Constitutional crisis over FBI raid on US congressman

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Constitutional crisis over FBI raid on US congressman

Postby albion » Fri May 26, 2006 5:11 pm

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>from the WSWS:<br></em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--><br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Constitutional crisis over FBI raid on US congressman</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br>By Joe Kay and Barry Grey<br>26 May 2006<br><br>The conflict between the US Congress and the Bush administration over the FBI raid on US Representative William Jefferson’s congressional office has rapidly escalated into a constitutional crisis. The episode highlights the contempt with which the Bush administration views such fundamental issues as the separation of powers and the autonomy of the legislative branch. It also reveals the atmosphere of crisis and tension which pervades the American political system.<br><br>The May 20 raid was carried out by more than 15 FBI agents, who barred the House of Representatives general counsel and the sergeant at arms from the rooms they were searching. It was the first federal search of a sitting congressman’s office in US history.<br><br>Denunciations of the Justice Department by Republican as well as Democratic legislators reached such a pitch by Thursday that President Bush felt obliged to directly intervene. The previous day, the Republican speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert, and the Democratic minority leader, Nancy Pelosi, issued a joint statement denouncing the raid as unconstitutional and demanding that the Justice Department return all of the documents and records removed by the FBI.<br><br>Bush sought to mollify congressional critics while insisting that the raid was legal and that the Justice Department had every right to use documents and records seized in the 18-hour search to pursue an investigation of Jefferson on allegations of bribe-taking.<br><br>In a remarkable acknowledgment of the sharpness of the confrontation between the executive and legislative branches, Bush said, “Our government has not faced such a dilemma in more than two centuries.” He noted that the “bipartisan leadership of the House of Representatives believes this search violated the constitutional principle of separation of powers and the speech and debate clause of the Constitution.”<br><br>He announced that the documents seized would be sealed for 45 days, during which time investigators would be prevented from examining them, and called for negotiations between congressional leaders and the Justice Department to work out a protocol for obtaining such documents in connection with federal criminal investigations. He insisted, however, that any resolution to the dispute had to ensure “that materials relevant to the ongoing criminal investigation are made available to prosecutors...”<br><br>He then declared, “Those who violate the law—including a member of Congress—should be held to account”—an utterance of stunning hypocrisy from a president who has demonstrated contempt for both US and international law during his entire tenure. This bit of cynicism was designed to uphold the pretext for the administration’s assertion of virtually limitless executive power and its denigration of Congress: That the raid was carried out in order to root out corruption and uphold the law.<br><br>Corruption—bribe-taking, influence peddling, fraud—is indeed rampant in Washington, where corporate lobbyists routinely reward their congressional minions with money and other favors in return for voting the “right” way, and seats in the House and the Senate are purchased for vast sums, collected as campaign donations from corporate sponsors. Both parties are involved, and there is no reason to believe that New Orleans Congressman Jefferson, a Democrat, is any less corrupt than his colleagues.<br><br>But corruption has long been a feature of American politics, and no previous administration has raided the office of a sitting congressman in the name of conducting a criminal probe. The reasons for the raid on Jefferson’s office have nothing to do with fighting corruption, and everything to do with the drive by the clique around Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney to intimidate and silence critics, forestall any investigation into the administration’s own illegal actions, and move toward the establishment of a form of presidential dictatorship.<br><br>Hastert and Pelosi welcomed Bush’s announcement on Thursday and said the House counsel was ready to begin negotiations with the Justice Department over the dispute. However, other Republican congressmen predicted the matter would end up before the US Supreme Court, and House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, a Republican, announced he would hold hearings next Tuesday under the heading: “Reckless Justice—Did the Saturday Night Raid of Congress Trample the Constitution?”<br><br>Jefferson, for his part, filed a motion in US District Court demanding the return of the material—two boxes of documents and a computer hard drive—confiscated during the search.<br><br>The rapidity with which the dispute has escalated reflects the intensity of the political crisis that underlies it.