FBI Raids (CA Rep. John) Doolittle's Home

Roll Call ^ | 4/18/2007 | Roll Call

[Alter Kaker]

FBI Raids Doolittle's Home: The FBI has raided the Northern Virginia home of Rep. John Doolittle (R-Calif.), according to Congressional sources. No details are publicly available yet about the circumstances of the raid, but Doolittle and his wife, Julie, have been under federal investigation for their ties to the scandal surrounding imprisoned former lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

[Alter Kaker]

This is all there is at the moment, just a notice on Roll Call's front page.

[pennboricua]

This they will hammer to death, 90,000.00 dollars in cold cash they will ignore.

[AndyTheBear]

If they find any bribe money stashed in the freezer, maybe Pelosi will nominate him for an important cabinet position.

[blam]

Anyone know what’s going on with the ‘Culture Of Corruption’ William Jefferson? Does he get off because he’s Black or because he’s a Democrat?

[Alter Kaker]

Anyone know what’s going on with the ‘Culture Of Corruption’ William Jefferson? Does he get off because he’s Black or because he’s a Democrat?

Has he gotten off? I thought the FBI investigation was still ongoing, but I haven't followed the story.

[dogbyte12]

I have read a bit of the backstory in the past. I am not sure if what he and his wife did was legal, it wasn’t ethical though.

The deal was is that his wife, who had no experience in the field, was hired on as a “fundraiser” for him. She would get 15% cut as her fee for all his campaign contributions. So if he raised $1,000,000 for his campaign, $150,000 would stay at home with them.

[Clintonfatigued]

JOHN DOOLITTLE FOR RETIREMENT!!!!!!

[Suzy Quzy]

WHY ISN”T WILLIAM JEFFERSON INDICTED!!!!!!! These G-MEN MAKE ME SICK!!

[top 2 toe red]

He KNEW he was immune...two passes neatly tucked away.

[Just another Joe]

Does he get off because he’s Black or because he’s a Democrat?

Yes.

[Mo1]

FYI ping

[sgtbono2002]

Dont pay too much attention to this its just the Clinton Justice Department working for the Dems and doing dirty work for them.

I remember when they arrested Curt Weldons daughter a few days before election found nothing and helped Weldon lose the election.

[ReleaseTheHounds]

Wasn’t the Dem congressman from California (who was accused of being involved with that girl/intern who went missing in DC) doing the same thing — both kids and the wife working on the campaign fund-raising for a cut? Isn’t Romney offering his college-age supporters a similar deal?

[Labyrinthos]

Has he gotten off? I thought the FBI investigation was still ongoing, but I haven't followed the story.

I think they are waiting for a court decision on whether the initial seizure of the evidence from Jefferson violated the seperation of powers or something like that.

[RJL]

FBI Raids Doolittle's Home: The FBI has raided the Northern Virginia home of Rep. John Doolittle (R-Calif.), according to Congressional sources.

Remember Speaker Hastert claiming Congress was above the law when they raided Democrat William Jefferson's office?

Hold your breath, any minute now Nancy Pelosi will come out in support of Doolittle and decrying this FBI raid...

/S

[saganite]

Bet this guy goes to prison long before Gongressman Jefferson, Democrat La. gets indicted.

[ElkGroveDan]

I have read a bit of the backstory in the past. I am not sure if what he and his wife did was legal, it wasn’t ethical though. The deal was is that his wife, who had no experience in the field, was hired on as a “fundraiser” for him. She would get 15% cut as her fee for all his campaign contributions. So if he raised $1,000,000 for his campaign, $150,000 would stay at home with them.

Do you realize how COMMON this practice is?

[sergeantdave]

Does this mean the FBI is getting close to Feinstein’s house? I bet the Feinsteins had a barbecue last wekend using documents to cook the steak and lobster.

[ElkGroveDan]

Bet this guy goes to prison long before Gongressman Jefferson, Democrat La. gets indicted.

Why would you make such a bet? Do you know anything about him? How could someone be sent to prison unless they committed a serious crime? Are you aware of any shred of evidence that he has committed a crime? No? Neither am I.

[saganite]

I’m pretty sure you know that doesn’t mean a damn thing. How could you be naive enough to suggest justice will prevail after what happened to Libby. Even in the off chance the guy doesn’t wind up in jail they’ve effectively ruined his political career which is probably the secondary aim anyway.

