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Former House Leaders Weigh In on FBI Case (Gingrich, Michel and other Repubs SUPPORT Jefferson)
Washington Post ^
| Monday, April 2, 2007
| By Allan Lengel
Posted on 04/02/2007 6:35:30 PM PDT by SubGeniusX
Embattled Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-La.), the target of a two-year public-corruption probe, is finding himself with strange bedfellows these days.
Former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), former House minority leader Robert Michel (R-Ill.) and Scott Palmer, former chief of staff for Rep. J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), are among those who have filed friend-of-the-court briefs in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, backing Jefferson's argument that the controversial FBI raid on his office last May was unconstitutional.
"These former leaders of the House had concerns about the integrity and independence of the institution, and therefore they decided to file this joint brief," said lawyer James Hamilton, who filed an amicus brief on behalf of Gingrich and Michel as well as former House speaker Thomas Foley (D-Wash.).
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: congress; corruption; gingrich; jefferson
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Former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), former House minority leader Robert Michel (R-Ill.) and Scott Palmer, former chief of staff for Rep. J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), ... have filed friend-of-the-court briefs backing Jefferson's argument ....Wait....What??
*spit take*
To: SubGeniusX
Those supporting Jefferson have something similar to fear. Too bad for Gingrich, this will hurt his WH chances.
2
posted on
04/02/2007 6:38:48 PM PDT
by
Dante3
To: SubGeniusX
first cozying up to hillary and now this, newt?
3
posted on
04/02/2007 6:40:49 PM PDT
by
flashbunny
(<--- Free Anti-Rino graphics! See Rudy the Rino get exposed as a liberal with his own words!)
To: Dante3
What chances?
This is why we find ourselves as a party looking in...after the last election....with leadership like this.
4
posted on
04/02/2007 6:42:03 PM PDT
by
Dog
( Residing somewhere in Eeyore's Gloomy Place...)
To: Dante3
To be honest ... thats what I read between the "lines" also
... They are thinking "if the Fibbies can look in Bill's freezer, they can look in mine..."
5
posted on
04/02/2007 6:42:13 PM PDT
by
SubGeniusX
($29.95 Guarantees Your Salvation!!! Or TRIPLE Your Money Back!!!)
To: SubGeniusX
Former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), former House minority leader Robert Michel (R-Ill.) and Scott Palmer, former chief of staff for Rep. J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), are among those who have filed friend-of-the-court briefs in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, backing Jefferson's argument that the controversial FBI raid on his office last May was unconstitutional. Not kosher! Any of the Newtonians around here care to explain this?
To: SubGeniusX
Doesn’t surprise me — it’s amazing how bipartisan the critters get when it’s pay-raise time, or someone is threatening their royal privileges, or...
They cease to be donkeys and elephants, and they all become 100% pig (no offense to pigs).
7
posted on
04/02/2007 6:44:15 PM PDT
by
ellery
(Anyone who thinks he has a better idea of what's good for people than people do is a swine-PJORourke)
To: SubGeniusX
Corruption is such a sad thing to witness ,, and then to see who backs it.. even sadder.
8
posted on
04/02/2007 6:44:40 PM PDT
by
NormsRevenge
(Semper Fi ...... BumP'n'Run 'Right-Wing Extremist' since 2001)
To: SubGeniusX
Birds of a feather flock together. The political denizens of DC are for the most part corrupt bastards.
9
posted on
04/02/2007 6:45:44 PM PDT
by
csvset
To: csvset
They are supposed to be servants of the people, elected by the people. What we have instead are a group of career politicians that are corrupt beyond comprehension.
10
posted on
04/02/2007 6:48:14 PM PDT
by
ImaGraftedBranch
(...And we, poor fools, demand truth's noon, who scarce can bear its crescent moon.)
To: BartMan1; Nailbiter
This ought to make your blood boil.
The message is, “Hide the evidence in your office, Congressman. They’ll never look there (if we have anything to say about it)”.
Despicable, scum sucking politicians, all of them.
