FBI seizes Doan, Rice case files in raid of OSC chief's office [View All]

[maddezmom]

Source: GovExec.com

May 7, 2008 About 20 FBI agents and administrative investigators executed search warrants Tuesday on the U.S. Office of Special Counsel in a daylong raid that appeared at least partly focused on finding information on the office's high-profile investigations into alleged illegal political activity by Bush administration officials.

Arriving at the agency's M Street office in Washington before 11 a.m., the agents served grand jury subpoenas seeking testimony and records from 17 current and former agency employees before carrying out boxes of documents and computers around 5 p.m.

The raid was the latest step in the long investigation of Special Counsel Scott Bloch, who heads the independent office that enforces workplace laws at federal agencies. For more than 36 months, the Office of Personnel Management's inspector general has been probing allegations by former OSC employees who say Bloch retaliated against them for opposing his policies for handling discrimination charges based on sexual orientation.

Last year, the OPM IG's office began looking into Bloch's hiring of private computer technicians to remove files from his office computer and those of aides. The files had been sought by investigators, but Bloch has described the files as personal and not relevant to the probe.


Read more: http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=39961&dcn=todaysnews

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Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia, the top Republican on the House panel, asked Democrats to subpoena Bloch for his sworn testimony and personal e-mails that could clarify what was destroyed. He suggested Bloch “misused his government computer for personal business.”

“The e-mails were essential in determining whether Mr. Bloch had used his computer for inappropriate purposes,” Davis wrote in a letter Tuesday to House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif.

Tuesday's raids were done in connection to a criminal investigation of whether Bloch obstructed justice and, potentially, lied to Congress, according to the law enforcement officials.

more:http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20080506-1547-specialcounsel.html


Looks like the repubs are all over this