ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) â A federal jury has seen video of a former Louisiana congressman accepting a suitcase filled with $100,000 in cash outside a northern Virginia hotel. The videos played Tuesday are a key piece of evidence in the bribery trial of William Jefferson, a Democrat who represented parts of New Orleans. He's accused of accepting more than $400,000 in bribes to broker business deals in Africa. The FBI recorded the pickup from four different angles, all of which were shown to the jury. On the video, Jefferson seemed wary of accepting the money in public. When asked by an FBI informant if he wanted to peek inside the suitcase at the contents, he tersely replied, "No, I would not." Jefferson's lawyers have said Jefferson's business deals weren't illegal.
Very clumsy. Reminds me of the infamous Abscam investigation of 20 years or so ago. FBI agents dressed up as phony arab sheiks and tried to bribe congressmen. One guy was on video stuffing money down his pants. The democrats who ran congress at the time were not amused and let the FBI know in no uncertain terms that it was not to be repeated. As for this Jefferson guy, I kind of feel sorry for him. He sees all these other congressmen getting rich and he must figure, why not me? Too bad some kindly elder statesman like Harry Reid or John Murtha didn't take him under their wing and explain how it's done.
Yeah, remember when Reid, a white male, refused to seat Burris, a black male, in the US Senate. You really would think that the democrats were passed that in 2009. I guess not.
Few realize that Byrd (who is a senior democratic senator having been both for 50 years) was an officer in the Klu Klux Klan. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Byrd