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William Jefferson Indicted On Corruption Charges
Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) has officially been indicted on racketeering, soliciting bribes and money-laundering according to the Associated Press.
The indictment handed up Monday in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, is more than an inch thick and lists 16 alleged violations of federal law that could keep Jefferson in prison for up to 200 years.Almost two years ago, in August 2005, investigators raided Jefferson's home in Louisiana and found $90,000 in cash stuffed into a box in his freezer.
Jefferson, 63, whose Louisiana district includes New Orleans, has said little about the case publicly but has maintained his innocence. He was re-elected last year despite the looming investigation.
Jefferson's case has become best known for the nearly $100,000 in cash found in his freezer that he took from a videotaped encounter with an FBI informant.
His House office was searched by the FBI in 2006, which raised bipartisan outrage amongst Congressional leadership who called the raide unconstitutional on the grounds of the "speech and debate" clause.
Josh
Zachary
Good riddance to bad rubbish.
June 4, 2007 2:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Adios to the crook and it's about effen time
June 4, 2007 2:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
What a embarrassment. And if ever you might think Republicans have a monopoly on idiotic voters just remember this guy. There are some VERY dumb people in the black community who voted for this crook. Either that or they are extremely immoral. They are as shitty as the DeLay voters.
June 4, 2007 2:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Agreed. Time to take out the trash.
June 4, 2007 2:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Just in time for Scooter's sentencing!!
June 4, 2007 2:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Bugman is STILL walking around.
June 4, 2007 2:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
What will be telling is how the house leadership handles this.
Everybody's know this indictment was coming. Everybody knows that corruption can show up in any political party. The question becomes, how does the party handle the problem? Do you cover up, look the other way, shuck and jive? Or do you move quickly to clean house.
Now is the time for Pelosi and company to clearly distinguish why the Democrats deserve to be in power, by earning the people's trust.
June 4, 2007 3:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
What will be telling is how the house leadership handles this.
Everybody's known this indictment was coming. Everybody knows that corruption can show up in any political party. The question becomes, how does the party handle the problem? Do you cover up, look the other way, shuck and jive? Or do you move quickly to clean house.
Now is the time for Pelosi and company to clearly distinguish themselves from the previous congress. Now is the time to earn the people's trust.
June 4, 2007 3:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
So, nowadays if a politician chooses to store $100,000 in their own freezer they're presumed to be a criminal? Is that what this country has come to?
Off topic, but has anyone ever figured out what happened to that $10 Billion dollars that went missing in Iraq?
June 4, 2007 3:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
So, nowadays if a politician chooses to store $100,000 in their own freezer they're presumed to be a criminal? Is that what this country has come to?
Off topic, but has anyone ever figured out what happened to that $10 Billion dollars that went missing in Iraq?
June 4, 2007 3:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yo, JW...Just so ya know...the indictments are for much, much more than the 90,000 grand in cold cash.
You either HATE the corruption by EITHER party, or you're no better than the rethuglican's you gripe about.
June 4, 2007 3:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wow, Dan. You're a really serious guy, aren't you? Then again, so are some other people. Tell you what. Next time I try to make a point by going for the laugh, I'll preface it by typing "wink wink" in parenthesis. Thanks for the heads up.
June 4, 2007 3:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
What a disgusting shame.
You can bet that, for months (years?), every right wing hack will be raving about how this indictment proves there is COMPLETE PARITY between republican and democratic corruption.
In fact, in their diseased minds, every republican who has ever done anything wrong has been immediately vindidated and put in long-distance second place, between the grand-daddy of all corrupt pols - William Jefferson.
Yes, I can see the Fox News headline now: William Jefferson, second only to Osama Bin Laden as public enemy number one.
Remember Bush's old "I'm not going to comment on an on-going investigation" line, as well as the recently touted GOP principle of "not presuming one guilty until all the facts come out"?
That was so, like, yesterday baby..
Now its 'open-up-the-whacko-buffet-cuz-it's-feeding-frenzy' time!!
It's 'how-soon-can-we-book-Krauthammer-and-Safire-to-opine-that-Jefferson-is-indicative-of-'liberal-disease'-in-general' time!
This is so disgustingly sad. Jefferson has done a horrible disservice to the democratic party.
June 4, 2007 3:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Justice Department finally peeled some resources away from trying to gin up voter fraud scandals to indict Jefferson?
Norquist wasn't kidding about drowning the government in a bathtub.
June 4, 2007 3:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
JW, the joke wasn't very clear. At least to me. WI'm fairly disgusted with the constant clamorings from both sides, the sputterings of:
bbbbbuuutttt...THEY did it!
