This must be breaking news, because up until this point, the news I have read or heard regarding the FBI involvement was that the FBI decided there was not enough evidence to even open an investigation.
CBS News, Early Show, did not attribute this claim to any given source, at least from what I heard. I have ordered the transcript and should have it by e-mail today. I will add the relevant excerpts to this post as soon as available.
Given the source, CBS, I am extremely doubtful of the truth of this "news".
First, the story did not identify the source of this claim.
Second, the story did not identify which "Republican Leaders" allegedly told the FBI not to investigate, and that they would "Take care of it themselves."
Third, this story conflicts with other news that indicates the FBI did not open an investigation because there was not enough evidence.
Fourth, and maybe most importantly, I am not aware of any authority that anyone in Congress would have to tell the FBI not to investigate something because they would "handle it themselves."
This stinks to High Heaven. If this turns out to be completely untrue and unsupported, what exactly can be done to CBS for airing this type of intentionally false slander?
If it's true, then it positively is breaking news.
On the other hand, if this is true, then say goodbye to the Republican control of either house.
Yes, why would the FBI defer the investigation to the republicans in the House. This doesn't right.
This whole mess seems like a Dan Rather stunt.
Is Brian Ross trying to take his place in the "fake but accurate" department?
Way I heard it was it was brought to Republican leadership attention and they took it to the FBI.
But I wouldn't put it past the MSM to lie to the public in the wee hours when people sleep in front of the television and take in reports subconsciously.
Yawn. The party that doesn't want our government to scan telephone numbers for contacts with known or suspected terrorists is demanding that Hastert read each and every e-mail and IM sent by any Republican. Hypocrisy, thy name is Democrat.
Plus, the story makes no sense in the timeline. Wasn't the action by the republicans taken last november, when the e-mails first surfaced? Why would they say they would "take care of it" this July?
Why would the FBI stop an investigation just because some CongressWeenie says so?
I don't think this is the sort of thing republicans would try to bury. Maybe some of the scum in florida, but not in general.
Since it came from CBS ( Catching all Bull *hit) I don't believe a word of it....
Another Blather report: "Republicans are the dirt of the earth, and libs fly in the sky" kind of crap....
You mean like publishing forged Texas Air National Guard documents about President Bush during a re-election campaign.
Its known as SeeBS for a reason........
The MSM mixes these to confuse the issue. We here at Free Republic need to be clear.
Must be gospel truth!
I would not be surprised if this is why the Wash Times has asked for Hastert's legislation. Everyone thought that this was too early for the Democrats to spill but it might be because there is more news to come.
We will see what happens.
Possibility; FBI said there was not enough to file charges and the GOP leadership said that in that case they will handle it internally.
We will see what happens.
Should have said "resignation."
Ping...
THis definitely doesn't make sense. The e-mails came to light in the fall of 2005. That's when the republicans "dealt" with this issue, and considered the matter closed.
There is no reason that the FBI would have been told in July of 2006 that the republicans "would handle it". If the story said the republicans said they had already "handled it", it might have a modicum of credibility.
An anonymous FBI source is on record as saying that the original e-mail just didn't look criminal. There's no reason to believe there is more to it than that, especially since newspapers found the same thing, nothing to report about.
BUT, this is another example of someone sending this information to people to get some traction. WHO SENT THE E-MAIL to the FBI? It wasn't the republicans, who dealt with it in 2005. It wasn't the page who got the e-mail, he didn't want anything to do with the story. So it must have been someone else who wanted to cause trouble.