Jefferson indicted

Posted: Monday, June 04, 2007 2:18 PM by Mark Murray
Filed Under: Courts, States

From NBC's Pete Williams and Mark Murray
A federal grand jury has indicted Lousiana Rep. William Jefferson (D), accusing him of soliciting bribes for himself and his family, and also charging him of bribing an official of the Nigerian government.

VIDEO: Rep. William Jefferson faces a 16 count indictment involving alleged bribery.

Jefferson -- who drew headlines across the country for having $90,000 in his freezer -- became a political embarrassment for Democrats, who campaigned in 2006 on ridding Washington of the GOP "culture of corruption." Surprising many political analysts, Jefferson won re-election last year, despite the allegations hovering over him.

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Comments

What... everybody doesn't keep 90k in the fridge?

Paul Miller, Woodbridge, VA (Sent Monday, June 04, 2007 2:29 PM)

Yeah I was shocked as anyone that the people of New Orleans would re-elect a corrupt democrat. They've always had such high standards in La. LMAO

Dave, Tn (Sent Monday, June 04, 2007 2:31 PM)

And what kind of culture do you call this? Whatever it is you can group just about all of LA government under that catagory.

Florida Fox (Sent Monday, June 04, 2007 2:49 PM)

I'm going to do the republican thing and continue to support a corupt politician. Just kidding, I'm better than that. DOWN WITH JEFFERSON!

kbb (Sent Monday, June 04, 2007 3:12 PM)

Dave; As a fellow Tennessan, I just want to say La. don't have anything on us. The guy that shot his opponent garnered a lot of votes in Tn. He was in jail at the time.

Connie, Tn. (Sent Monday, June 04, 2007 3:19 PM)

Jefferson was wanting to earn some cool, hard cash....now he will have to face the heat....then he will wind up in the cooler....

Owen Vander, Evansville IN (Sent Monday, June 04, 2007 3:21 PM)

How he ever got re-elected is beyond me. Will his defense be that it was just cold hard cash?

Jane, Southern Mississippi (Sent Monday, June 04, 2007 3:22 PM)

Right then. I was fine with just stripping him of his committee assignments so long as he was only under investigation and not indicted. Now it's time for him to resign or be removed.

John Doe, The Peanut Gallery (Sent Monday, June 04, 2007 3:24 PM)

Talk about glass houses. The whole country re-elected George Bush. What kind of culture is one that puts a stamp of approval on invading another country without provocation, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths, kidnapping and torturing, and a myriad of other illegal actions.

Russell in Maryland (Sent Monday, June 04, 2007 3:26 PM)

ANYBODY but a stinken republican. Thats why he was re-elected.

F StLouis (Sent Monday, June 04, 2007 3:27 PM)

And Nancy Pelosi calls the Bush Adminsitration the (culture of corruption?) Maybe she should stay in America, and clean up her own party? But who are we to suggest moral ideas to such an elite group of people?

Blaine Connellsville, Pennsylvania (Sent Monday, June 04, 2007 3:37 PM)

Cold hard cash.

Steve Turner Cedar Falls Iowa (Sent Monday, June 04, 2007 3:44 PM)

Here's some RedMeat for jerry, dave(tn) peep's & Florida fox. LOL

rick,ky (Sent Monday, June 04, 2007 4:18 PM)

"when I am elected speaker of the house, we(the democrats)will have the most ethical congress in history"-Nancy Pelosi. Nancy, you want to amnd that statement of yours? Oh yes, your turn is coming Nancy. That land you put federal dollars into along San Franscisco Bay, where you are planning to put in a cruise ship area and shops. The area where your husband owns all that land and is going to make a killing on it(estimated to be several million dollars now). How about it Nancy, want to come clean before the FBI pays a visit to you? If Huey Long can do it, Why not Dollar Bill Jefferson? Black or white, the color of money is green!

jerry/corpus christi texas (Sent Monday, June 04, 2007 4:36 PM)

Per Connie--If corrupt and otherwise dirty politics were an Olympic sport Tennessee would get the gold. How about the senatorial candidate who was elected after running ads implying interracial hanky-panky on the part of his opponent?

Olivia (Sent Monday, June 04, 2007 4:47 PM)

Well Tn would get the gold for political corruption, but most of them were democrats. Do a search for "Tennessee waltz corruption" A couple of them were Fords too :-)

Dave, Tn (Sent Monday, June 04, 2007 5:12 PM)

Democrats are a limp band-aid for the open, bleeding wound on the Republic inflicted by the group-think, robotic, soulless West Wingers. Democrats are infected with the same disease. The only people in either party who make any sense are called "marginal" or "inexperienced" by the munchkins in the media. It is in the air, the Plague, from the roadside kill-ditches in Darfur to the rotting bodies in the makeshift morgues of Iraq to the hard, hot, streets of South Central LA. A few grand of cold cash is just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. Janis said it best, "Get It While You Can."

Mark Thieme (Sent Monday, June 04, 2007 5:16 PM)

When she became speaker Pelosi asked that Jefferson step down from his duties until this matter was over, but he refused. There are corrupt democrats in government and they need to be weeded out, but the sheer numbers of GOP transgressions are staggering. The problems for the GOP remain - their mess in Iraq, their apathy on climate change, their inability to lead on any issue from immigration to education to health care, their unwavering support of low taxes for the elite rich and their holier than thou phony attitudes on religion and patriotism.

Jim, Santa Cruz (Sent Monday, June 04, 2007 5:34 PM)

Climate change? Can Al Gore please lower the temperture 10 degrees tomorrow so I can mow my lawn?

jerry/corpus christi texas (Sent Monday, June 04, 2007 8:15 PM)

The worst thing about this is that Jefferson got re-elected. Jury nullification is when a biased jury finds a crook not guilty even though they know he's guitly as hell. This was voter nullification.

Houston (Sent Monday, June 04, 2007 10:36 PM)

Olivia ~ "If corrupt and otherwise dirty politics were an Olympic sport Tennessee would get the gold. How about the senatorial candidate who was elected after running ads implying interracial hanky-panky on the part of his opponent?" Everyone please, please remember this before you cast your vote for Fred Thompson!

Barbara, TN (Sent Monday, June 04, 2007 11:18 PM)

Jerry, Al Gore is busy tinkering with his next invention. Hmmmm, I wonder what it will be. Does anybody have a hint?

Florida Fox (Sent Tuesday, June 05, 2007 8:34 AM)

Al Gore has invented a lot of things. The Internet for one, Love Story is another, though I can't imagine Gore's wife looking like Ali mcGraw. He's invented carbon credits(a ponzi scheme if I've ever seen one). He's invented global warming. Al, time to take a vacation. Even the lord rested on the 7th day! By the way, if he invented the internet, does that mean we have to pay a tax to his company for being on here?

jerry/corpus christi texas (Sent Tuesday, June 05, 2007 10:37 AM)

Al Gore looks like he's been doing some serious global eating.

Bush Republican (Sent Tuesday, July 03, 2007 8:35 AM)

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