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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

House leaders condemn FBI search


Hastert
 (The Spokesman-Review)
Maura Reynolds and Richard B. Schmitt Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON – The confrontation between congressional leaders and the Bush administration over the search of a representative’s office escalated Wednesday, with House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert and other congressional leaders demanding the return of all material seized during the incident.

The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, F. James Sensenbrenner, also announced that he would hold hearings next week on what he called serious constitutional questions concerning the 18-hour search of the Capitol Hill office of Rep. William Jefferson, D-La.

Jefferson, who is the target of a federal bribery and influence-peddling probe, filed a motion in U.S. District Court demanding the return of the material confiscated during the weekend search.

The Justice Department continued to defend the raid, which was conducted by more than 15 FBI agents, while holding out the possibility of a compromise that would meet the concerns of the leadership.

But some experts said the department appeared to be on firm legal footing, and some members of Congress began to question how the public will view the leadership’s contention that congressional offices should be off-limits to federal agents with search warrants.

“For congressional leaders to make these self-serving arguments in the midst of serious scandals in Congress only further erodes the faith and confidence of the American people,” Sen. David Vitter, R-La., said in a letter to Senate leaders.

The chamber is currently the focus of more corruption investigations than at any time in a generation.

Off Capitol Hill, conservatives criticized House Republicans for putting themselves above the law. “In essence, they’re asking for themselves to be treated as an imperial body,” said radio commentator Rush Limbaugh. “Talk about being politically tone deaf.”

New details also began to emerge about the search, including information about a sealed court battle during which Jefferson apparently fought efforts to obtain the documents by asserting his right against self-incrimination, according to law enforcement sources.

Members of Congress insisted that they were not defending any possible wrongdoing by Jefferson, but that important constitutional principles had been violated by the raid, the first time in history that law enforcement authorities served a search warrant on a congressional office.

“No person is above the law, neither the one being investigated nor those conducting the investigation,” Hastert said Wednesday in a rare joint statement with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

Hastert and Pelosi, setting aside the partisanship that usually marks relations between Republicans and Democrats in the House, also demanded that the FBI agents involved in the search be taken off the case.

Bush political adviser Karl Rove fielded complaints over the raid during a closed-door meeting with House Republicans, according to several members present.

Lawyers for Jefferson went to court to force the return of property seized during the raid, including what they described as two boxes of paper records as well as “every record from the congressman’s personal computer.”

They said the search had violated the doctrine of separation of powers and the rights of members of Congress under the “speech and debate” clause in the Constitution, which affords protection for lawmakers in their course of performing legislative duties.

The court filing also asserted that FBI agents had broken the law by blocking efforts by Jefferson’s lawyers and the general counsel of the House to monitor the search while it was unfolding in his office.