If the reports are accurate, I have no qualms about throwing Rep. [tag]William Jefferson[/tag] under the bus.
Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-La.), the target of a 14-month public [tag]corruption[/tag] probe, was videotaped accepting $100,000 in $100 bills from a Northern Virginia investor who was wearing an FBI wire, according to a search warrant affidavit released yesterday.
A few days later, on Aug. 3, 2005, FBI agents raided Jefferson’s home in Northeast Washington and found $90,000 of the cash in the freezer, in $10,000 increments wrapped in aluminum foil and stuffed inside frozen-food containers, the document said.
The 83-page affidavit, used to raid Jefferson’s Capitol Hill office on Saturday night, portrays him as a money-hungry man who freely solicited hundreds of thousands of dollars in [tag]bribes[/tag], discussed payoffs to African officials, had a history of involvement in numerous bribery schemes and used his family to hide his interest in high-tech business ventures he promoted in Cameroon, Ghana and Nigeria.
In one instance, at an unidentified D.C. restaurant, Jefferson allegedly exchanged cryptic notes with investor Lori Mody and discussed illegal kickbacks for his children in a telecommunications venture in Nigeria in which she had invested. “All these damn notes we’re writing to each other as if we’re talking as if the FBI is watching,” he told Mody, who was wearing an FBI wire.
Over the weekend, 15 [tag]FBI[/tag] agents raided Jefferson’s Capitol Hill office — authorities said it was the first time the FBI had raided a sitting congressman’s office — and conducted an all-night search.
Of course there’s a presumption of innocence, but it’s fair to say things look really, really bad for William [tag]Jefferson[/tag]. If the [tag]bribery[/tag] charges have merit, and it appears they do, I don’t want him in our caucus; I don’t want him in our party; and I don’t expect him to get any support from Democrats anywhere.
