Remember when this happened back in May?
An unusual FBI raid of a Democratic congressman’s office over the weekend prompted complaints yesterday from leaders in both parties, who said the tactic was unduly aggressive and may have breached the constitutional separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches of government.
Rep. William J. Jefferson (La.), who is at the center of a 14-month investigation for allegedly accepting bribes for promoting business ventures in Africa, also held a news conference in which he denied any wrongdoing and denounced the raid on his office as an “outrageous intrusion.” Jefferson, who has not been charged, vowed to seek reelection in November.
Which was immediately followed by this, which came as a shock to many:
House Speaker Dennis Hastert demanded Wednesday that the FBI surrender documents it seized and remove agents involved in the weekend raid of Rep. William Jefferson’s office, under what lawmakers of both parties said were unconstitutional circumstances.
People wondered why Hastert was so outspoken on something that could have provided a blanket of safety on a key campaign issue – corruption. It put some of the corruption into the Democrats court, but Hastert didn’t see it that way. He was worried about the raid. No one ever knew why. Why did Hastert go against not only his own party, but also the President?
Well today we find this out:
The FBI acknowledged yesterday that it did not begin an investigation in late July after receiving copies of e-mails sent in 2005 by then-Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) to a Louisiana teenager — messages that troubled the boy’s parents.
Key House Republicans learned of the e-mails in 2005 and chose to deal with Foley privately, warning him to cease contact with the 16-year-old former House page. Top aides to Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) did not inform him about the incident, Hastert said yesterday, and he defended their actions in a Capitol Hill news conference.
So did the FBI not investigate because of Hastert’s objection to raids on Congressional offices? This should be questioned by the media.