Congressman Jefferson was set-up.... Remember the Katrina hoopla?

[WiseButAngrySara]

I remember how this story about Jefferson broke during the midst of Katrina, and the media kept emphasizing Democratic Congressman, just as they are doing today. And, as if on cue, all the M$M parrots keep repeating the mantra; "Well, will this deflect the Democrat's theme of Republican Party "Culture of Corruption"?" I wondered why all the intense coverage of a person visiting his home, during the height of the storm, who denies that he asked the National Guard to transport him. I believe that he was being framed at that time. Why report this story, during the midst of Katrina, if not to smear Jefferson? He would become more useful after Hastert himself is reported to be likely involved in the Abramoff Scandal. Why wait until now, when they already 'had the goods on him' before Katrina?

I'm curious about your reflections on this...

http://www.abcnews.go.com/US/HurricaneKatrina/story?id=1123495&page=1

Amid Katrina Chaos, Congressman Used National Guard to Visist Home

Heavy Trucks, Helicopter Were Involved in Lawmaker's Trip at Height of Crisis
By JAKE TAPPER[]Sept. 13, 2005

<snip>

— Amid the chaos and confusion that engulfed New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina struck, a congressman used National Guard troops to check on his property and rescue his personal belongings — even while New Orleans residents were trying to get rescued from rooftops, ABC News has learned.
On Sept. 2 — five days after Katrina hit the Gulf Coast — Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., who represents New Orleans and is a senior member of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, was allowed through the military blockades set up around the city to reach the Superdome, where thousands of evacuees had been taken.

<snip>

Military sources tells ABC News that Jefferson, an eight-term Democratic congressman, asked the National Guard that night to take him on a tour of the flooded portions of his congressional district. A five-ton military truck and a half dozen military police were dispatched

<snip>

Jefferson defended the expedition, saying he set out to see how residents were coping at the Superdome and in his neighborhood. He also insisted that he did not ask the National Guard to transport him. "I did not seek the use of military assets to help me get around my city," Jefferson told ABC News. "There was shooting going on. There was sniping going on.They thought I should be escorted by some military guards, both to the convention center, the Superdome and ...

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/la02_jefferson/WHKatrinaReport.html

http://www.bayoubuzz.com/articles.aspx?aid=7157

<snip>

William “Bill” Jefferson, resign. It is now your duty. It is also the duty of Louisiana democratic delegation, the Louisiana Democratic party and the Louisiana democratic leaders to urge his resignation. Nationally, it is beyond time for Nancy Pelosi and party leaders including Democratic Chairman Howard Dean to denounce Jefferson’s insistence to stay in office. Yes, I know the New Orleans area voters selected him. I know he is innocent until proven guilty. And, I know he has been an effective member of Congress and has done good things for his constituency. But, with the evidence piling up against him, with his bizarre Katrina behavior going to his home escorted, with the video tapes, the cold cash, and his cryptic notes about the FBI, it is obvious he will have a very rough time in Court, even if he is proven not guilty. Meanwhile, New Orleans rots. And so does the Democratic offense against the Republicans. The Democratic moral authority goes completely out of the window every day William “Dollar Bill” Jefferson stays in office.

http://www.usatoday.com/advertising/orbitz/orbitz-window-unldPop.htm

Jefferson case may hurt his party
By Anne Rochell Konigsmark, USA TODAY

<snip>

The case against Jefferson was revealed in an affidavit filed Saturday to obtain a search warrant for the congressman's office. Jefferson called the raid, possibly the first on a Congressman's office in history, "outrageous." Leaders of both political parties denounced the raid as a violation of the constitutional separation of powers. In response, President Bush Thursday sealed the seized materials for 45 days. The details from the affidavit, though, are out there and they sound as if they were ripped from a crime novel:The FBI described secretly recorded conversations and meetings between Jefferson and an investor in iGate Inc.'s Africa project. The investor, whose name is blacked out in the public version of the affidavit, approached the FBI in 2004 to allege that Jefferson had demanded "consulting fees" in exchange for his help with a deal to provide wireless services to West African nations. Last July, the witness met with Jefferson at the Ritz-Carlton in Arlington, Va. They walked outside to the witness's car, where Jefferson retrieved a leather briefcase filled with $100,000 in marked bills, money the congressman said he would use to coax African officials into the deal. Four days later, the FBI raided Jefferson's homes in New Orleans and Washington. The affidavit says they found $90,000 of the cash in his Washington freezer, wrapped in foil and nestled in plastic food containers.The court document says agents videotaped Jefferson as he struck deals on slips of paper passed back and forth at the hotel, with Jefferson speaking of money being funneled to a bank account in his children's names. FBI tapes recorded Jefferson using colorful language during the secret meetings, describing himself as a man "in the shadows, behind the curtain," the affidavit said. When he demanded more money by writing down a percentage and passing it across a table, he laughed and said, "All these damn notes we're writing to each other as if we're talking, as if the FBI is watching," according to the affidavit.