Humble apologies.
June 4, 2007 3:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
What's so frustrating is that it took TWO YEARS to get this guy indicted, and during all that time he was still occupying an office and drawing a paycheck from the US House of Representatives.
AND HE STILL IS!
Security Code: memory. Why did I type mammary five times before I got it right?
June 4, 2007 3:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sadly, we can't fire him. Only the voters from his district could have done that.
June 4, 2007 4:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
He may be guilty as hell. I believe he probably is. But is it possible that they brought the indictment out Virginia because they know they haven't a bat's chance of winning with a Louisiana jury? I can't help but recall that at one point Kenneth Starr wanted a grand jury in a D.C. suburb (and I believe it was Alexandria) because he didn't think HE could win with a D.C. jury.
Jefferson might be able to beat the rap. (And don't even get me started on what happens if they manage to make the U.S. Attorney the issue in the case.)
June 4, 2007 4:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
He may be guilty as hell. I believe he probably is. But is it possible that they brought the indictment out Virginia because they know they haven't a bat's chance of winning with a Louisiana jury? I can't help but recall that at one point Kenneth Starr wanted a grand jury in a D.C. suburb (and I believe it was Alexandria) because he didn't think HE could win with a D.C. jury.
Jefferson might be able to beat the rap. (And don't even get me started on what happens if they manage to make the U.S. Attorney the issue in the case.)
June 4, 2007 4:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, some dumb voters re-elected Jefferson. But look at the returns closely. Jefferson won because a suburban WHITE vote preferred him to an African-American who had dared to criticizethe suburban lawmen that had prevented blacks from evacuating in the aftermath of the Katrina flooding. By the way, lots of WHITE, GOP votes helped to re-elect our Mayor Nagin as well.
June 4, 2007 5:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why is Chuck Rosenberg, of E. Virginia USA office, giving the news conference.????
Anybody know????
June 4, 2007 6:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
The CONgressman has shamed us ALL!
http://osi-speaks.blogspot.com/2007/06/lousiana-congressman-william-cash-in.html#links
June 5, 2007 1:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
The indictment was handed down in E. Virginia because that is where the crimes were committed!
The CONgressman has shamed us ALL!
http://osi-speaks.blogspot.com/2007/06/lousiana-congressman-william-cash-in.html#links
June 5, 2007 1:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
So why hasn't Jefferson STEPPED DOWN LIKE TOM DELAY WAS FORCED TO? Oh, that's right, that was a REPUBLICAN CAUCUS ONLY rule from the "culture of corruption" era...The Dems have no such rule. Right Josh? 8-)
June 5, 2007 7:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
The FBI offered the cash to Jefferson?
Could this be a Hatch Act violation?
Nobody searched Bill Frist's office when he was day trading as Senate majority leader...
ohhhh, Jefferson is a different story.
Can the Senate and House please review the Frist financial transactions? They have authoirty to search/review their own.
The only thing keeping Frist from being searched for trade violations was using Congressional privelege. The notion that discovery was not beyond the actions he did in his office probably prevented that, when the Reps controlled Congress.
The FBI gave him the bills, but did not trace the remainer? Certainly they use marked bills for stings. Can the Treasury be called in to Committee?
June 5, 2007 7:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yep, Bill Frist is the REAL story here....go have another BIG FROSTY glass of Democrat Kool Aid "Mr. Murder"... heh heh. I guess "denial" ain't just a river in Egypt...
June 5, 2007 7:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
"There is one aspect of Jefferson's acts that hasn't been bro't out that I am very interested in. His votes. Were they influenced by the $$? When my congressman gets up on the floor and fights against decent working conditiions in the Marianas, that's showing his congressional role is influenced by the trips he took on Abramoff's nickle. That's bribe taking."
--Ruth
That makes sense, hedge your corruption bets and open a way out for turning evidence...
June 5, 2007 7:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
So we can verify that the FBI was trying to bait Democrats with bribes in 2005 during the DeLay investigations?
The freezer couldn't handle a pallet load. Perhaps the new Iraq Embassy freezer can...
June 5, 2007 7:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
James Gordon Meek admits the FBI only has 25 agents who detail terror in In South America* on CSpan talk about the airport plot?
And they're going on witchhunts for Jefferson while only having 25 persons tasked to track terror and supposedly stop plots?
You do know since OPEC admission of South American countries to its ranks, the arabs and various terror counteroperatives for state actors work there?
Colin Powell was meeting the deposed King of Afghanistan on 9-11 in South America. This place considered a probably range of action has only 25 persons tasked to detail any possible items there?
Do tell.
June 5, 2007 8:14 AM | Reply | Permalink