.
What a joke, and everyone on the hill....pubbies included are crying that this wasn't done right....doesn't matter that the jerk took a bribe?????? HELLO?????? What is going on with DeLay?????? Why not bring him back, he isn't as dirty as this William Jefferson D-LA.......
Of course this is being low balled in the MSM..if it were a Repub, then it would be front page headlines and on the Loony Tune Alphabet News shows every night.
No no no! They went to the freezer-- the Feds were looking for pizza
Oh, those nasty Feds..Intruding..on William Jefferson's ice box....snickers.
For some reason, I doubt this will happen. If The Clintons can get away with selling nuclear warhead secrets to the Red Chinese, what's $100,000 worth ?
Of course he'll be re-elected, if he's not in jail. (Maybe even if he IS.) Look at what New Orleans did in this election. They're gluttons for punishment down there.
Lesson number one....you don't tug on Superman's cape...Jefferson seems to have forgotten that lesson.
Maybe William Jefferson can claim Racism.
even fauxNEWS is low balling it...
I'm waiting on the race card to be played... then we'll see more coverage in the MSM.
Or Willie Jefferson can use this list that all liberals,
Here is a list of terms liberals apply to virtually every idea or action with which they differ:
Racist
Sexist
Homophobic
Islamophobic
Imperialist
Bigoted
Intolerant
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2006/05/harry_reid_the_end_of_liberal.html
I predict he'll be re elected and serve proudly from Federal Prison. Maybe he can bunk with Duke.
And now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to the business of fighting for the people of the great state of Louisiana.
Yeah, everyone knows that money is better preserved when frozen...
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