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Congressman puts National Guard to personal use

Posted by Richard on September 14, 2005

According to an exclusive story on the ABC News website, on Friday, Sept. 2, Rep. William Jefferson of New Orleans asked the National Guard to take him on a tour of his flood-ravaged district. He was assigned six soldiers and a 5-ton truck. During the tour of his district, Jefferson asked the truck to swing by his own home in an affluent uptown neighborhood, and that’s when things got interesting (emphasis added):

The water reached to the third step of Jefferson’s house, a military source familiar with the incident told ABC News, and the vehicle pulled up onto Jefferson’s front lawn so he wouldn’t have to walk in the water. Jefferson went into the house alone, the source says, while the soldiers waited on the porch for about an hour.

Finally, according to the source, Jefferson emerged with a laptop computer, three suitcases, and a box about the size of a small refrigerator, which the enlisted men loaded up into the truck.

Unfortunately, the truck became stuck in Jefferson’s yard:

The soldiers signaled to helicopters in the air for aid. Military sources say a Coast Guard helicopter pilot saw the signal and flew to Jefferson’s home. The chopper was already carrying four rescued New Orleans residents at the time.

A rescue diver descended from the helicopter, but the congressman decided against going up in the helicopter, sources say. The pilot sent the diver down again, but Jefferson again declined to go up the helicopter.

After spending approximately 45 minutes with Jefferson, the helicopter went on to rescue three additional New Orleans residents before it ran low on fuel and was forced to end its mission.

The Louisiana National Guard then sent a second 5-ton truck to Rep. Jefferson’s affluent uptown neighborhood home, and it returned the congressman, his laptop computer, three suitcases, and a box about the size of a small refrigerator to the Superdome. The story doesn’t tell us what happened to Jefferson and his retrieved belongings after that.

It does continue, however (emphasis added):

In an unrelated matter, authorities recently searched Jefferson’s property as part of a federal investigation into the finances of a high-tech firm. Last month FBI officials raided Jefferson’s house as well as his home in Washington, D.C., his car and his accountant’s house.

Last week, Jefferson set up a special trust fund for contributions to his legal defense in light of the FBI investigation. A senior federal law enforcement source tells ABC News that investigators are interested in learning if Jefferson moved any materials relevant to the investigation. Jefferson says he did not.

Unrelated matter???

Item A: Rep. Jefferson retrieved a laptop computer, three suitcases, and a box about the size of a small refrigerator from his house and declined two offers of a helicopter ride, apparently in order to remain with his retrieved belongings.

Item B: The FBI raided Jefferson’s two homes, his accountant’s home, and the Maryland residence of Nigeria’s Vice President as part of a bribery and corruption investigation, and law enforcement officials speculated about whether Jefferson removed materials relevant to their investigation.

Yet ABC News assures us that these two items can’t possibly be related and doesn’t air the story at all. No one else in the mainstream media pays any attention.

By the way, William Jefferson is a black Democrat. I mention this for only one reason: Try to imagine how the news media would have handled a story about a white Republican, under suspicion of corruption, who diverted several National Guard soldiers, two trucks, and a helicopter from their relief and rescue work in order to retrieve his personal belongings, some of which may be relevant to the corruption investigation. Picture the headlines, the clamoring reporters chasing after his car, the expressions of outrage from Nancy Pelosi, Dianne Feinstein, Dick Durbin, Ted Kennedy, Jesse Jackson, Joe Biden, Al Gore, Kanye West, …

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One Response to “Congressman puts National Guard to personal use”

  1. Libercontrarian said

    What can you even begin to say about this story? How can you even begin to form the words “incompetent, corrupt politician under investigation for receiving influence from foreign national misuses Federal resources to retrieve, and probably destroy, key evidence in that investigation, in the middle of a tragedy.”

    Wait, I think I just did.

    It doesn’t matter. I often say to my wife that Bill Clinton could have shot Jesus in the face on primetime live TV and the LLL in the media pool would be instantly on Geraldo explaining why Jesus was a threat to the “Freedom to Choose To Murder Your Unborn Child” and to Blacks and The Poor.

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