Jeffereson takes the cash?

[Confed999]

U.S.: Lawmaker Shown on Tape Taking Money

ALEXANDRIA, Va., May. 21, 2006
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(AP) A congressman under investigation for bribery was caught on videotape accepting $100,000 in $100 bills from an FBI informant whose conversations with the lawmaker also were recorded, according to a court document released Sunday. Agents later found the cash hidden in his freezer.

At one audiotaped meeting, Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., chuckles about writing in code to keep secret what the government contends was his corrupt role in getting his children a cut of a communications company's deal for work in Africa.

As Jefferson and the informant passed notes about what percentage the lawmaker's family might receive, the congressman "began laughing and said, 'All these damn notes we're writing to each other as if we're talking, as if the FBI is watching,'" according to the affidavit.

Jefferson, who represents New Orleans, has not been charged and denies any wrongdoing.

As for the $100,000, the government says Jefferson got the money in a leather briefcase last July 30 at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Arlington. The plan was for the lawmaker to use the cash to bribe a high-ranking Nigerian official _ the name is blacked out in the court document _ to ensure the success of a business deal in that country, the affidavit said.

All but $10,000 was recovered on Aug. 3 when the FBI searched Jefferson's home in Washington. The money was stuffed in his freezer, wrapped in $10,000 packs and concealed in food containers and aluminum foil.

Two of Jefferson's associates have pleaded guilty to bribery-related charges in federal court in Alexandria. One, businessman Vernon Jackson of Louisville, Ky., admitted paying more than $400,000 in bribes to the lawmaker in exchange for his help securing business deals for Jackson's telecommunications company in Nigeria and other African countries.

The new details about the case emerged after federal agents searched Jefferson's congressional office on Capitol Hill Saturday night and Sunday. The nearly 100-page affidavit for a search warrant, made public Sunday with large portions blacked out, spells out much of the evidence so far.

Source: CBS News/AP

[dalem]

Yet another indication of the Bushitler Neocon Republican culture of corruption.

-dale

[TopHatter]

Yet another indication of the Bushitler Neocon Republican culture of corruption.

-dale

Are you joking or serious?

I'd say joking because this clown is a Democrat.

I'd say serious because the Democrats hardly have a lock on the corruption angle.

[HistoricalDavid]

Yet another indication of the Bushitler Neocon Republican culture of corruption.

-dale

You forgot: JOOOOOOOOOOOOISH.

[dalem]

Are you joking or serious?

I'd say joking because this clown is a Democrat.

I'd say serious because the Democrats hardly have a lock on the corruption angle.

Sorry, definitely tongue-in-cheek there.

-dale

[2DREZQ]

And this suprises.....,who?

[TopHatter]

And this suprises.....,who?

Yeah, right? A politician. And a Louisiana politician at that.

[ArmchairGeneral]

The only thing more entertaining than politics is Louisiana politics.

[TopHatter]

The only thing more entertaining than politics is Louisiana politics.

Heh heh yeah. Remember when David Duke ran for governor, I think it was?

He was running against incumbent Edwin Washington Edwards, who was as corrupt as a politic...umm, three dollar bill.

But when Duke entered the race, bumper stickers popped up denouncing former KKK leader Duke with this simple advice: "Vote For The Crook, It's Important" and another one read: "Better a lizard than a wizard"

[mtnbiker]

that whole "culture of corruption" argument is going to be pretty tough for the Dem's to sling around come campaign season.

Anyone else surprised this is coming back to bite the Dem's in the ass? Really, what do you have to get caught doing before you feel obliged to step down from you senior committee seats? Mollohan at first refused to step down too.

If you are a Dem you could be caught on video, standing over a dead hooker with the murder weapon in your hand, smoking crack and still everyone would be advised not to "rush to judgement".

Nancy Pelosi Yields to Black Caucus on William Jefferson

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has dropped her demand that Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., resign from the powerful House Way & Means Committee - in exchange for a promise from the Congressional Black Caucus that they won't campaign against her in advance of this fall's critical mid-term elections.

According to a Roll Call report this week, Pelosi struck a deal with the Black Caucus in a closed door meeting last Friday to "hold off taking any pre-indictment action against Jefferson" as long as the group refrains from attacking her.

Pelosi had ordered Jefferson to step down last week after he was caught hiding $90,000 in alleged bribe money in his freezer, saying his resignation would be "in the interest of upholding the high ethical standard of the House Democratic Caucus."

