New info out on William Jefferson - U.S. Politics Online: A Political Discussion Forum

Mrs. M · #1 (**permalink**) 12-31-2007

It looks like Jefferson's goose is cooked! I still don't understand why he was re-elected except for the fact that many people out of laziness tend to vote for the incumbent. Overall though, this is just one more story of just one more crooked and stupid Louisiana politician.

Quote:

FBI used subtle tack with Jefferson
by Bill Walsh, Washington bureau
Sunday December 30, 2007, 8:49 PM

WASHINGTON -- When the FBI came calling at Rep. William Jefferson's house, they didn't bring a battering ram. They didn't need to. He opened the door right up and, according to the agents, welcomed them inside.

The ensuing two-hour conversation and the subsequent daylong search of Jefferson's home in August 2005 is the subject of pretrial legal wrangling in the public corruption case against the nine-term New Orleans Democrat.

Details that have emerged in court over the past two weeks provide the fullest look yet of the first encounter between Jefferson and the FBI agents, details of which the congressman is now trying to keep from the eyes and ears of the jury that will hear his case, scheduled to start in February.

By the time agents stepped onto the porch of his Uptown home Aug. 3, 2005, the FBI knew plenty about Jefferson's business ventures in West Africa that would form the basis of the case against him. For six months, Jefferson had been under investigation and in that time the FBI had surreptitiously taped 28 conversations he had with a confidential informant, Lori Mody. Agents also had filmed him accepting from Mody a briefcase full of cash, much of which later turned up in a freezer of his second home on Capitol Hill.

The idea, though, wasn't to confront Jefferson with the volume of evidence they had collected. Instead, they employed a deft touch to draw him out, likely explaining why the veteran lawyer and lawmaker agreed to talk to them in the first place.

"We had a lot of information," Tim Thibault, the lead agent, testified recently in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., where the case is being heard. "What we were trying to do is assess whether he would be truthful with us before we disclosed the information we had."

A familiar face

Even the knock on the door was thought out in advance. That assignment fell to James Bernazzani, the special agent in charge of the New Orleans field office. Bernazzani had what no one else in the local FBI had: a face familiar to the congressman.

The two had met in Jefferson's Capitol Hill office in spring 2005 when Bernazzani, a plain-spoken Boston native, was appointed to take over the FBI's New Orleans operation. Unbeknownst to Jefferson, when he shook Bernazzani's hand to congratulate him on the new post, the congressman already had been under investigation for at least two months.

Bernazzani told the court that he initiated the face-to-face with Jefferson at his New Orleans home to put the congressman at ease. It was early, 7 a.m., and most people would be wary of opening their doors at that hour, he said.

"This is New Orleans," Bernazzani said. "New Orleans can be a dangerous place."

Jefferson evidently had no idea how much legal danger he was about to get himself into. How could he have known that when he invited the FBI in for a chat a team of agents was positioned down the block, hidden from sight and ready to swarm his home to conduct a floor-to-ceiling search?

"I said, 'Do you have time to speak to a couple of my agents? They want to talk to you,'Â¤" Bernazzani said. "He said fine .Â¤.Â¤. He was very gracious, very accommodating."

Bernazzani had nothing but kind words for the congressman.

"He was a gentleman. He's always a gentleman," the agent said.

Living room chat

With Jefferson's acquiescence, Bernazzani waved two other agents up from the street, introduced them to the congressman and left the Marengo Street house. Jefferson ushered agents Thibault and Daniel Evans into his living room and they all sat down.

Jefferson's attorneys have suggested that the FBI showed up early in the morning to catch the congressman off-guard. Dressed in khaki trousers, a T-shirt and with no shoes, he looked as if he had just rolled out of bed.

Thibault said the early hour was chosen because he wanted to be sure Jefferson was home and he knew the search would take much of the day.

But, when Thibault took his seat across from Jefferson that morning, he appeared to be in no rush to start the search. He let the search team cool their heels down the block. He didn't even mention to Jefferson that he had a search warrant.

Thibault held back other information that would have alarmed Jefferson. It would be more than two hours before he showed him the recording of the secretly filmed briefcase exchange. And the fact that Jefferson was under investigation didn't come up until the DVD left little doubt in the congressman's mind.

