FBI, Freezergate, Fear, Loathing

27 May 2006 |permalink | email article

Reports from the Justice Department that the nation’s top three law enforcement officials. Atty. Gen. Alberto Gonzales; his deputy, Paul McNulty; and FBI Director Robert Mueller, threatened to resign or risk firing rather than return documents seized from a Democratic congressman’s office in a bribery investigation if the White House directed them to do so.

It’s rich political drama featuring odd partisan bedfellows and savage White House infighting which saw Gonzales, considered an ultimate W. lap dog, actually standing up for a principle, Dick Cheney’s chief of staff David Addington critical of the raid and the position of counsel Harriet Miers unclear.

Justice people had feared the White House would cave in to demands by House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi that materials be returned to Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., the subject of a FBI bribery investigation.

Finally, W. was compelled to step in and avert a meltdown. In a rare presidential intervention, he ordered the Jefferson evidence sealed for 45 days to give Congress and the Justice Department a chance to work out a deal. House and Senate Republican leaders supposedly have patched things up with Gonzales who went rd to Capitol Hill for meetings, but who can be sure.

The fallout takes many forms. It starts with the fact that the raid is the first FBI search of a congressman’s office in U.S. history, triggering a bizarre alliance between Hastert and Pelosi who viewed the search as a violation of the constitutional separation of powers.

An FBI affidavit released last week alleged that Jefferson was videotaped taking a $100,000 bribe and that a search of his D.C. apartment turned up $90,000 of that sum wrapped in foil inside his freezer.

Pelosi, full of herself and already acting like she’s a Speaker in waiting, fired off a curt, 28-word letter demanding Jefferson resign from the House Ways and Means Committee but he declined. But her clever midterm election slogan accusing House Republicans of a “culture of corruption” seems a little disingenuous.

Pelsoi’s preening aside, the real back-story here is the tension running high in the House GOP caucus. There is fear and loathing about election fallout from separate investigations into the activities of convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff and disgraced convict Randy Cunningham which have placed a several other Republicans under FBI scrutiny which, depending on the timing, could endanger GOP control of the House.

The New York Times reported Saturday that federal authorities have informally asked to interview nine former staff members of the House Appropriations and Intelligence Committees. Add Enron to the mix and 2006 will go down as the Year of Corruption - a moveable scandal with no apparent finale. 

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