The issue is not about corruption. It is about the Constitution and the separation of powers doctrine. Newt Gingrich slammed the Justice Department for an egregious violation of this doctrine: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0506/052206cdpm1.htm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/22/AR2006052201080_pf.html
The actions by the FBI and Justice Department is unprecedented in the 219-year history of the U.S. government. It was exactly this kind of abuse of the colonial legislatures by King George's stooges that partly led to a revolution in 1776.
Between the three branches of government, there is a long established procedure for obtaining documents in a criminal probe: the subpeona. Has anyone ever heard of Congress sending its police agents to the White House or Supreme Court with a warrant to conduct a search? When the Executive Branch sends its police into the House of Representatives with a warrant to conduct a search by its police agents, the long-term repercussions could be detrimental to the Republic.
They got a warrant, they didn't need a subpeona. If a judge had an issue with this, he would have denied it. Congress is not above the law, nor is it somehow immune to the same process or procedures as everyone else, as much as that may bother them.
Has anyone ever heard of Congress sending its police agents to the White House or Supreme Court with a warrant to conduct a search?
It has never been done, but over the years, the topic has come up numerious times, from Nixon to Clinton and on.
When the Executive Branch sends its police into the House of Representatives with a warrant to conduct a search by its police agents, the long-term repercussions could be detrimental to the Republic.
It could also be quite beneficial to the Republic, if congress remembers, its place of business, is no more immune to search and warrants when it breaks the law, then my office and me.
If I break the law and hide evidence at my office, the cops can get a warrant and search for it, and they can do exact same thing to a member of congress.
There was also no violation of the debate clause....unless you want to reinterpret it to mean something else.
I thought they went with the warrant first, apparently they went with it last.