<br><br>Jefferson has been under investigation for months and was videotaped in a sting operation apparently accepting bribes from an FBI informant. The Justice Department raided two of his residences last August and issued subpoenas for documents, but Jefferson has challenged the subpoenas.<br><br>The provocative nature of the decision to raid his office is underscored by the fact that the House counsel was handling his legal dispute with the Justice Department over the contested documents. Thus the legal wrangle between Jefferson and the Bush administration had already become an institutional standoff between the executive and legislative branches when the administration decided to dramatically assert its supremacy by raiding the congressman’s office.<br><br>Only hours after Wednesday’s joint statement by Hastert and Pelosi, ABC World News Tonight, citing unnamed US law enforcement officials, reported that Hastert was under investigation by the FBI in connection with the influence peddling and bribery scandal surrounding convicted Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff.<br><br>Hastert immediately issued a statement branding the ABC News report as false and demanding that the network retract it. The Justice Department soon after issued its own statement declaring the ABC News report to be false and saying Hastert was not under investigation.<br><br>The following morning, however, Hastert gave an interview to WGN radio in Chicago in which he charged that the ABC News report had been deliberately leaked by someone in the Bush administration to intimidate him and retaliate for his denunciation of the FBI raid on Jefferson.<br><br>“This is one of the leaks that come out to try to, you know, intimidate people,” he said. He essentially reiterated the allegation later in the day Thursday. When asked if he thought the Justice Department was retaliating against him by leaking the report, Hastert replied, “All I’m saying is, here are the dots. People can connect any dots they want to.” He added, “I thought it was an interesting sequence of events.”<br><br>ABC News has refused to retract its Wednesday night report, and Hastert has threatened to sue the network for defamation. For its part, ABC reported on its web site that the Justice Department statement was intended to deny that Hastert was a formal target or subject of the investigation, but federal officials had confirmed to the network that various members of Congress “including Hastert, are under investigation.”<br><br>Hastert’s remarks are indicative of the bitter in-fighting and the atmosphere of fear, intrigue and crisis that pervade official Washington.<br><br>The tensions between Hastert and the White House reflect divisions, in particular, within the Republican Party. With Bush’s poll numbers continuing to fall as popular opposition to the Iraq war and the economic situation mounts, Republican leaders in Congress are increasingly concerned that their party may lose control of one or both houses in this November’s midterm election, and forfeit the White House in 2008.<br><br>This is certainly one reason why the same Republicans, such as Hastert, who have supported all of Bush’s anti-democratic measures—from the Patriot Act, to the Homeland Security Department, to massive domestic spying programs—have reacted so sharply to a precedent they fear could be used against them should the Democrats gain control.<br><br>Long-time columnist and Republican insider Robert Novak published a column May 18 on Hastert’s relations with the White House that gives some sense of the poisoned state of relations within the Republican Party and the political establishment as a whole. Novak reported that Hastert “engaged in a high decibel rant” in a meeting with Vice President Cheney after he learned that his former House colleague and friend Porter Goss was being forced out as CIA director.<br><br>Cheney was so alarmed he immediately scheduled a meeting between Hastert, himself and Bush in the president’s living quarters.<br><br>“But Hastert’s discontent goes beyond the CIA,” Novak noted. “The GOP mood on Capitol Hill, particularly the House, is poisonous. With pessimism rising over a contemplated loss of their majority in the 2006 elections, Republican lawmakers blame their parlous condition on Bush’s performance.” Novak went on to say that there was “basically non-communication between Bush and his fellow Republicans in Congress.”<br><br>Hastert’s assumption that the ABC News report was an act of intimidation and retaliation by the Bush administration—even were it to prove unfounded—says a great deal about the state of American politics. The titular head of the House of Representatives takes as a given that the top figures in the executive branch, and the leaders of his own party, would not hesitate to employ blackmail, character assassination and the threat of criminal prosecution to silence him and anyone else who stood in their way.<br><br>It is an open secret in Washington, discussed in private but concealed from the American people, that the US is heading in the direction of a police state, and that those who wield both corporate and political power have no democratic scruples.<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://wsws.org/articles/2006/may2006/raid-m26.shtml">wsws.org/articles/2006/ma...-m26.shtml</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> <p></p><i></i>
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Re: Constitutional crisis over FBI raid on US congressman

