"Those who violate the law — including a Member of Congress — should and will be held to account, this investigation will go forward, and justice will be served."

-Bush

"The fuck you say!"

-Cheney

BUSH SEALS SEIZED DOCUMENTS


President Bush ordered the Justice Department yesterday to seal records seized from the Capitol Hill office of a Democratic congressman, representing a remarkable intervention by the nation's chief executive into an ongoing criminal probe of alleged corruption.
The order was aimed at quelling an escalating constitutional confrontation between the Justice Department and the House, where Republican and Democratic leaders have demanded that the FBI return documents and copies of computer files seized from the office of Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-La.).
In a six-paragraph statement, Bush cast the dispute in historic terms and said he issued the order to give Justice Department officials and lawmakers more time to negotiate a compromise. "Our government has not faced such a dilemma in more than two centuries," Bush said. "Yet after days of discussions, it is clear these differences will require more time to be worked out."
The order capped five days of tumultuous negotiations involving the White House, the Justice Department and House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), who denounced the Saturday-night raid as an infringement on the separation of powers between the legislative and executive branches and had joined Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in demanding that the seized documents be returned.
Bush hoped to mollify Hastert, one of his most reliable legislative allies, at a time of increasingly sour relations with the GOP-controlled Congress, according to White House sources. Tempers rose so high this week that some House Republicans threatened to seek the resignation of Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales after it was revealed that his grandparents were illegal immigrants, although GOP leaders said the idea was not seriously considered.
The agreement also marked a setback for the FBI and Justice Department, which had refused demands to return the materials — and had resisted pressure from the White House to cordon them off, according to several officials familiar with the debate.
Bush signaled in his statement, however, that he expected the documents to eventually be made available to prosecutors. "Those who violate the law — including a Member of Congress — should and will be held to account," Bush said. "This investigation will go forward, and justice will be served."
The materials will be held by Solicitor General Paul D. Clement, who is not involved in the Jefferson probe, Bush's statement said.
Emerging from a House Republican meeting about the raid yesterday afternoon, Hastert said he welcomed Bush's 45-day hiatus as a cooling-off period that "gives everybody a chance to step back. I appreciate that."
In effect, Bush's order serves to grant a portion of a legal motion filed on Thursday by Jefferson, which asked that the materials seized by the FBI be locked in a secure place "to allow for full briefing and careful consideration by the court of the serious Constitutional issues and the unprecedented circumstances that give rise to this motion."
Robert P. Trout, Jefferson's attorney, called Bush's decision "a good start."
"It's not every day a lawyer has his motion granted by the president of the United States," Trout said. "We're obviously pleased with this decision."
Another potential entanglement with the FBI arose yesterday when the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call reported that federal agents are seeking to interview top House members from both parties as part of an investigation into leaks about the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program to the New York Times.
Jamal D. Ware, spokesman for the chairman of the House intelligence committee, Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.), said the effort at the moment is to determine ground rules for the interviews, "to ensure that all constitutional issues are worked out beforehand so a thorough inquiry can move forward."
In the Jefferson case, the FBI has been investigating allegations that the New Orleans Democrat took hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for using his congressional influence to promote business ventures in Africa. Two people — Brett Pfeffer and Vernon L. Jackson — have pleaded guilty to bribing Jefferson to promote iGate Inc., a Louisville-based company that was marketing Internet and cable television technology in Nigeria, Ghana and Cameroon.
Pfeffer, a former Jefferson legislative aide, is scheduled to be sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Alexandria.
Jefferson, 59, has not been charged and has denied any wrongdoing. But an 83-page affidavit used to raid his office Saturday said agents videotaped Jefferson last summer taking $100,000 in $100 denominations in bribe money. A few days later, agents found $90,000 of the money stuffed inside a freezer in his D.C. apartment.
Bush has been under heavy pressure from Hastert since Monday, when the president and the speaker appeared together at a Chicago speech, according to accounts from senior White House officials, who requested anonymity. On the ride home aboard Air Force One, Hastert was adamant that the Justice Department had violated the Constitution, and he implored the president to intervene, the sources said.
The next day, the two spoke by phone and Hastert told Bush that he and other leaders would only intensify their campaign to stop Justice from sifting through the materials seized in the weekend search, according to the accounts.
White House officials worked late into the night Wednesday and Thursday, trying to find a middle ground. One person said efforts to get the department to strike a compromise failed.
"Obviously, emotions were running high," the official said. "There was a sense of urgency."
Bush had Vice President Cheney call Hastert to inform him of his decision. The president sees the 45-day period as sufficient to resolve the constitutional questions without disrupting the Jefferson case, according to sources.
There have also been discussions between the White House and Hastert's office about possible legislation to set parameters on handling the unique situation of prosecutors seeking congressional materials, according to administration sources.
Cheney, who may soon be called to testify in the perjury case of his former chief of staff, I. "Scooter" Libby, seemed to like the idea of new legal parameters for government "higher-ups."
The negotiations angered many federal prosecutors and FBI agents, who believed that the search warrant for Jefferson's office, which was signed by Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan, was lawful and necessary because of Jefferson's refusal to comply with a subpoena issued in August.
"Some people are definitely unhappy" with Bush's order, one law enforcement official said. "But if we can bring down the rhetoric and cool off, it may be better for everyone in the end."
Gonzales said in a statement that Bush's order will "protect the integrity" of the investigation, while providing "additional time to reach a permanent solution."
Legal experts said that Bush clearly has the legal authority to direct his Justice Department to do anything lawful with regard to an ongoing investigation.