Instead, Thibault said, he asked Jefferson about his dealings in West Africa, his financial interests in a Nigerian company, his association with a Kentucky telecommunications executive who was seeking contracts overseas. Thibault didn't confront Jefferson when he thought the congressman was being evasive or lying, although he recounted several instances later in court.

If the congressman was spooked by all of the questions, he apparently didn't show it. Evans, the other agent, described the conversation as "very cordial, nonconfrontational, pleasant." At one point Jefferson got up to take a phone call and came back to resume the discussion, the agents said.

What may have seemed like pleasant chit-chat to the FBI was viewed very differently by Jefferson, according to court papers his attorneys have filed. They assert that Jefferson felt like a prisoner in his own home, even followed at one point to the bathroom when he excused himself to go.

Jefferson is trying to get the contents of the interview thrown out, saying that he wasn't advised of his constitutional right to keep quiet or consult an attorney, raising legal questions about when someone is considered to be "in custody." The government said it never administered so-called Miranda warnings because Jefferson was never under arrest.

It's no surprise Jefferson is hoping to keep the encounter under wraps. The soft touch appeared to work well for the FBI.

Thibault learned from Jefferson the name of a businessman, James Creaghan, who later would become a second confidential informant and introduce the government to Jefferson business dealings they didn't know about. The congressman also acknowledged, according to Thibault, receiving $7,500 a month from the Kentucky telecom firm iGate, whose activities would form the core of the government's case.

'That was FBI money'

Most damaging of all for Jefferson were the comments he made toward the end of the interview. When Thibault finally asked Jefferson about the $100,000 he had received a few days earlier, Jefferson grew visibly alarmed for the first time, he said.

"I asked him where my money was," Thibault told the court.

"He said, 'Your money?'Â¤"

"That was FBI money," the agent said he told a startled Jefferson.

"Â¤'I think I better stop talking to you boys now,'Â¤" Thibault said Jefferson replied.

That's when the agents pulled out a DVD of the cash exchange in a northern Virginia parking garage and played it for the congressman. After watching it, Jefferson slouched back into the couch, the agents said, and muttered, "What a waste." They said he asked whether there was any way to keep it quiet to save his reputation.

Jefferson has not yet taken the stand to explain what he meant or why he consented to a discussion with the FBI without his own attorney present. He is expected to testify when the hearing resumes Jan. 16. He had to know he was taking a risk. Among numerous others, former Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Brown was convicted in 2000 of lying to the FBI in just such a discussion with agents.

Legal experts say that the FBI doesn't have to be upfront with suspects and often isn't, to gain a strategic upper hand in an investigation.

"By hiding all of that information and making it seem like a casual conversation, they can claim he wasn't in custody and he can't make any realistic claim about constitutionality," said Joshua Dressler, an Ohio State University legal scholar and author of several volumes on criminal procedure. "They are under no obligation to show him their cards."

The court is expected to decide in late January whether they went too far.

Bill Walsh can be reached at bill.walsh@newhouse.com or (202) 383-7817.

FBI used subtle tack with Jefferson - New Orleans News - NOLA.com

O'Sullivan Bere · #2 (**permalink**) 12-31-2007

It is ridiculous how he got re-elected with the scandal well known. The Dems even nominated someone else to run as their endorsed candidate and he still won. The locals deserve him, but the rest of the nation doesn't. I just wish that Congress would get on with impeaching him. There is no question of actual guilt in my mind or others. Rep. Boehner (R-OH) has the impeachment papers supposedly readied and it has had bipartisan support. They should get on with it instead of dawdling.

goober · #3 (**permalink**) 12-31-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by O'Sullivan Bere

It is ridiculous how he got re-elected with the scandal well known. The Dems even nominated someone else to run as their endorsed candidate and he still won. The locals deserve him, but the rest of the nation doesn't. I just wish that Congress would get on with impeaching him. There is no question of actual guilt in my mind or others. Rep. Boehner (R-OH) has the impeachment papers supposedly readied and it has had bipartisan support. They should get on with it instead of dawdling.

No one gets impeached until their court case gets settled.
And then they resign to avoid the inevitable, or use their resignation to reduce the sentence.
As an attorney, wouldn't you advise your client to hold onto his seat, in hopes of using it as a chip in a plea bargain?

