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Court Blocks Feds on Congressman's Files (Democratic Rep. William Jefferson)
Breitbart ^ | 7-28-06 | Toni Locy

Posted on 07/28/2006 2:05:05 PM PDT by STARWISE

A federal appeals court on Friday barred the Justice Department from reviewing evidence seized from a Louisiana congressman's office during an unprecedented FBI raid on his Capitol Hill office in May.

A three-judge panel ordered a federal trial judge to ensure that Democratic Rep. William Jefferson be given copies of seized evidence contained on more than a dozen computer hard drives, several floppy disks and two boxes of paper documents.

(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Louisiana
KEYWORDS: 109th; corruption; fbi; govwatch; jefferson; ruling; search; williamjefferson
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To: STARWISE

Ok if the Judge reviews the documents with Jefferson, but wonder if Wilson (Plame) will advise Jefferson on what he should consider Legislature in nature. Remember the connection with Jefferson, Wilson and African trips in 1999. Verrrry Interesting.


21 posted on 07/28/2006 2:48:41 PM PDT by bobsunshine
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To: bobsunshine

There needs to be some representative from the government there to verify each document that is looked over in that chamber. Who can trust a judge and a congressmen and his lawyer? I sure don't.


22 posted on 07/28/2006 2:51:50 PM PDT by ritewingwarrior
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To: STARWISE

This is bogus. Sure he should get copies but... what's the point of a block here? Are we to believe every little thing has to be brought up and considered for 'legislative privilege'?


23 posted on 07/28/2006 2:56:35 PM PDT by newzjunkey (Support Arnold-McClintock or embrace higher taxes, gay weddings with Angelides.)
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To: pageonetoo

I thought they were fighting to keep him *on* the ballot.


24 posted on 07/28/2006 2:58:28 PM PDT by newzjunkey (Support Arnold-McClintock or embrace higher taxes, gay weddings with Angelides.)
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To: newzjunkey
I thought they were fighting to keep him *on* the ballot.

Brain fart!

25 posted on 07/28/2006 3:05:58 PM PDT by pageonetoo (You'll spot their posts soon enough!)
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To: STARWISE

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,206157,00.html

2 days to review documents.


26 posted on 07/28/2006 3:08:14 PM PDT by tobyhill (The War on Terrorism is not for the weak.)
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To: pageonetoo
I thought the Dems were fighting to keep him off the ballot!

The Dems are fighting to keep DeLay *on* the ballot.

I was referring to DeLay's decision to resign because he couldn't win re-election.

27 posted on 07/28/2006 3:09:59 PM PDT by SolidSupplySide
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To: brazzaville
How did you get that out of his post?

The original poster wants to keep the Democratic culture of corruption simmering instead of forcing corrupt politicians like Rep. Jefferson from the House. In fact, the original poster said that slowing down the investigation of Rep. Jefferson was "no problem".

That is why I said that the orginal poster was taking the strange position that corruption is not a problem as long as it is the Democrats who are corrupt.

28 posted on 07/28/2006 3:13:48 PM PDT by SolidSupplySide
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To: ritewingwarrior

"There needs to be some representative from the government there to verify each document that is looked over in that chamber. Who can trust a judge and a congressmen and his lawyer? I sure don't."

You must be remembering Bernard Nussbaum preventing the FBI from seeing documents from Vincent Foster's office after his "suicide." Maybe the observer should be someone not from the government.


29 posted on 07/28/2006 3:15:04 PM PDT by billhilly
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To: tobyhill; kcvl
I would love to be a fly on the wall for the next 2 days .. watching the team of lawyers and assistants, furious to find something claimable as privileged.


30 posted on 07/28/2006 3:22:28 PM PDT by STARWISE (They (Rats) think of this WOT as Bush's war, not America's war-RichardMiniter, respected OBL author)
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To: bobsunshine
I am so glad you mentioned this, Mr. Sunshine.

Because this Jefferson thing has tentacles that reach far and wide. Beginning with, as you said, Plame/Wilson.

What we had going on in the late 90's was a whole bunch of shady congress critters all involved in Saddam's "oil for food" scandal.

This administration, while trying to fight ever evil left on the planet by the Clintons, has to fight off those evil people in our own country.

31 posted on 07/28/2006 3:25:14 PM PDT by Fishtalk (http://patfish.blogspot.com/)
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To: Fishtalk
Here is some background on the possible linkage - makes for some good reading:

http://www.tribune.com.ng/24052006/news/news1.html

VICE-PRESIDENT Atiku Abubakar’s wife, Jennifer, has been indicted in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) probe of US Congressman, William Jefferson, over bribery involving a transnational tele-communications deal. Jennifer resides in the Potomac, Maryland home of Atiku which was raided on August 3, 2005, by the FBI in connection with the bribery investigation.

http://www.americanthinker.com/articles.php?article_id=5702

...But we already know a bit about the charges and some of the alleged partners of Congressman Jefferson. Two people have pleaded guilty to bribing him. One of them is Vernon L. Jackson, owner of a technology company called iGate. The Washington Post

The Jefferson-Joe Wilson Connection

Macsmind (Macsmind.com) first mentioned this in May. I have been thinking about this possibility and reviewing the detailed and well-documented research published at Free Republic by a poster known as “Fedora,” who has examined public domain information and connected some very interesting dots. Joe Wilson, it turns out, left the State Department and became a business promoter with some rather intriguing connections before he went on his infamous mission to Niger.

