[mrsmith]

A strictly legal question: the search team refused to allow Jefferson's lawyer to be present during the search, (or the House Counsel or even the Seargent At Arms, which is probably what got Hastert so upset).

Isn't one's lawyer usually allowed at the search if he's there and asks? This wasn't some terrible error is it?

[Congressman Billybob]

I have not read descriptions of what you say happened. There is no right to hold off a search until one's personal lawyer gets there. Though, if your personal lawyer is present, he is allowed to observe what is happening, as are you.

Neither the Counsel for the House nor the Sergeant at Arms have any role to play concerning a criminal investigation of an individual Member of Congress. Consider this analogy -- police have a search warrant issued for the office of a banker, concerning actions by him alone. Would the attorney for the bank, or the attorney for the landlord of the building where the bank branch is located, have a legal role to play? The answer in both cases is no.

This was a valid search. And given that the FBI spent seven months trying to get Rep. Jefferson to respond to subpoenas before they asked for and got a court order to search, no court is going to throw this out. Jefferson is dead meat.

John / Billybob