No. He is guilty as sin and that party doesn't want to touch this with a 100 foot pole.
Posted on 05/15/2007 9:09:02 AM PDT by Sub-Driver
Lawmaker challenges legality of FBI raid
By MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writer 6 minutes ago
Rep. William Jefferson (news, bio, voting record) says the FBI crossed the line when it raided his congressional office and he wants a federal appeals court to order the return of documents.
Jefferson, D-La., says the raid last year was unconstitutional because it trampled on congressional independence. His lawyer argued that point Tuesday before a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
His attorneys said nearly 19,000 pages of documents and electronic files seized by prosecutors and the FBI are covered by the constitutional principle that the executive branch may not use its law enforcement powers to infringe on the independence of the legislative branch.
Attorney Robert P. Trout told the court that the search was unconstitutional because, while FBI agents looked for documents related to their criminal investigation, they also examined many other records related to Jefferson's work as a legislator.
"How do we know an FBI agent — there were 15 FBI agents over 18 hours — didn't say, 'Hey Joe, get a load of this. This is really interesting,' " Trout said.
Trout said an attorney for the House should have been allowed to review the documents first to decide what should not be provided to the FBI.
The Justice Department countered that, if Jefferson had his way, targets of congressional bribery investigations could pick and choose what evidence to turn over to the FBI.
"In other words, the target of the search would be entitled to define the scope of the search," government attorneys said in court documents.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
“Freezer, Turkey!!”
;-)
Talk about your ‘culture of corruption’...
I know that if they came into my house and went after all that cash in my freezer, I would be upset as well!
Strange he is not off the hook by now. Did he make some other Democrat mad?
Hope the crook keeps whining, and keeps this in the newz...another corrupt (un-prosecutable)Democrapper.
AAAAHHH yes ,To be black and a Democrat...
According to the article, Newt Gingrich believes that the raid was unconstitutional. I’d be interested to read a summary of his reasoning in support of that view. I just can’t accept that a legislator has an absolute right to keep evidence of crimes safely tucked away in his or her office.
The corrupt-to-the-core Bush Justice Department at work....
William “Cold Cash” Jefferson (Democrat, Louisiana), is still walking around untouched, yet Curt Weldon’s door was kicked down a couple of weeks before the election. Yeah, that’s real integrity.
and this is the reason i could not take gingrich as a serious presidential candidate. To me this is approval of corruption.
Jefferson was just the bagman laundering money through his freezer. ( I guess he can't tell the difference between a washer and a freezer).
I remember Gomez having a fit about the constitutional issue being used to bring the president in to intervene.Again the president Gomez and the Pubbies have dropped the ball on this one. Indictments should have been issued by now, I mean Jefferson was caught cold handed, literally.
That's the first place they look, so I keep mine in the lettuce crisper.
:o)
I keep all my money in my Ex’s bank account.
So far as I can tell, the only provision in the US Constitution about possible criminality for Congresscritters is the passage in Article I, Section 6 (quoted above) which makes clear that Rep. Jefferson could be subject to arrest for a FELONY. If he can be arrested for a felony, and an investigation has indicated that he likely committed said felony (don’t know if it was official “probable cause” but they did find $90K unaccounted for in his freezer!), then how can anyone think the US Constitution bars a search of his office and effects. These Congresscritters are not exempt from criminal laws, though they like to think they are..... if the US Constitution allows for him to be prosecuted for a felony charge, then surely it is allowable to conduct a thorough investigation regarding such charge(s).
http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.articlei.html
No. He is guilty as sin and that party doesn't want to touch this with a 100 foot pole.
Yes - I imagine that JUST what the FBI said when they uncovered the cold hard cash stashed in the freezer - "Hey Joe, get a load of this!"
I suspect the reason he is not indicted or in jail at this point is probably linked to some of the Gonzalez firings.
I think the FBI is afraid that the congress critters will de-budget them if they proceed with the prosecution of this guy.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.