Bush orders Jefferson records sealed 45 days
Posted on: Thursday, 25 May 2006, 14:54 CDT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush on Thursday ordered records seized from Louisiana Democratic Rep. William Jefferson's office to be sealed for 45 days in order to work out a dispute over the documents with the U.S. Congress.
Leaders of the House of Representatives are outraged that the FBI seized a computer hard drive and two boxes of papers from Jefferson's office. They contend the search violated the constitutional separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches.
In a statement, Bush said he was taking the unusual step of directing the Justice Department to seal all the materials recovered from Jefferson's office last weekend for the next 45 days.
"This period will provide both parties more time to resolve the issues in a way that ensures that materials relevant to the ongoing criminal investigation are made available to prosecutors in a manner that respects the interests of a co-equal branch of government," Bush said.
Source: REUTERS
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