11
posted on
04/02/2007 6:48:42 PM PDT
by
IncPen
(The Liberal's Reward is Self Disgust)
To: Dante3
I agree, what are the Republicans hiding in their offices? The African Connection: Rep. Jefferson and Joe Wilson By Clarice Feldman The documents seized in the FBI raid on the offices of Rep. William Jefferson (DLA) remain unread by Justice Department investigators, pending a federal Appeals Court ruling scheduled for August 27. Jefferson is anxious to overturn the ruling of federal Judge Hogan of the Washington, DC federal District Court, who allowed the raid. One can only surmise that the seized documents contain material even more embarrassing than the discovery of $90,000 in cash in Jefferson's freezer. 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 reported:� Federal authorities have alleged in court documents that Jefferson took more than $500,000 in bribes in exchange for using his official position to promote iGate's technology in Nigeria, Ghana and Cameroon. The FBI said it videotaped Jefferson taking a $100,000 payoff on July 30, 2005. The affidavit discloses an alleged scheme in which Jefferson introduced officials from Netlink Digital Television (NDTV), a Nigerian company, to Jackson. NDTV agreed to pay iGate nearly $45 million for the right to use its technology and to distribute it in Nigeria. The affidavit alleges that Jefferson, without iGate's knowledge, separately negotiated with NDTV officials to receive $5 for each subscriber in "return for Jefferson's official assistance if the deal was successful." The Post also reports that investigators are examining a number of other companies linked to Jefferson, his wife, and various other relatives. While no details have leaked, and the seized documents have not yet yielded their secrets, it is quite probable that the bribery iGate's owner�has acknowledged is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the dubious business associations of Representative Jefferson. Many other figures, some of them quite prominent, are likely to turn up as players in the temporarily suspended probe. Independent citizeninvestigators, posting at such websites as Just One Minute, Macsmind, and Free Republic, have been poring over publiclyavailable documents and reports, in search of clues as to the identities of those as yet unnamed in the Jefferson investigation. Few people outside these internet circles realize that one of those names may be Joseph C. Wilson IV. The JeffersonJoe Wilson Connection Macsmind first mentioned this in May.�I have been thinking about this possibility and reviewing the detailed and welldocumented 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. At this time new African markets were emerging due to the recent passage of an African trade bill Wilson had helped President Clinton promote. Wilson's African investment interests included oil markets in several parts of Africa and the gold market in Niger. Wilson also kept abreast of the gold market in Iraq, where the price of gold was exceptionally cheap, as Wilson observed in one of his lectures.10 [....] Wilson ran his company out of the offices of an investment company called Rock Creek Corporation. Rock Creek was controlled by Mohammed Alamoudi, whom Wilson had met in 1997 at a reception organized for the World Bank by Westar Group. Alamoudi was a member of the SaudiEthiopian Alamoudi dynasty, which was heavily invested in the segments of the African economy Wilson was seeking to penetrate. The Alamoudiaffiliated company Delta Servicesa Swiss subsidiary of the Saudi company Delta Oilhandled Iraqi oil export contracts in 2000 and 2001 and was revealed in 2003 as a recipient of Iraqi OilforFood vouchers channeled through Abu Abbas, a Palestinian terrorist with Iraqi connections. Delta Services also cooperated with Afghanistan's Taliban regime in a project to build an oil pipeline from Afghanistan to Pakistan, prior to this project's suspension in 1998. In 1999, Alamoudi was accused by USA Today reporter Jack Kelley of heading a bank which was being investigated for financing Al Qaeda. USA Today printed retractions of several details in Kelley's article in 2004, after another member of the Alamoudi familyAbdurahman Alamoudi, a prominent American Muslim lobbyistwas indicted on terrorrelated charges involving a Libyanbacked conspiracy to assassinate Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah. Abdurahman was ultimately convicted in October 2004 and sentenced to 23 years in prison.12 Under Mohammed Alamoudi's direction, Rock Creek was chaired by Elias Aburdene, an ArabAmerican international banking advisor and lobbyist who had previously advised banks linked to organized crime and intelligence community figures involved in the S&L Scam. In 2003 and 2004 Aburdene donated to the Sandhills Political Action Committee, which was affiliated with Senator Chuck Hagel, 13 a leading Republican critic of the Bush administration's Iraq policy.14 Clinton, Lewisnski, and Africa Recall the trip to Africa conducted by Bill Clinton in the wake of the embarrassing Monica Lewinski affair, playing to his most reliable voting base, and bringing with him a very large number of AfricanAmerican business figures, politicians, and other influential individuals. The trip� cost almost $50 million and was tagged as the most expensive foreign trip by a US President.