[applegrove]

1. Oh please. They found money in his fridge. Wake up. Some politicians

are just scanky. Mostly GOP.. but some dems. It happens.

[WiseButAngrySara]

2. I'm not saying he is innocent; just that he is being used. ....n/t

[LA lady]

3. Puh-leeze

We don't call it the Katrina hoopla. We watched it play out on TV. He's crooked and we need him OUT.

[WiseButAngrySara]

4. I agree he's crooked. That's not my point. ....n/t

[applegrove]

5. Then there is no set up. He went a long way to not hand over the

information requested by the justice department. So they got a warrant.

Move on!

[WiseButAngrySara]

6. Look at the way it is covered by the M$M though! THAT is my point.

See this recent post that supports my case!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1302826

[applegrove]

7. I watched CNN. They pointed out that if the GOP wanted to score points

on this they lost out by the scrap fighting between the House and the WH & the Justice Department.

That is what CNN said. That the GOP managed to make themselves look really bad by claiming privacy and separation of powers.. all the while most AMericans face NSA spying and are not allowed to talk about it.

[WiseButAngrySara]

9. Yes, but the M$M is still constantly covering this, which happened

months ago, and not discussing the elephant in the room; Republican Corruption!

[BeFree]

8. Quite alarming...

...to read DUers have already convicted the congressman without even hearing both sides of the story.

The comments seen here are comments one would expect to read on a freeper site, not on the DU that I knew.

[WiseButAngrySara]

10. I bet that he was approached by the Nation Guard like he said, and that

his criminal activity of accepting a bribe was already known about; the timing for public disclosure, though was much better NOW (with Hastert's own credibility hanging in the balance) than THEN. It would have been lost in the coverage of the agony of Katrina, and the bunglings of B* et al.

[Roy]

13. Hmmmmm....

I don't see many DUers in this thread.

[babylonsister]

11. One question: if he's so guilty, why hasn't he been arrested yet? nt

[bahrbearian]

12. Or , if he's so guilty why hasn't he been convicted, yet ?

[Little Star]

15. Or, if almost a year ago they recovered the freezer money why

are they just raiding his office now?

[WiseButAngrySara]

Hastert, Abramoff et al? ....n/t

[WiseButAngrySara]

14. He is being tried in the courts of the M$M while the major corruption

once again, is shoved under the rug! He's being used to deflect attention away from the biggest corruption scandal in the history of the U.S.. My point was not so much whether he is guilty or not, it is the way this story is being used by the media. They could have exposed him before Katrina; they tried to expose him during Katrina, but that coverage was too diluted by the vast human tragedy that occured during Katrina, and so now, when the timing is right for Hastert et al, they once again turn to their mantra of: "See, it's not just the Republicans?"

edited for typo: was to way

[Little Star]

18. Jefferson is a slime no doubt but

all of your points are more than valid. The republican media can't stop spinning. Karma can't come around soon enough for all the media that have sold their souls.

[WiseButAngrySara]

19. See this post by kentuck titled "Do you ever get angry at the M$M?"

(posted today)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1302826

For example, when they go on and on day after day about the Democrat caught up in a bribery scandal but for months and years have virtually ignored Tom Delay, Abramoff, Bob Ney, and all their connected bribes? And you know it is all intentional by them? Do you get angry that they support the GOP strategy of making all the corruption "bi-partisan" when they know that the Republicans are involved in perhaps the most corrupt Administration in the history of this country. There have been poker and prostitute parties as defense contracts have been handed out to limosine services to haul around corrupt Republican Congressmen. There are billions and billions of dollars missing in Iraq and nobody knows where it went? Billions!! There has been one lie after another and spying on tens of millions of Americans all in the name of "protecting" them. Yet the media sits on their ass the whole time - until there is a Democratic Congressman caught in a alleged bribery case. Then, magically, the M$M awakens. They are on guard and exercising their 1st Amendment right to give you the information you need. Does that ever make you angry?

[ShaneGR]

16. It's impossible to set someone up for Bribery....

Law Enforcement: So what's it gonna take to get my country so and so contract?

Jefferson: $100k


Guilty

Or better yet:

Law Enforcement: Congressman Jefferson, we would like to give $100,000 to you to pay off some officials.

Jefferson: Ok

Guilty, no excuses.

[WiseButAngrySara]

17. I can see why my post is confusing! Not 'set-up' for bribery, but set up

by the M$M; the way this story is being covered to deflect attention, and to force Hastert to 'defend' his political 'enemy.' Why is this story just now being covered?

[WiseButAngrySara]

20. Late p.m. kick; Too late to edit my title, which should have read

"Jefferson was set-up by the M$M" and the "Katrina hoopla about Jefferson"