Posted on 05/28/2006 6:35:29 AM PDT by MNJohnnie
WASHINGTON The constitutional showdown that followed the FBI's search of a congressman's office came down to this: The House threatened budgetary retaliation against the Justice Department. Justice officials raised the prospect of resigning.
That scenario, as described Saturday by a senior administration official, set the stage for President Bush's intervention into the fight over the FBI's search of the office of Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., an eight-term lawmaker being investigated on bribery allegations.
During contentious conversations between the Department of Justice and the House, top law enforcement officials indicated that they'd rather quit than return documents FBI agents, armed with a warrant, seized in an overnight search of Jefferson's office, the administration official said.
Until last Saturday night, no such warrant had ever been used to search a lawmaker's office in the 219-year history of the Congress. FBI agents carted away records in their pursuit of evidence that Jefferson accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in exchange for helping set up business deals in Africa.
After the raid, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill, lodged a protest directly with Bush, demanding that the FBI return the materials. Bush struck a compromise Thursday, ordering that the documents be sealed for 45 days until congressional leaders and the Justice Department agree on what to do with them.
(Story continues below)
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Sorry. I guess I just repeated in your post. I should try hitting the refresh button before posting.
I guess I just don't get what Hastert is trying to accomplish here? Protocols? Give me a break!
Assuming you mean that the innocent is being tapped along with the guilty who are also dialing up allah...that is as it should be.
Gotta be.
Not only Gonzalez but head of FBI and second in command in DOJ.
You sound absurdly like chicken little! Hiding something?
Huh? What does that prove?
Can you say "Ross Perot"???
I have another object lesson. I have a nephew who is a little slow. He is a hard worker but has trouble keeping a job. He was working for a fast-food restaurant. He needed more money so he asked for more hours. When he wasn't scheduled to work more than he was. He quit. He didn't understand that he should have found another job which would allow him more hours rather than quit the job he had. Now he had no income at all. Get the point???
Niger and Nigeria the same hole? Hardly. They speak English in Nigeria, French in Niger. The Niger yellowcake is produced by a French concern, and Niger does generally what the French want. The distance from the production site in Niger is closer to Sicily than it is to the port of Lagos, Nigeria.
Our country is lost?
THAT'S how you choose to honor those who gave their lives?
By just rollong over?
You're absolutely right. We're in the mess we're in now because everyone let the corruption and incompetence slide, just because the person being corrupt and incompetent was "their" guy.
I live just outside the district of a crook who gets re-elected because he's black: Impeached federal judge and now multi-term representative Alcee (Buckwheat) Hastings.
read post #113. He would have been protecting the "peoples house" against the search, but since the search was justified in this case, he would let them search.
Have you ever watched the opening of Parliment??? The object lesson is there. The King has no business in the House of the people. Unless invited in.
"The King has no business in the House of the people."
What King? We are talking the executive branch initiating a legally tendered search warrant approved by the judicial branch.
So, you are saying that known suspected terrorist numbers dialed from the US aren't checked, only American numbers dialed from known suspected terrorists numbers?
How odd.
Get a GRIP!! Even if you WERE being listened in on, what are you PLOTTING if you are soooooo damn scared??? Are you schizoid?
Did you read my entire post??????? Obviously not. I did say that the search in this case was justified.
"So, you are saying that known suspected terrorist numbers dialed from the US aren't checked..."
No, I am saying the warrantless NSA tappings are being done by incoming calls from other countries.
They are obtaining warrants from the judicial branch to conduct what I've quoted from you above.
If I were William Jefferson I would have all the dirt on other Congress Critters in my office where I thought it would be safe. It would be his Sampson Option i.e. "if I go down I shall take as many of you with me as I can." Perhaps this is why Congress is upset.
"Less than honorable Congressman Billy Bob", what is you take on the legality of the search? From what I have read the Justice Department was within the law when they did this. What say you?
I've a new found respect for Gonzalez even though I've never been a very big fan of him before. Hastert is making a huge political blunder by making a big deal out of this, especially at a time where there are already ongoing investigations into Congressional corruption. He's gonna regret this decision.
Then what is this crap about the "King"?
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.