Postby dugoboy » Fri May 26, 2006 6:48 pm

i don't understand how this raid prompts a Constitutional crisis...what am i missing? <p>___________________________________________<br>"BUSHCO aren't incompetent...they are COMPLICIT."</p><i></i>
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Re: Constitutional crisis over FBI raid on US congressman

Postby albion » Fri May 26, 2006 6:58 pm

In strict legal terms, I don't know that it does. But there's certainly some bitter and contentious power struggles going on. <p></p><i></i>
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Re: Constitutional crisis over FBI raid on US congressman

Postby dranek7 » Fri May 26, 2006 7:03 pm

What you're missing is the fact that the story would not have existed if not for the fine leakers within the Justice department. When they claim to have all of the corroborating and incriminating physical evidence in hand, what purpose does raiding a congressional office serve--other than political theater?<br><br>Where's the video that shows the congressman accepting money?? Does anyone wonder why it hasn't been released? I would love to see it before rushing to judgement. Then there's the report of $90,000 in the freezer. Does anyone have a photo of it? It's funny that when hearsay wears Uncle J'Edgar's negligee, it must be true...<br><br><br>...and it's also funny that the same liberal blogosphere which decried Joe "Clown" Klein's labelling of black congressmembers an embarrasment are resorting to strikingly similar rhetoric.<br><br> <p></p><i></i>
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Re: Constitutional crisis over FBI raid on US congressman

Postby dugoboy » Fri May 26, 2006 7:30 pm

yea the lefty blogosphere want jeffersons head on a plate because only republicans are the supposedly corrupt ones. *sigh* <p>___________________________________________<br>"BUSHCO aren't incompetent...they are COMPLICIT."</p><i></i>
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Re: Constitutional crisis over FBI raid on US congressman

Postby chiggerbit » Fri May 26, 2006 8:30 pm

Sorry, but Congress didn't give a shit when it came to the Constitutional rights of its citizens who were being held without habeas corpus, or about the illogical (non-terrorist) no-fly lists, or when the administration was spying on the citizens, or spying on reporters or on members of Congress. And the Bushies have been trampling the Constitutional powers of Congress and their laws for a couple of years now and Congress didn't give a shit, because Congressional Republicans and a few Dems like Lieberman were so partisan for the prez. But now that (<!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>R</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->)Hassert himself has to worry about what can be found in his Congressional records, suddenly he gives a shit. I say, let them stew until such time as they deign to recognize the violation of the Constitutional rights of the citizens. Then I will worry about Congress's violated powers. Fuck them! <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=chiggerbit@rigorousintuition>chiggerbit</A> at: 5/26/06 9:25 pm<br></i>
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Re: Constitutional crisis over FBI raid on US congressman

Postby chiggerbit » Fri May 26, 2006 8:46 pm

The ironic thing is that the same climate that has enabled the Bushites to trample the Constitutional rights of us citizens is the same climate that is going to not care about the Constitutional rights of Congress. I have grown to hate that trite truism about "what goes around comes around", but boy, does that apply here. The population has been innoculated, and it isn't going to give a shit about the Constitutional powers of Congress, because polls show that approval of Congress is at about 3%. <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>THREE</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> fucking percent. Is anybody going to care about Jefferson, who has already been practically tried and convicted? Not me. AND not most Americans. IF he committed a crime and used his office to do it, tough shit.<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20060525-110248-6585r">www.upi.com/NewsTrack/vie...0248-6585r</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>".....A Zogby Interactive poll finds that U.S. voters are more distrustful than ever of political and corporate leaders. <br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Only 3 percent believe Congress is trustworthy;</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> 7 percent think business leaders are; 24 percent say President George W. Bush can be trusted; and 29 percent trust the courts....." <br><br> <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=chiggerbit@rigorousintuition>chiggerbit</A> at: 5/26/06 9:21 pm<br></i>
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Re: Constitutional crisis over FBI raid on US congressman