[fieldmarshaldj]

When they planning on raiding Harry Reid’s home ? He was Abramoff’s best rodent friend on the Hill.

[VaBthang4]

Get’em.

[Sir_Ed]

So...can this be called the Doolittle Raid?!

Ed

[AuH2ORepublican]

“JOHN DOOLITTLE FOR RETIREMENT!!!!!!”

---

Amen. Her won with only 49% or so despite sitting in one of the most Republican districts in California. Any other Republican could hold the seat easily, amd I’m sure that there are plenty of solid conservatives in the area who could do a good job in Congress. Rico Oller ran second in the GOP primary in the next-door CA-03 a few years ago; if he represents part of this district in the state senate, he’d be a great candidate.

[sergeantdave]

We have to remember, too, that people who go into government do so because they believe in great big government.

Government is the solution to all problems in the minds of government employees. So naturally politcians who support big government would be immune from harassment by government employees; thus, $100,000 in a freezer is no problem to the FBI and attorney general employees who will protect big governmemt supporters.

Now conservatives and private property owners, they are a problem for big government. Anyone who thinks independently or supports individual freedom over the big government collective is a problem for the bureaucrat who thinks the purpose of big governmenmt is to make the world safe for big government, and the bureaucrat’s obscene pension.

So nailing this congressman and allowing Jefferson, Feinstein and Schumer to skate should not surprise us. They are part of the criminal fascist syndicate occupying Washington.

If I were Bush, heads would be flying in the executive bureaucrat branch. But I’m not, so the American public will be forced to watch this clown show.

[Alter Kaker]

So...can this be called the Doolittle Raid?!

As I recall, John Doolittle is a (distant) relative of Jimmy Doolittle's.

[Alter Kaker]

Abramoff-Linked Lobbyist Resigns

By: Josephine Hearn
April 16, 2007 01:07 PM EST

Kevin Ring pleads the Fifth Amendment and refuses to answer questions on Capitol Hill during a hearing of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee in Washington.

Photo by AP

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Amid reports the Justice Department is investigating ties between Rep. John Doolittle (R-Calif.) and jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff, a key link between the two, Kevin A. Ring, has abruptly resigned from his law firm.

Ring tendered his resignation from Indianapolis-based law firm Barnes & Thornburg, effective Friday, confirmed the managing partner of the firm’s Washington office, Richard H. Streeter. Ring had no immediate plans to join another firm, a source close to the issue said.

Ring, 36, was an aide to Doolittle for five years and later worked for Abramoff at Florida-based law firm Greenberg Traurig. He often served as an intermediary between Abramoff’s clients and Doolittle’s office, according to news reports, and has remained close to Doolittle and his wife, Julie, who did consulting work for Abramoff.

Doolittle’s chief of staff, Richard Robinson, said the congressman was “not aware of the specific reason” behind Ring’s resignation. “But as a close friend and former employee, Kevin remains in the Doolittles’ thoughts and prayers,” Robinson said.

Asked about reports in The Washington Post that the Justice Department was looking at Doolittle as part of the Abramoff corruption inquiry, Robinson said, “It is my understanding that Congressman Doolittle is not the target of a Department of Justice investigation.”

Ring’s lawyer, Richard A. Hibey at Miller & Chevalier, did not return telephone calls for comment. A Justice Department spokesman, Bryan Sierra, had no comment.

Ring’s resignation could foreshadow deepening problems for Doolittle in the Abramoff inquiry.

“It’s typical prosecutorial methodology to work their way up the ladder, put pressure on underlings, cut a deal with them to save their skin and to bring in the bigger fish,” said Kenneth A. Gross, an ethics expert at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

Doolittle, according to news reports, helped direct appropriations to Abramoff’s clients, weighed in on their behalf in disputes, used Abramoff’s skybox for a fundraiser, received over $130,000 in political donations from Abramoff, his clients and associates.

In last fall’s election campaign, Democrat Charlie Brown charged that Doolittle was part of a Republican “culture of corruption.” But the congressman was reelected with 49 percent of the vote.

Ring is the second former Abramoff associate to leave Barnes & Thornburg. Neil Volz resigned in January, 2006, shortly after he was named as “Staffer B” in Abramoff’s plea agreement with federal prosecutors. Volz later pleaded guilty and cooperated with prosecutors in securing a guilty plea from his former boss, then-Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio), who is now serving time in a federal prison in Morgantown, W.V. Abramoff  is incarcerated in a federal prison in Cumberland, Md.

