Could the long-running FBI corruption probe into former Pennsylvania GOP congressman Curt Weldon be winding down, without charges?
That’s what the Philadephia Daily News suggests, noting the fact that the Justice Department recently sent letters to people whose conversations were intercepted as part of the investigation, including the paper’s own reporter, William Bender.*
Bender writes that such notifications are generally sent toward the end of an investigation, when revealing the information would no longer be harmful. Experts tell him this could well be a sign that the probe is wrapping up.
Who were the Feds wiretapping?*
- Charles Sexton Jr., the former chair of the Springfield GOP chairman, who was advising Weldon’s unsuccessful 2006 re-election campaign.
- Cecelia Grimes, a lobbyist and friend of Weldon’s who was sentenced last month for destroying evidence, after she threw her BlackBerry into an Arby’s garbage can.
- And Russ Caso, Weldon’s former chief of staff, who has pleaded guilty to failing to list a conflict of interest in his 2005 congressional disclosure forms, and has been cooperating with investigators.
It’s unclear whether Weldon’s own phone was tapped. Weldon was defeated for reelection in 2006 by Joe Sestak, after news of the investigation was leaked in the race’s final weeks.
* These sentences have been corrected from an earlier version, which inaccurately reported that reporter William Bender’s own phone was wiretapped.