Hastert, Pelosi, and others “acknowledge” FBI has permission to execute proper search warrants
In a series of events that have apparently included the revelation that the top 3 law enforcement officers in the nation, A.G. Alberto Gonzales, his #2 Paul McNulty, and FBI Director Robert Mueller would resign if asked to return the materials seized in a warranted search, Speaker Dennis Hastert and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi have now acknowledged that the FBI can execute a search warrant on the office of a member of Congress.
Congrats, Congresscritters. You’ve now caught up to the rest of the American citizenry. Don’t hold your breath that it’s going to help you. This entire episode put into graphic detail the obvious feeling that the members of Congress have that they are not to be held accountable to the law. The rest of us, sure. But not them. I’m angry at any member of Congress who, for one moment, gave any reasonable credence to the notion that the separation of powers was intended to create a no-lawman zone around the offices of Congressmen. Hastert has seriously damaged his own credibility, cost Congress as a whole more in the way of reputation (something they don’t have a lot of to play around with, in any case) and turned what should have been a clear Republican advantage into a Republican disaster.
All of those things are stupid but it’s that last one that just kills me. Handed a golden opportunity to be very subtle and quietly let Democrat Congressman Jefferson slag himself and become a millstone around the necks of the Democratic leadership, Hastert instead chose to attempt to slime the agents of the FBI who were doing what they’re paid to do. It looked for all the world like Hastert was trying to keep an armor plate over his own ass, which does nothing more than beg the question, “what would he need said armor plate over his behind for, anyway?” Dumb. Just really brainless. And the spinmeistering that’s going on now is so transparent they might as well put up neon signs to point it out.
Even now, they can’t really let it go. Have a look at this paragraph from the story:
In an editorial page article in USA Today on Friday, Hastert said he and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., have directed House lawyers “to develop reasonable protocols and procedures that will make it possible for the FBI to go into congressional offices to constitutionally execute a search warrant.”
Um, point of clarification? It’s unnecessary to “develop reasonable protocols” to “make it possible for the FBI… to constitionally execute a search warrant.” It’s already constitutional you nitwits. There’s nothing in the Constitution that precludes such a search. The fact that 200+ years of Congressmen, many of whom have been corrupt, have never been so stone cold stupid as to create a situation where the FBI would have to execute a search warrant on their offices does not mean that the FBI never had the ability to do so under the law. What the esteemed Congresspeople are trying so desperately not to say is that they want protocols and procedures set up that would permit them to avoid having to comply with such a warrant in the public eye.
Well, tough cookies, folks. Do something novel to avoid having to comply with search warrants: be ethical and legal. What a concept.
