Frist defends raid in bribery probe

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), May 29, 2006 | by Mark Mazzetti New York Times News Service

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., the majority leader, defended on Sunday the raid by federal agents on a Democratic lawmaker's Capitol Hill office, breaking with senior House Republicans who had said the search was unconstitutional.

Frist said agents from the FBI acted appropriately when they searched the office of the lawmaker, Rep. William J. Jefferson, D- La., as part of a bribery investigation.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., criticized the raid last week and demanded that the FBI immediately return the materials from Jefferson's office. Hastert even issued a rare joint statement with Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democratic leader, saying that FBI officials had not notified them before the raid and that the search violated the constitutional principle of the separation of powers.

Frist disagreed, shifting his position from earlier in the week when he had expressed concern about the search.

"No, I don't think it abused separation of powers," said Frist, who is considering a bid for the presidency in 2008, during an appearance on "Fox News Sunday." "I think there's allegations of criminal activity, and the American people need to have the law enforced."

He said that "nobody in government should be above the law of the land, period," and that federal agents went through appropriate procedures to obtain a search warrant for Jefferson's office.

During the raid on May 20, FBI agents carried away computer records and files as part of the bureau's inquiry into whether Jefferson accepted bribes in exchange for helping set up business deals in Africa.

Ron Bonjean, a spokesman for Hastert, on Sunday reiterated the House speaker's opposition to the raid.

"Clearly there is a difference between what the congressional leadership think and what Sen. Frist thinks about what is and is not constitutional," Bonjean said.

After lawmakers angrily denounced the raid last week, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales; the FBI director, Robert S. Mueller III; and other senior law enforcement officials told associates that they were prepared to resign if the White House ordered them to relinquish the evidence seized.

Instead, President Bush ordered that all the records taken from Jefferson's office be sealed for 45 days -- an effort to ease tensions over what had been developing into a constitutional crisis.

Sen. Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate, said Sunday that the raid was the first time that the FBI had searched a congressional office. He said, however, that federal agents in the past have searched a judge's chambers.

"So it appears that there's been some precedent for this," said Durbin, who also appeared on "Fox News Sunday."

Both Frist and Durbin said the Senate should begin examining the exact authorities the executive branch has to carry out such searches, to reduce the chances of another constitutional dispute quarrel. And Bonjean said House leaders were working with the Justice Department to determine proper procedures for any future searches.

Some House Republicans have not backed off their opposition to the FBI raid. Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., R-Wis., who is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said Sunday that Congress must be able to do its job "free of coercion from the executive branch."

"I don't think that it would be right for a House committee to issue a subpoena to the president's office and send the Capitol Police rummaging through files, taking everything, and then deciding what wasn't relevant by themselves and returning it to the president," said Sensenbrenner, appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Sensenbrenner's committee plans to conduct a hearing this week about the constitutionality of the FBI search.