Jefferson Case One of Firsts

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TPMm Reader JS writes in:

I have been struck by how differently the alleged bribery of Rep. Jefferson has been handled than, say, the Duke Cunningham bribery scandal.

Is there even a precedent for a congressional office to be searched?

The FBI’s raid of Jefferson’s Congressional office is a remarkable development – without precedent, it seems. Here’s Roll Call yesterday:

This is believed to be the first-ever FBI raid on a Congressional office…..

The FBI affidavit states that agents adopted “special procedures” to assure that “potentially politically sensitive, non-responsive items in the Office” would not be seized. The procedures included using FBI agents “who have no substantive role” in the investigation, referred to as “non-case agents.”

A “Filter Team” made up of lawyers from the U.S. Attorney’s office in Alexandria, Va., and the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Fraud Section, as well as an FBI special agent, will sift through any documents seized. If any are found to be non-germane to the probe, they will be returned to Jefferson’s office within 10 business days.

The “Filter Team” will also review the other documents to make sure they do not fall under the Constitution’s Speech or Debate clause — the Congressional privilege that protects lawmakers and staffers from being charged with criminal acts for conducting official legislative business. Jefferson’s lawyer will be given a list of documents that may meet that privilege, and prosecutors will not be informed of their contents. A federal judge will then review them for admissibility in any prosecution of Jefferson.

On the first point – whether Jefferson’s case has been handled any differently from Cunningham’s – I’d keep in mind that Cunningham gave in and pled guilty a mere five months after the FBI had opened their case. The FBI has been investigating Jefferson since March of 2005, and after flirting with the idea of a plea deal, Jefferson has clearly decided to fight prosecutors tooth and nail. If Duke had stood his ground, we might have eventually been treated to the same show.

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