Posted on 05/28/2006 6:57:39 PM PDT by blam
We'll quit if bribe inquiry halted, say US law chiefs
By Francis Harris in Washington
(Filed: 29/05/2006)
Three of America's top law officers, among them the head of the FBI, have threatened to step down over alleged attempts to halt an investigation into congressional corruption.
Alberto Gonzales, the attorney general, Paul McNulty, his deputy, and Robert Mueller, the FBI director, informed President George W Bush through intermediaries last week that they would resign rather than let the inquiry be blocked.
Their stand marked the latest twist in a saga which began when 15 FBI agents raided the offices of William Jefferson, a Democratic congressman at the centre of eight bribery investigations.
The search was the first by law enforcement officers of a congressman's office in American history. The 18-hour operation provoked an outraged response from both parties in Congress and a demand by its senior leaders that the seized papers be returned.
But as congressmen, led by the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, Dennis Hastert, lobbied the White House, the law enforcement chiefs made it known they would leave if Mr Bush bowed to pressure, according to numerous accounts in the American press.
Such threats from figures of this seniority are extremely unusual and indicate how high the stakes have now become.
Anxious to avert a disastrous confrontation between his administration and his party, Mr Bush decided to seal material taken in the search for 45 days to allow further talks between Congress and law enforcement officials.
Although the president won praise for brokering a compromise to temporarily defuse the row, the controversy has refused to go away.
The uneasy truce came under renewed pressure yesterday when another powerful congressman, James Sensenbrenner, indicated that legislators were still furious at the raid.
The Republican chairman of the influential House of Representatives judiciary committee promised hearings into the raid this week.
'This is not over whether congressman Jefferson is guilty of an offence, but it is about the ability of Congress to do its job free of coercion,'' Mr Sensenbrenner said.
Congressmen from both parties have said the search violated the constitutional rights of the legislature. Some are even demanding they be given advance notice of future FBI raids.
Their grievances have provoked a series of intense attacks from the world outside Capitol Hill, with critics alleging Congress is seeking to place itself above the law.
The FBI raid was sanctioned in a search warrant issued by a federal judge. A wide range of legal experts and political commentators said the law was applied correctly and that congressional rage is unjustified.
Prof Merle Black, of Emory University told the Chicago Tribune: 'They seem to be saying 'You can't touch us. We're members of Congress.' ''
Many critics suggested that some congressmen are worried they too could face FBI raids given the numerous investigations currently under way into alleged corruption.
Mr Jefferson is said to feature in at least eight bribery investigations and FBI agents have already disclosed that they found $90,000 (£47,000) wrapped in tin foil in his freezer. The New Orleans congressman has not yet been charged and denies any wrongdoing.
How ridiculious! Who do these people think they are?
I say we all grap our pitch-forks and move on Washington. I've had it with these prima-dona scum-bags!!
There's more to this whole story than we know about...mark my words.
I'm outraged.
We ain't 'fraid no race card.
BTTT! (Thanks Justice Department and FBI)
My pitchfork is all sharpened up, but I want to carry a torch.
I have the tar, who has the feathers? Imagine us trying to get away with that. Graft and Corruption are just the normal course of business in DC.
Pray for W and Our Troops
And the Judiciary finds it okey-dokey.
Your house belongs to the richer developer, or at least the one more connected.
And Terri Schindler is dead.
For that no one threatened to resign, and no one was fired. Or arrested.
But this, oh this is a "big thing".
Yes. Indeed.
I AM serious. These people need a Wake-up Call! Send a dozen or so of them home. The rest will pay attention.
AND the GOP Presidential candidates will be listening too.
And, nobody in Congress, other than Jefferson himself, is proposing the inquiry be stopped, only that it take a detour through the House Ethics Committee.
This article implies that the Justice department was being asked to stop the whole investigation.
The issue in question is whether the search violates some protection of the Legislative Branch from the Executive Branch. The House members are wrong, but that is still the issue.
hmmmm...in other words "the deal" ain't a deal.
Doogle
What do you think of a detour to the House Ethics Committee?
I would almost like to see it to see how many of the Dems defend this guy. I would also like to see if any of the morons on our side of the aisle pull a Hastert defending this supposed Constitutional right to commit crimes as long as the evidence stays in the Rayburn building.
That's what they want you to think, it's a BS smoke-screen!
If Congress is furious at the raid, then it is just more evidence on top of the ludicrous Senate vote on the immigration bill that our Legislative Branch HAS NO RESPECT FOR THE RULE OF LAW, which is nuts because that is what we elect them and pay them for: to make law.
We to start fixing this country by flushing every one of the b*****ds down the toilet and starting over.
I'm outraged.
Try being a victim of crime & being of non-african decent. You're the invisble group that "deserves" what you've had coming to you.
Outraged?
Nope...you're getting what's been coming to you.
Just die.
/s
HUH?
How about a pitchfork that's on fire?
They are all pigs at the trough. Some are going whole-hog into bribery, the rest are guilty of complicity by their silence.
BURGOMEISTER
Now see here! Before we go running about, killing people, we'd better make damned sure of our facts. A riot is an ugly thing... and once you get one started -- there's little chance of stopping it short of bloodshed.
"Groans" of disappointment from assorted Villagers.
BURGOMEISTER
So the first thing we'll do, is march calmly up to the Frankenstein castle and have a nice little chat with our good doctor. Now then! Who doesn't have a torch and a dog? All right -- follow me!
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