But Black Caucus leaders complained she was overreaching - and threatened to launch a public campaign against her that would jeopardize Democrat chances for retaking the House this November.

[gunnut]

Did you guys hear the newest defense from Jefferson?

You guessed it, the race card.

He said he was targetted because he's black.

Oh really? I guess Tom Delay and Jack Abramoff are also black.

[JBodnar39]

I'm wondering why they have not yet indicted him if they alledgedly caught him so red-handed?

[astralis]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13348896/

Democrats vote to strip Jefferson of panel seat
Vote comes despite claims of mistreatment from black caucus
William Jefferson

Updated: 6:26 p.m. MT June 15, 2006

WASHINGTON - House Democrats, determined to make an election-year point about ethics, voted to strip Rep. William Jefferson of his committee assignment Thursday night while a federal bribery investigation runs its course.

Members of the rank and file approved the move after Jefferson refused for weeks to step aside on his own, and despite claims by some members of the Congressional Black Caucus that he was being treated unfairly.

Officials said the vote was 99-58. The action must be ratified by the full House, and Jefferson left open the possibility that he might at long last relent and surrender the seat on his own. “I don’t want to speculate,” he said.

The session marked the culmination of a drive by the Democratic leader, Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, to take action against the embattled Louisiana lawmaker, who maintains his innocence and has not been indicted.

“This is not about a court of law. This is about a higher ethical standard, and you know when it isn’t being met,” she told reporters several hours before the meeting.

Jefferson is black, and Pelosi, brushing aside criticism from members of the black caucus, told reporters she had been “more than fair.”

The FBI says Jefferson stashed $90,000 in bribe money in his freezer. Two men have pleaded guilty in the probe.

Pelosi asked Jefferson last month to give up his seat on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee voluntarily, pending completion of the investigation. When he refused, she resolved to force him off, saying that Democrats would set the bar as high as possible for conduct by a lawmaker.

Concerns from black caucus
Most Democrats support Pelosi’s action, including some in the 42-member Congressional Black Caucus, and there was little doubt about the vote. Even so, the black caucus issued a statement last week invoking the Constitution’s guarantee of “the presumption of innocence” and opposed the effort to force him off the committee.

Some black Democrats went further, warning that the party risked alienating loyal voters if it required Jefferson to surrender his committee seat until his legal situation is clarified.

Pelosi granted several interviews last week to reporters from black newspapers and radio stations in an attempt to rebut her critics.

Asked about Jefferson at her news conference, she said: “He is being afforded his due process, more than his due process, and my caucus knows that. We have a higher ethical standard. This is not a court of law.”

She said she had been “more than fair” in terms of opposing an FBI raid on his congressional office, supporting his court brief to get his records back and giving him time.

“This would have been done in an instant if I were not trying to be more than fair with him,” she said.

The two men who have been found guilty are a former aide to the congressman and the head of a telecommunications company.

Others implicated, sentenced
Brett Pfeffer, a former Jefferson aide, was sentenced to eight years in prison last month for conspiring to commit bribery and aiding and abetting the bribery of a public official.

Vernon Jackson, 53, chief executive of iGate Inc., a Louisville, Ky.-based telecommunications company, pleaded guilty May 3 to paying more than $400,000 in bribes to Jefferson.

Additionally, the FBI claims that it videotaped the Louisiana Democrat last summer taking $100,000 in bribe money and that agents later found $90,000 of the funds stashed in a freezer in his home.

FBI agents carried out a weekend search of Jefferson’s congressional office in May, triggering criticism from congressional leaders who claimed agents had encroached on Congress’ constitutional powers.

President Bush intervened and ordered the seized material turned over to a Justice Department official not involved in the investigation. He ordered the material withheld for 45 days to allow time for discussion of ground rules for such searches.

© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[Guest]

Yet another indication of the Bushitler Neocon Republican culture of corruption.

-dale

That's hardly fair

[Bluesman]

That's hardly fair

Welcome, Johnno.

What is normally done, see, is a new guy goes over to the 'Intros' forum, and tells us a little about himself. Kind of like saying 'hello' to the participants in a conversation that he had not been a part of yet, as any well-mannered person might do.

Also, you may want to get your irony meter looked at; it malfunctioned on ya, there.