� Much of this expense was for transportation for the Clinton's took a large delegation with them. The delegation included Jesse Jackson, prominent Black businessmen such as Bob Johnson and the following Congressional delegation: Congressmen Payne ,William Jefferson and� Rangel and Congresswoman Maxine Waters, as well as Secretary Slater.� (Source)� What is less well known is that the man who orchestrated this trip was Joseph C. Wilson IV costar of the longrunning Plame comedy hour. '"Joe Wilson really was the architect of President Clinton's visit to Africa," said Leonard Robinson, senior fellow at the McCormack Institute and deputy executive director of the National Summit on Africa. The emphasis of this trip was to promote African development, US investment in Africa and USAfrican trade.���� Wilson's role was acknowledged by Clinton. When he hosted a dinner for Ghana's visiting President, Wilson and his wife, noted in the press account of the dinner as 'Valerie Wilson' were among the guests. Another honored guest was� Congressman William Jefferson and his daughter. According to the SSCI Wilson made at least one other trip to Africa That was made at his wife's suggestion for the CIA in 1999. He made�the second trip there that year as part of a trade delegation. As Just One Minute poster Rocco found these tidbits: Mima Nedelcovych, Vice President for International Operations, F. C. Schaffer and Associates, Inc traveled with Wilson, Alamoudi and others in Nov. 99, for a trade delegation. Nedelcovych gave Jefferson campaign donations in 01, 02, and 05. F. C. Schaffer and Associates is a small Louisiana based sugar company but the curious thing is, the donations aren't from Schaffer, they're from AFRKA GLOBAL/PARTNER As for the Alamoudis, a substantial amount of information about the family and their links can be found here�(see comment 7) Following the Wilsonmanaged Clinton trip, the� African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) was signed into law on May 18, 2000 as Title 1 of The Trade and Development Act of 2000. The Act offers tangible incentives for African countries to continue their efforts to open their economies and build free markets. Corruption , however, has been a continuing problem in Africa and those monitoring the impact of the Act have urged more transparency and monitoring of those countries deemed eligible to participate. Joe Wilson's new incarnation as a wheelerdealer in corruptionrife countries in Africa was a perfect fit for his role as impresario of the massive Clinton delegation to Africa, which brought together corruptionstained individuals on the lookout for future business opportunities. The investigation of William Jefferson may well shed some unwanted light on him, many others in Congress, the Clintons, Wilson and who exactly the AGOA benefited and how.�August 27th is coming soon. � Clarice Feldman is an attorney in Washington, DC and a frequent contributor.
12
posted on
04/02/2007 6:50:37 PM PDT
by
Eva
To: ImaGraftedBranch
“They are supposed to be servants of the people, elected by the people. What we have instead are a group of career politicians that are corrupt beyond comprehension.”
Well said.
13
posted on
04/02/2007 6:51:12 PM PDT
by
FMBass
("Now that I'm sober I watch a lot of news"- Garofalo from Coulter's "Treason")
To: SubGeniusX
Gingrich shows he is still a Congressman at heart and just isn’t up to POTUS standards. If he counts William Jefferson, DemocRAT from Louisiana as one of his own ...
14
posted on
04/02/2007 6:51:25 PM PDT
by
NonValueAdded
(Prevent Glo-Ball Warming ... turn out the sun when not in use)
To: ellery
Does anybody think Newt and the other Republicans would be filing this, IF Congressional Power had not shifted in November and it appears that the Dems may be on the way in ‘08?
an obvious case of CYA...
15
posted on
04/02/2007 6:53:25 PM PDT
by
SubGeniusX
($29.95 Guarantees Your Salvation!!! Or TRIPLE Your Money Back!!!)
To: IncPen
There isn’t a lick of difference between any of them. We need term limits to send these scum bags home before they screw it up so bad that it can’t be fixed..
To: Eva
can you maybe just post a link next time... or use line breaks?
17
posted on
04/02/2007 6:55:30 PM PDT
by
SubGeniusX
($29.95 Guarantees Your Salvation!!! Or TRIPLE Your Money Back!!!)
To: ImaGraftedBranch
They are supposed to be servants of the people, elected by the people. What we have instead are a group of career politicians that are corrupt beyond comprehension. Term limits would solve most of these problems....
18
posted on
04/02/2007 6:57:46 PM PDT
by
ErieGeno
To: SubGeniusX
Oh, I’ve posted that article many times and that never happened before. Sorry, I just didn’t check it. I’ll try again.
19
posted on
04/02/2007 6:58:47 PM PDT
by
Eva
To: SubGeniusX
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