Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.), indicted yesterday on 16 counts, including racketeering, soliciting bribes, and obstruction of justice, is under increasing pressure to resign from Congress. Yesterday, Rep. Steve Kagen (D-Wis.) called on him to “consider resigning for the good of Congress and for the good of the nation.”
Jefferson hasn’t agreed, but in the meantime, he’s voluntarily giving up some power.
A Democratic congressional aide tells ThinkProgress that Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) has informed Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) by letter that he is “temporarily” stepping down from his only committee assignment, on the Small Business Committee, until his legal matter is resolved. It’s not clear whether he was pressured to voluntarily give up his seat.
Yesterday, Jefferson was indicted on 16 charges, including racketeering, solicitation of bribes, honest services wire fraud, money laundering, obstruction of justice, violating the foreign corrupt practices act, and conspiracy.
It’s not enough, but it’s a start.
As for other Jefferson-related headlines, there’s actually quite a few interesting stories to note. For example, Fox News ran a report on Jefferson’s indictment — and showed a clip of Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, who is also an African-American lawmaker. As Jill noted, the Fox News footage showed Conyers at a recent Alberto Gonzales hearing, walking by a Gonzales protestor holding up a pink sign that read, “Resign.” (Note to the Congressional Black Caucus Institute: wouldn’t now be a good time to revisit that partnership with FNC?)
Also, Dana Milbank had a very funny piece in the WaPo this morning about Gonzales’ Justice Department announcing Jefferson’s indictment — but going out of its way to steer clear of potential criticisms about politicization.
Justice Department officials yesterday unveiled corruption charges that could land the Louisiana Democrat in prison for 235 years. But in their news conference on the seventh floor of the department, the officials found themselves laboring to escape the image of politicization that a months-long scandal over Gonzales’s hiring and firing of prosecutors has given the department.
Chuck Rosenberg, the U.S. attorney prosecuting the case, felt it necessary to announce that a “thoroughly professional investigation” had been conducted by “career prosecutors.”
Joseph Persichini, from the FBI’s Washington field office, went out of his way to praise the “career attorneys” who “represent the essence of professionalism.”
Justice officials crowded the dais with so many of these professional careerists that the 12th one in the back row had to stand sideways to fit on the stage. Gonzales had the good sense not to appear at yesterday’s rollout of the Jefferson case.
Good move.
As for congressional Republicans, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) moved quickly to force the expulsion of Jefferson from Congress. I don’t necessarily disagree with the sentiment, but if Boehner applied similar standards to Republicans, I might be able to take him a little more seriously.