From michiganliberal.com
Yesterday, the FBI and the IRS raided the office of Southfield, Michigan attorney and alleged Michigan Attorney General candidate Geoffrey Fieger - apparently looking for evidence that Fieger laundered $35,000 for John Edwards. From the
Detroit Free Press:
Federal agents raided the law office of Geoffrey Fieger late Wednesday looking for evidence that he laundered $35,000 in campaign contributions to the John Edwards 2004 presidential campaign through his employees.
"Yeah, right, I want to hear it from them." Fieger said this morning, charging he's the victim of Republican conspiracy. "I'm tired of all of this McCarthyism - period."
The investigation has been underway for about four months and it being directed out of the Justice Department's public integrity section in Washington D.C., according to a person familiar with the probe who spoke on condition of anonymity because on the on-going case. (emphasis added)
So the investigation apparently was underway for four months. Yet, in a pretty strange coincidence the feds happen to raid Fieger's office on the SAME DAY the Republicans in Washington are mounting a full court press in a vain attempt to show that we're as corrupt as they are. (For more on this angle, read this snip from
TPM and this one from
dKos - gratiously brought to our attention by eartha651.) Pretty Strange indeed.
As for Geoff Fieger, well, I don't have enough time or energy to go into all the background on him. I will note, however, that he has virtually no chance of getting the Dem A-G nomination here (it's decided at convention), and that he's currently in a knock down brawl with the current Republican Attorney General, Mike Cox - in a dispute involving sex, allegations of blackmail, campaign finance violations, and a super sleazy go-between who
urinates on roulette wheels for fun.
But wait, there's more...Notice this from the DFP:
Richard Steinberg who is representing Fieger said agents seized 25-50 banker's boxes of material including weekly payroll and checking account deposit records. He also said he understands that other law firms including ones in Little Rock, Ark., also have been investigated for employee donations to the Edwards campaign. (emphasis added)
Are any other law firms getting raided? If so, I'd sure like to know where. Again,
why is this suddenly coming up today?
Here's another interesting morsel from the DFP:
U.S. Attorney Stephen Murphy III declined to comment on the raid, saying he had been recused from the case by the Justice Department, but said members of his office were working on the investigation. Murphy referred calls to the Justice Department in Washington, D.C.
Murphy said he couldn't discuss the reasons for the recusal, but it apparently resulted from $300 in contributions he made in 2004 to the re-election campaign of Michigan Supreme Court Justice Stephen Markman, who figures into the recent controversy surrounding Fieger and Michigan Attorney General Michael Cox. At the time, Murphy was a General Motors staff lawyer. Murphy was asked to step aside to avoid any appearance of conflict of interest.
Well, I guess I'm glad they're finally getting into the habit of recusing themselves from cases where there's a clear conflict of interest. (Oakland Prosecutor David Gorcyca should take note.) Unfortunately, I don't think recusing Mr. Murphy went nearly far enough. It's beginning to look like a number of other Justice Department folks probably should have stepped aside too - beginning with Alberto Gonzales.
These people are getting really desperate. There's no telling what's next.