Postby HMKGrey » Sat May 27, 2006 2:20 am

THREE FUCKING PERCENT. And you have to wonder who the three morons were, right?<br><br>Meanwhile, can't help wondering if we're not seeing the birth of a meme in Bush using the term 'constitutional crisis'? <br><br>Start getting the herd used to it now so that sad bastards like Russert and Blitzer can start saying it ad infinitum and we can all get acclimated to it. That way, when the real crisis comes - y' know after the next synthetic terror attack or after people actually take to the streets in numbers - we're all tuned in to it and marshall law isn't such a leap. Right?<br><br>Bush is also playing an astounding hand of hypocricy on this and NOBODY is calling him on it. For all our chatter about signs of light in the MSM in recent weeks, we were obviously wasting our time. <p></p><i></i>
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Re: Constitutional crisis over FBI raid on US congressman

Postby albion » Sat May 27, 2006 2:27 am

Hell, the Bush administration is basically a <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>rolling</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> Constitutional Crisis. It's not exactly news. <p></p><i></i>
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Re: Constitutional crisis over FBI raid on US congressman

Postby chiggerbit » Sat May 27, 2006 1:37 pm

All the prez has to do is say the FBI raid is covered by the Patriot Act, which, if I may borrow from albion, is one big, "<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>rolling</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> Constitutional crisis". <p></p><i></i>
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Re: Constitutional crisis over FBI raid on US congressman

Postby Hugh Manatee Wins » Sat May 27, 2006 2:25 pm

Wow. Extremely high theater.<br><br>NSA surveillance of Congress followed by a display of hands-on control of their papers and effects.<br><br>The uber-Nazis are showing the unter-Nazis that now is not the time to get 'independent' and go form some modern day Gehlen Project with corporate Dems for 06 and 08. <br><br>There is something in everyone's file now. Those found not sufficiently useful for the future will be used for mulch.<br><br>And re-taking the domestic news cycle to direct public attention away from the UK's withdrawal from Iraq is part of the hoped-for effect as well.<br><br>And people (men) still watch sports for kicks? Hmph.<br><br><br><br> <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=hughmanateewins>Hugh Manatee Wins</A> at: 5/27/06 12:29 pm<br></i>
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Re: Constitutional crisis over FBI raid on US congressman

Postby chiggerbit » Sat May 27, 2006 2:55 pm

Shoot, why bother with probable cause and all that legal mumbo-jumbo, since the administration ignores it all the time? Let's just raid ALL Congresspeople's records and see how much crime we can find. It might just teach them that they cannot pick and choose when to trot out the Constitution. And then send the FBI to the White House for all of thsoe people's records, and then to..... <p></p><i></i>
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Re: Constitutional crisis over FBI raid on US congressman