In 1998 [Wilson left the State Department and began putting his diplomatic contacts to business use. He formed J.C. Wilson International Ventures Corporation, a business development and management company which ventured in gold, oil, and telecommunications and served clients in Africa, Western Europe, and Turkey.

Here is the link to the Freerepublic post that has a lot of information and links:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1256475/posts
32 posted on 07/28/2006 3:58:25 PM PDT by bobsunshine
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To: Revel
"Imagine if it were you or I. "

If it were you or I in congress we too would be protected by the Constitution from our legislative work being "questioned in any other place".

I don't see why this is so hard for people to understand.

His legitimate legislative work will be removed from the evidence. That's all.

33 posted on 07/28/2006 4:05:55 PM PDT by mrsmith
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To: bobsunshine

bump for later consumption...


34 posted on 07/28/2006 4:16:44 PM PDT by harpu ( "...it's better to be hated for who you are than loved for someone you're not!")
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To: bobsunshine; Fedora
Interesting .. thank you ....looks like Atiku is on the fringes of a financial scandal in Nigeria, as well.

"The statement said: "The Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, was highly embarrassed by attempts by a section of the media to drag him into the on-going investigations into Otunba Mike Adenuga by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission."

35 posted on 07/28/2006 4:51:57 PM PDT by STARWISE (They (Rats) think of this WOT as Bush's war, not America's war-RichardMiniter, respected OBL author)
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To: STARWISE

Friday, July 28, 2006


PHOTOS



Click image to enlarge
STORIES

Louisiana Rep. Jefferson Wins Temporary Delay in Bribery Probe

Rep. Jefferson, Nigerian Vice President Agree on Two Important Points

Judge Rejects Jefferson's Stay Request

Rep. Jefferson Appeals Office Search Ruling

Judge Rules FBI Raid on Rep. Jefferson's Office Was Legal

Rep. Jefferson Office Raid Documents Inaccessible

House Votes to Kick Rep. Jefferson Off Committee

FOX Facts: Rep. William Jefferson
WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court has allowed Rep. William Jefferson to review all the documents taken from his office by the FBI in a May search of his office that stems from an ongoing bribery investigation.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia returned the case to the U.S. District Court and ordered that Jefferson have two days to review copies of the material seized, which includes more than a dozen computer hard drives and two boxes of paper documents.

This would allow the Louisiana Democrat to say which documents are legislative in nature in the hopes of preventing them from being considered by the courts in any further action regarding the bribery case.

The district court also must perform its own review of the documents to determine their admissibility.

It was not initially clear when the district court would complete its review. And for the time being, the appeals court is preventing all access to investigators to the material collected in the search.

The appeals court earlier this week halted access to the information while it takes time to consider Jefferson's challenge of the legality of the search on his office.

(Story continues below)

ADVERTISEMENTS
Advertise Here

Jefferson has been under investigation since March 2005 for allegedly using his position to promote the sale of telecommunications equipment and services offered by iGate, a Louisville-based firm, that sought contracts with Nigeria, Ghana and other African nations.

In return for his help, Jefferson allegedly demanded stock and cash payments. The congressman has not been charged and has denied wrongdoing.

The overnight search on May 20 — which lasted 18 hours — was part of a 16-month international bribery investigation of Jefferson, who allegedly accepted $100,000 from a telecommunications businessman, $90,000 of which was later recovered in a freezer in the congressman's Louisiana home.

The search kicked off a constitutional battle over separation of powers, bringing many fellow lawmakers to Jefferson's side on the grounds that the Justice Department, and the administration as a whole, overstepped its bounds by conducting the search without proper warning


36 posted on 07/28/2006 4:52:37 PM PDT by tryon1ja
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To: mrsmith

Mrs. Mith:
This CRIMINAL has no legislative work pending...
I can see his defense now..."Well, I was working on a law that would allow dictators from the n*****r nations to give me taxpayer monies, soas I could use taxpayer monies to set them up to profit from businesses they and I owned and I was goin' to sneak this legislation into the nest homeland security appropriations bill soas noone would notice and my buds like Hastert and Polici would protect me and the CRIMINAL enterprise named the US Congress. So you the people nor the Just-us people can look at the evidence of my wrong-doing because I'm "special" because I'm a big boy and above all you peons. So just kneel your betters and STFU."
Yes, I'm pissed.


37 posted on 07/28/2006 4:56:33 PM PDT by jcparks (LFOD)
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To: mrsmith

Mrs. Mith:
If it were you or I in congress we too would be protected by the Constitution from our legislative work being "questioned in any other place".

BTW, our Constitution protects the people FROM government, not the government from the people.
Try reading it again.


38 posted on 07/28/2006 5:00:01 PM PDT by jcparks (LFOD)
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To: SolidSupplySide
Good evening.

I think the point is that it would be a good thing for this scandal to simmer along until election time, then erupt like an ugly zit to remind voters of what DemocRATs are really like. It would also blunt the DemocRAT charge of a Republican culture of corruption.

I could be wrong.

Michael Frazier
39 posted on 07/28/2006 5:00:14 PM PDT by brazzaville (no surrender no retreat, well, maybe retreat's ok)
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To: jcparks
"Yes, I'm pissed. "
When citizens put their feelings above the law republics fall.

There are good reasons for the "Speech or Debate" clause, at least our Founders thought so.

If you disagree and think that legislators work should be questioned by grand juries you can try to amend the Constitution or just move to any of several third world dictatorships where that is the case.

And then perhaps you missed that the privilege claims must be approved by a judge.

40 posted on 07/28/2006 5:13:46 PM PDT by mrsmith
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