“This is very much like the conversations that were being had when the early indictments came around Bob Ney,” said Marc Erik Elias, an ethics and campaign finance lawyer at Perkins Coie. “He said, ‘Not me, not me, not me,’ but when people who worked for you are getting indicted and the condition for the plea is that they cooperate against you, you know you’re in the crosshairs. Whether that will happen in this case only time will tell.”

Ring joined Doolittle’s Capitol Hill staff in 1993 and rose to legislative director in 1995. In 1998, he moved to the Senate Judiciary Committee where he worked on the Constitution, Federalism and Property Rights Subcommittee under then-Sen. John Ashcroft (R-Mo.).

In 1999, Ring returned to the House to serve as executive director of the Conservative Action Team, a precursor to the Republican Study Committee, a group of conservative House Republicans.

In 2000, he went to work for Abramoff at a law firm now known as Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis. A year later, he followed Abramoff to Florida-based law firm Greenberg Traurig where he worked until October 2004.

He landed at Barnes & Thornburg in January 2005 along with two other former Abramoff associates. Many of his clients followed him to the new firm, demonstrating a remarkable loyalty even as he surfaced in several congressional investigations of Abramoff.

In 2005, he was subpoenaed to appear before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee as part of its Abramoff probe. Asked to discuss his work with Abramoff on behalf of several Indian gaming tribes, Ring asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination.

Records from Julie Doolittle’s consulting firm, Sierra Dominion Financial Solutions Inc. of Oakton, Va., were subpoenaed by a federal grand jury in 2004 in conjunction with the Abramoff probe. The company was paid $66,690 by Abramoff's firm Greenberg Traurig from September 2002 to February 2004.

Jean Chemnick contributed to this report.

An article in Monday's Politico, "Ex-Doolittle Aide Tied To Abramoff Abruptly Quits,'' misstated the results of California Republican Rep. John Doolittle's reelection race. He received 49 percent of the vote.

[CJ-50]

Dont pay too much attention to this its just the Clinton Justice Department working for the Dems and doing dirty work for them.

Why is it the Clinton Justice Department halfway through Bush's second term? Anything that the justice department does or does not do is squarely on the shoulders of the President. You have to take responsibility at some point.

[rottndog]

This they will hammer to death, 90,000.00 dollars in cold cash they will ignore.

They will also ignore BILLIONS of dollars in defense contracts steered by Diane Feinstein to her husband's company.

[bilhosty]

Unless he can clear himself he needs to retire at the end of this term. We do not need to lose another seat over this garbage.

[Pilsner]

Remember Speaker Hastert claiming Congress was above the law when they raided Democrat William Jefferson's office?

Hastert deserved to be fired as Speaker for the political ineptness he displayed in that case, but he did not claim Congress was above the law. The Constitution provides in Art. §6 ... and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place. Jefferson received a subpoena seeking a vast number of documents from his office and office computers. He refused to comply with the subpoena, but as required by the House rules, he informed the House that he was invoking the "speech or debate" clause as a reason to not comply with a subpoena. A House attorney, one hired by the Republicans, viewed a sample of the documents he was refusing to produce, and agreed that the documents were privileged.

Then, using the level of good judgment and common sense we have come expect, Attorney General Gonzalez gave the green light for a search warrant that seized vast amounts of documents, including the contents of the hard drives on Jefferson's office computers. This had never happened before, and set a terrible precedent. When Hastert complained, wise acres asked "So a Congressman can kill his wife and hide her body in his office and never get prosecuted?" No. A dead human is not speech protected under the speech or debate clause.

The search warrant was issued months after the subpoena, so there was no reason to believe that the FBI had to hurry. If Jefferson was going to destroy evidence, he had already been given many weeks in which to do it. So what on earth possessed the A.G. to allow a raid on a Congressman's office, one that everybody acknowledges siezed many thousands of communications that are protected by the Constitution?

If you don't think this is important, just think about the FBI having the power to raid congressional offices and seize their papers and then say these four words out loud: Attorney General Hillary Clinton. How about HRC having the power to raid the offices of the Republican leadership and seize all of their communications, so that she knows what they have written to each other, and what the public has written to them.