O'Sullivan Bere · #4 (**permalink**) 12-31-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by goober

No one gets impeached until their court case gets settled.
And then they resign to avoid the inevitable, or use their resignation to reduce the sentence.
As an attorney, wouldn't you advise your client to hold onto his seat, in hopes of using it as a chip in a plea bargain?

If I was his attorney, I would advise him to take that course of action. But, I'm not. Speaking as an ordinary citizen in this case, I want him out ASAP as I would any corrupt official. Impeachment is not dependent on a conviction preceding it.

Mrs. M · #5 (**permalink**) 01-01-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by O'Sullivan Bere

It is ridiculous how he got re-elected with the scandal well known. The Dems even nominated someone else to run as their endorsed candidate and he still won. The locals deserve him, but the rest of the nation doesn't. I just wish that Congress would get on with impeaching him. There is no question of actual guilt in my mind or others. Rep. Boehner (R-OH) has the impeachment papers supposedly readied and it has had bipartisan support. They should get on with it instead of dawdling.

Unfortunately, the election was another case of Louisiana at its worse. Karen Carter had the support of the Dems but the late Sheriff Harry Lee made sure she wasn't elected. He was still fuming over remarks she made post-Katrina about Lee not allowing evacuees from N.O. to cross the bridge into Jefferson Parish. He had a right to be mad but IMO, it was a private feud and he shouldn't have used it to put Jefferson back in Congress when he had to have known, just like the rest of us, that Jefferson is guilty.

flyingnurse6 · #6 (**permalink**) 01-16-2008

And why has his investigation taken SO long ! huh

AjaxPress · #7 (**permalink**) 01-18-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by flyingnurse6

And why has his investigation taken SO long ! huh

Well Gonzo was too busy trying to dream up ways to disenfranchise voters to uphold the law, and the new guy is reading up on "Prosecution For Dummies".

CYDdharta · #8 (**permalink**) 01-30-2008

Mrs. M, I'm curious; which candidate is William Jefferson endorsing?

EAL · #9 (**permalink**) 01-30-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mrs. M

It looks like Jefferson's goose is cooked! I still don't understand why he was re-elected except for the fact that many people out of laziness tend to vote for the incumbent. Overall though, this is just one more story of just one more crooked and stupid Louisiana politician.

Let's just call a sp...., er, no, that would be a bad choice of words. He didn't get elected because he was the incumbant, he got elected for the same reason people applauded when the mayor of New Orleans was blabbing about a chocolate city.

goober · #10 (**permalink**) 04-09-2008

So so two years after they found the the money in the refrigerator, the guy is still a congressman, and he only has eight months left of the term he was elected to "under a cloud of suspicion".

Does this indicate that there is a problem with the prosecution's case?
Shouldn't the wheels of justice spin a little faster than that?

More to the point, is he running again?

MattLarson · #11 (**permalink**) 04-09-2008

It is nice to see "the most open and ethical Congress in history" is working diligently to purge corruption from Capitol Hill.

soot · #12 (**permalink**) 04-09-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by EAL

Let's just call a sp...., er, no, that would be a bad choice of words. He didn't get elected because he was the incumbant, he got elected for the same reason people applauded when the mayor of New Orleans was blabbing about a chocolate city.

I call foul sir!!!

I don't think your comments have any place in our politics or in a democracy. They are divisive. I think anybody who understands the history of this country knows they are patently absurd!!!

Si modo · #13 (**permalink**) 04-09-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by soot

I call foul sir!!!

I don't think your comments have any place in our politics or in a democracy. They are divisive. I think anybody who understands the history of this country knows they are patently absurd!!!

Ya know, I never understood that post until now.

Divisiveness indeed.

Mrs. M · #14 (**permalink**) 04-09-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by EAL

Let's just call a sp...., er, no, that would be a bad choice of words. He didn't get elected because he was the incumbant, he got elected for the same reason people applauded when the mayor of New Orleans was blabbing about a chocolate city.

See post #5. Karen Carter, a Democrat was running against Jefferson and she's a black woman. Dirty politics entered the picture though...

AjaxPress · #15 (**permalink**) 04-09-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mrs. M

See post #5. Karen Carter, a Democrat was running against Jefferson and she's a black woman. Dirty politics entered the picture though...

Was she smeared for having a blaq baby?

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