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House calls in AG, FBI boss over search

The squabble over the search of a Democrat's office heats up, as a House committee leader demands an explanation.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published May 31, 2006

WASHINGTON - Republican Rep. James Sensenbrenner said Tuesday he will summon Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and FBI director Robert Mueller before his House panel to testify about their decision to search a lawmaker's office.

"I want to have Attorney General Gonzales and FBI director Mueller up here to tell us how they reached the conclusion they did," said Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican.

Gonzales has said the search of Rep. William Jefferson's offices was legal and necessary because the Louisiana Democrat had not cooperated with investigators' efforts to gain access to evidence in a bribery investigation. An affidavit on which the search warrant was based said investigators found $90,000 stashed in the freezer of Jefferson's house.

"We would certainly consider a request for a hearing if one were to be made," said Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse. "We also hope that Congress recognizes it would be inappropriate for a federal official to discuss the specific details of an ongoing criminal investigation in a public hearing."

Even as Sensenbrenner, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, announced his hard line on the administration, congressional and Justice Department lawyers were working behind the scenes to meet on guidelines for any future searches. Several investigations are in progress that involve members of Congress, including an influence-peddling investigation centered on convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Elsewhere in Congress, lawmakers who had once criticized the May 20 search of Jefferson's office were backing off. Still others of both parties defended the search, saying an affidavit outlined charges that Jefferson accepted bribes in exchange for his support of business dealings in Africa.

"I am extremely disappointed that some in this body, including the speaker and the minority leader, feel that somehow our actions are sacrosanct and above public scrutiny," said Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, R-Brooksville. "Congress is hiding behind a shield that is not available to the average American."

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., over the weekend backed off his statement of concern over the matter after meeting Friday with Gonzales. Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., said there was precedent for one branch of government searching the quarters of another in a criminal investigation.

No one defended Jefferson. He has denied wrongdoing.

The Justice Department filed court papers Tuesday opposing the congressman's demand that property seized in the office raid be returned. Such a step would be "fundamentally inconsistent with the bedrock principle that 'the laws of this country allow no place or employment as a sanctuary for crime,' " the papers said, quoting language from a Supreme Court case nearly a century old.

Back on Capitol Hill, Sensenbrenner signaled that he would not be joining those who had softened their criticism of the raid and in fact planned two more hearings on the subject.

One of those hearings, Sensenbrenner said, would include Gonzales and Mueller.

"They didn't get it right this time," Sensenbrenner said during the first session, titled "Reckless Justice: Did the Saturday Night Raid of Congress Trample the Constitution?"

[Last modified May 31, 2006, 05:25:59]