Certainly Gonzalez displayed a staggering ignorance about the Constitution, and Hassert displayed a breath taking degree of political ineptness. They took a story about Democrat corruption, and turned it into a story about Republican arrogance. But that doesn't change the fact that there is a reason the United States went 218 years without law enforcement carting off from his Capitol office the papers and correspondence of a member of Congress. And it doesn't change the fact that the off chance a corrupt Louisiana politician hasn't erased a file that the FBI has given him six months to erase is nothing when weighed against our right to have our representatives in Congress secure from having their communications with us, and each other, secure from interference.

[RJL]

"Hastert deserved to be fired as Speaker for the political ineptness he displayed in that case"

We agree here.

The Constitution provides in Art. §6 ... and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place. Jefferson received a subpoena seeking a vast number of documents from his office and office computers.

But here I believe you are overlooking the "except in the case of a felony" clause in the "Speech or Debate" claim of protection.

A US Congressman involved in $90,000 of corruption is a felony.

[raftguide]

“When they planning on raiding Harry Reid’s home ?”

Yeah! He forgot about his tangled web of sweetheart real estate deals bought cheap and then sold after he used his influence to rezone the property.

[SierraWasp]

Well here's a little excerpt from one of Doolittle's biggest enemies... The Sacramento BEE:

FBI raids Doolittle's Virginia home

By David Whitney - Bee Washington Bureau Published 1:39 pm PDT Wednesday, April 18, 2007

WASHINGTON - The FBI raided the Virginia home of Rep. John Doolittle and his wife on Friday, executing a search warrant for materials related to Julie Doolittle's company, Sierra Dominion Financial Services.

The raid was believed to be in connection with the ongoing federal investigation of the political corruption scandal stirred by disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, a one-time Republican star who last year pleaded guilty to three felony charges of defrauding Indian tribes and corrupting political officials.

Abramoff had a close friendship with the Doolittles. The congressmen aided several of his clients and Julie Doolittle worked for the high-profile lobbyist.

Doolittle's attorney, criminal defense lawyer David Barger, said Wednesday that the raid was in connection with a search warrant for Sierra Dominion records and not the congressman. He declined to say, however, whether Doolittle had become a target of investigation, too.

"The congressman continues to be fully supportive of his wife Julie and believes that the truth ultimately will prevail," Barger said.

Doolittle, R-Roseville, has spent more than $100,000 in campaign funds to pay for the services of lawyers specializing in white-collar crime to, as he has said, "clear my name."

[calcowgirl]

I was initially willing to give Doolittle the benefit of the doubt until all this worked out, but his public support for Brent Wilkes back in February pretty much did him in, in my book. Anyone who supports corruption has no excuse for remaining in Congress, IMO.

[sgtbono2002]

Bush has to take the responsibility for not making it his Justice Department, Just as he faild to straighten out the Clinton State Department and the Clinton CIA.

You are correct Bush is definitely the guilty but its still Clinton’s Justice department.

[Pilsner]

But here I believe you are overlooking the "except in the case of a felony" clause in the "Speech or Debate" claim of protection.

Although close together, the speech and debate clause, and immunity from arrest caluse, are different. Jefferson may be arrested for a felony, treason, or breach of the peace, even though he is a member of Congress. The speech or debate clause applies regardless of the offense charged.

The FBI, if they really wanted to look at his hard drives after all those months, should have sought a court order, preferably with the consent of the Congressional leadership, that Jefferson's Congressional papers be sequestered. That would have kept him from tampering with them. Then a Judge, a neutral party agreed to by the FBI and the Speaker, or somebody could have reviewed the documents in secret, turned over anything that was not protected and related to the investigation, and kept the rest confidential. That sort of thing, having a third party separate data a litigant is entitled to find out about from confidential data the litigant cannot see, happens in court everyday. The House leadership may have refused, and provoked a Constitutional crisis, but at least the FBI would have had the high moral ground, showing that they were willing to respect the fact that some docuemnts were confidential, but sill demanding evidence needed for their ciminal probe.

[CJ-50]

You are correct Bush is definitely the guilty but its still Clinton’s Justice department.

I guess that means all the good things like defending us from terrorism is carried out by the Clinton Justice Department. If only you could find a way to blame Alberto Gonzales on President Clinton! Your description is woefully inaccurate.

[hosepipe]

How corrupt has the FBI and CIA become?..

Are they OWNed by the Mexican Drug Cartels?..
You know, the Mexican Government..

Sandy Berger, Jefferson, Border Guards.. no doubt a whole lot more.. Something Stinks at the FBI.. I mean skunk stink not fart stink.. Has justice died in America?..