Posted on 10/13/2006 4:12:42 PM PDT by dogbyte12
WASHINGTON - The Justice Department is investigating whether Republican Rep. Curt Weldon of Pennsylvania traded his political influence for lucrative lobbying and consulting contracts for his daughter, according to sources with direct knowledge of the inquiry.
The FBI, which opened an investigation in recent months, has formally referred the matter to the department's Public Integrity Section for additional scrutiny. At issue are Weldon's efforts between 2002 and 2004 to aid two Russian companies and two Serbian brothers with ties to strongman Slobodan Milosevic, a federal law enforcement official said.
The Russian companies and a Serbian foundation run by the brothers' family each hired a firm co-owned by Weldon's daughter, Karen, for fees totaling nearly $1 million a year, public records show.
Karen Weldon was 28 and lacked consulting experience when she and Charles Sexton, a Weldon ally and longtime Republican leader in Delaware County, Pa., created the firm of Solutions North America Inc. in 2002. Both are registered with the Justice Department as representatives of foreign clients.
Word of the inquiry, which has been closely held within the Justice Department and the FBI, comes from two individuals with specific knowledge of the existence of the investigation. They both declined to be identified because of the confidentiality of criminal investigations.
(Excerpt) Read more at realcities.com ...
unreal. just unreal.
this is the "cabal" moving for the final takedown of Weldon because of able danger and Sandy Berger.
we win elections, we have control of the executive branch - it means nothing. nothing.
Able Danger is right. That is what this is about.
The George Bush "Justice" Department is truly a left-wing organization, hell-bent on defeating the GOP this election cycle.
I like Curt Weldon. He is a patriot. I bet these charges are probably just that, charges.
being a-holes has nothing to do with it - these leakers, the people behind them, know exactly what they are doing.
The Justice Department must be stopped before they destroy the GOP chances in 2006.
You need to add more tinfoil.
Able Danger was my first thought.
The FBI is badly broken. I'm beginning to think that Bush doesn't give a damn about fixing it.
There are holdovers from Clinton. You don't think the career libs there were the ones who leaked this?
two FBI/DOJ agents "They both declined to be identified because of the confidentiality of criminal investigations."
In other words because they are breaking the law by leaking the info.
Weldon was down in the polls as it is -- this curiously-timed leak may well make add this race to the ranks of AZ-8 and FL-16 in the unwinnable column. I hope somebody investigates the FBI on this.
its because this administration refuses to clean house and reform these executive agencies - state, CIA, DOJ, DoD - full of "moles" with liberal agendas.
They will investigate everyone except Hillary.
its too late to stop them now. they merely need to make allegations to destroy people.
think about it, they are going after people as low level as jeanine pirro over her husband.
The lefts payback for the Able Danger investigations was my first thought as well.
These leakers blew this investigation among other things. Just assume he or his daughter were guilty of something, and they were being secretly investigated. Or the guys who paid the money were guilty. To go after Weldon, they gave anybody time to shred documents or whatever. They decided the hit on Weldon was more important than the secrecy of the investigation. They need to be fired.
Dems and Repubs are a mutual protection society.
The Justice Dept. has thousand's of employees and a lot of civil servants from the clinton era.
This a leak by two of them to do damage to Weldon, over what looks like a routine investigation. This isn't Geroge Bush's fault, as much as you hope it is.
this is what john dean has been doing for past few months
They need firing though. Pronto.
Yuh know with a govt. union that ain't exactly easy to do.
Its going to be a bumpy three weeks until election day...
Next week there will be another surprise.
I don't give a crap how hard it is. You don't leak on any investigation like this no matter what. It screws up any prosecution case like I said. You also don't leak it on October 13th in an even year unless you are doing it for politics.
They are upset about Able Danger. It was a political leak. They hate Bush so much, and Weldon so much that they would do this lawbreaking. They don't need to be employed by my government.
This has nothing to do with Able Danger....this is the Clinton/Dem War Room in action..
Where is Chris Lehane?
This has Clinton's stench all over it.
You and I seem to be the only ones who smell the pantsuit and her henchman..
Not to mention the State Dept., the CIA, etc. and so on.
When is the FBI going to investigate Chinagate?
Well they "leaked" it, what are you going to do have every employee have a GPS monitor on them.
It's times like these you malcontents lose focus and blame the people who are not the ones selectively leaking for political gain, and don't follow the path of those(leakers, press) who are doing this for selective political gain.
This wouldn't be hard though. How many people were actually involved in this investigation. The paper got two of them to talk. I bet the FBI "knows" at least one of em. Hook em up to a polygraph.
I wonder what it would take to get these "FBI" guys to "investigate" a DemocRAT.
What distresses me is the GOP's complete inability or unwillingness to fight back. We just roll over and allow ourselves to get kicked in the gut, over, and over, and over, and over again. It's frankly pathetic.
I smell Clintonistas at work, and the smell is overwhelming. Why don't Bill and Hillary and their cohorts just take a nice long hike.
Clinton converted them all to Civil Service just before he left office, so GWB wouldn't be able to fire them.
"They both declined to be identified because of the confidentiality of criminal investigations."
Does the author of this realize the stupidity of this sentence? Investigations are supposed to be confidential, so the leakers don't want to be identified as leakers. I'll bet the leakers expect to move up in the Hillary Administration.
Traficant also made the mistake in selection of toupees too ;)
I miss the old moonbat. He was entertaining.
And he was also a better conservative than about 98% of the so called conservatives with an "R" in front of their names.
"unreal. just unreal."
I have to agree with you. This is true dirty politics, Washington style. My guess is that two Democrats within the FBI peddled this story to "friendly" journalists.
In 2004, The Los Angeles Times published a lengthy report that described the meteoric rise of Solutions North America, the consulting firm set up by Karen Weldon and Sexton.
The Times tracked Weldon's parallel efforts on behalf of the firm's three foreign clients, quoting Weldon and his top aide as denying any impropriety.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a Democratic-leaning watchdog group, responded to the report by calling on the House ethics committee and Attorney General John Ashcroft to open investigations
BTW, my2cents how does one fight back against a hostile press that will twist every word to push their liberal agenda.
He doesnt need tinfoil , he is right spot-on.
George Bush's biggest mistake when he took office was allowing Clintonista's to stay on at CIA, FBI IRS and the State Department.
He has been catching this knife in the back ever since.
This Poster doesnt need tin foil, You need to wake up and smell the Roses.
CREW is involved?
I am shocked. Does that mean there is gambling going on here too?
You bypass them is how....you go directly to the American people.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.