Postby dranek7 » Sat May 27, 2006 3:03 pm

from today's <!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/27/washington/27inquire.html">New York Times</a><!--EZCODE LINK END-->:<br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Gonzales Said He Would Quit in Raid Dispute</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>By DAVID JOHNSTON and CARL HULSE<br>Published: May 27, 2006<br><br>WASHINGTON, May 26 — Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, the F.B.I. director, Robert S. Mueller III, and senior officials and career prosecutors at the Justice Department told associates this week that they were prepared to quit if the White House directed them to relinquish evidence seized in a bitterly disputed search of a House member's office, government officials said Friday.<br><br>Mr. Gonzales was joined in raising the possibility of resignation by the deputy attorney general, Paul J. McNulty, the officials said. Mr. Gonzales and Mr. McNulty told associates that they had an obligation to protect evidence in a criminal case and would be unwilling to carry out any White House order to return the material to Congress.<br><br>The potential showdown was averted Thursday when President Bush ordered the evidence to be sealed for 45 days to give Congress and the Justice Department a chance to work out a deal.<br><br>The evidence was seized by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents last Saturday night in a search of the office of Representative William J. Jefferson, Democrat of Louisiana. The search set off an uproar of protest by House leaders in both parties, who said the intrusion by an executive branch agency into a Congressional office violated the Constitution's separation of powers doctrine. They demanded that the Justice Department return the evidence.<br><br>The possibility of resignations underscored the gravity of the crisis that gripped the Justice Department as the administration grappled with how to balance the pressure from its own party on Capitol Hill against the principle that a criminal investigation, especially one involving a member of Congress, should be kept well clear of political considerations.<br><br>It is not clear precisely what message Mr. Gonzales delivered to Mr. Bush when they met Thursday morning at the White House, or whether he informed the president of the resignation talk. But hours later, the White House announced that the evidence would be sealed for 45 days in the custody of the solicitor general, the Justice Department official who represents the government before the Supreme Court. That arrangement ended the talk of resignations.<br><br>F.B.I. officials would not comment Friday on Mr. Mueller's thinking or on whether his views had been communicated to the president. . . .<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>Does a constitutional crisis really seem like a bad thing when unaccountable, unelected officials complain that their imperial impunity has been besmirched??<br><br><!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Summum ius, summa iniuria. -- M. Tullius Cicero</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--></em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> <p></p><i></i>
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Re: Constitutional crisis over FBI raid on US congressman

Postby pugzleyca3 » Sat May 27, 2006 9:44 pm

This whole scenario reeks of: staged.<br><br>Gonzales quit? Good fucking riddance to that Nazi little prick and anyone else who has been appointed by Bush as far as I'm concerned. <br><br>What have we got here? The feds going after a Congressman's office with a search warrant. <br><br>The president sealing the info so's the AG et al won't quit over it and to supposedly shut up the naysayers.<br>(And now, we get the usual cooling off period brought about by something or other, so people forget about it. ie the 45 days in this instance)<br><br>No proof has been displayed to the public that Jefferson has actually done anything wrong - Yet. Why aren't the news media showing Jefferson on tape, ad nauseum? <br><br>This has all the earmarks of something that might be illegal that the administration wants to make legal and usually a "crisis" is what brings about the illegal acts being made legal. Or, whatever appears to be illegal is suddenly declared a national security issue and no one can investigate it.<br><br>Problem is, Congress would have to probably make up a new law in order to allow themselves to be searched by the executive branch. Or is this merely testing the current law?<br><br>What does all this really mean? What benefit can the administration potentially get from this in the long run?<br><br>Something's afoot here, but I am NOT quite sure what it is.<br><br>If this IS what it appears to be, this is some very, very scary shit. <br><br>Even though I do think it's pretty damn funny that Congress is having to eat from the same plate we are. That little bit of gloating aside, it appears we might be in some serious trouble here, that this might be the biggest, blatant power grab yet.<br><br>Did the PTB not think that the Congress would raise cane about this? Does anyone know the law in the Exec. or Cong. branches? <br> <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=pugzleyca3>pugzleyca3</A> at: 5/27/06 8:01 pm<br></i>
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Re: Constitutional crisis over FBI raid on US congressman

Postby chiggerbit » Sat May 27, 2006 10:22 pm

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>Why aren't the news media showing Jefferson on tape, ad nauseum?</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> <br><br><br><br>Actually, to be fair to the FBI, don't they usually tend to hold evidence pretty close to their chest until court? I think one of the reasons for that is some judges look down on what you suggest as an attempt to unfairly influence the future jury pool. It could possibly get that videotape thrown out of court, and the FBI would be unlikely to risk that, I'm thinking.<br><br>But I agree, the whole Gonzales story of quitting is pure theater, probably intended to make Bush look like the unbiased, competent, serious-Solomon peace-keeper between the law and Congress. And MOST of Congress will pretend to be appropriately thankful, doing their own role-play. Heehee, all except Jefferson and Hassert and the others who have reason to think they are being investigated. But for Bush and the rest of Congress it's just play-acting. <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=chiggerbit@rigorousintuition>chiggerbit</A> at: 5/27/06 8:40 pm<br></i>
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