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FOCUS - Feds Raid Congressman's Home
Sun Jul 3, 2005 13:27
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FOCUS - Feds Raid Congressman's Home
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/070305Z.shtml
Homes of Calif. Lawmaker, Defense Contractor Raided
By Reuters
Saturday 02 July 2005
Washington - Federal agents investigating the relationship between Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham and a defense contractor searched the congressman's California home and the contractor's home and yacht, the U.S. Attorney's office said on Saturday.
Channing Phillips, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Washington, declined comment on whether any materials were seized in Friday's raids, saying that the search warrants were under seal.
The Internal Revenue Service, the Pentagon's Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the FBI have joined the U.S. Attorney's office in the investigation of Cunningham and Mitchell Wade, who until recently was chief executive of MZM, a Washington-based government contractor that provides highly classified intelligence work for the Pentagon.
The investigation began after news reports that Wade had purchased Cunningham's home in Del Mar, California, in late 2003 for more than $1.6 million and then sold it months later at a loss of $700,000. Cunningham also was living rent-free on Wade's boat at the Capital Yacht Club on the Potomac River.
In addition to executing search warrants at Cunningham's home in the San Diego area and Wade's yacht and Washington home, Phillips said federal agents had searched the offices of MZM Inc.
K. Lee Blalack, a lawyer for Cunningham, called the search of Cunningham's home "an appalling abuse of government power" since the congressman had agreed to cooperate fully with a federal subpoena for various documents.
"They will apparently not take yes for an answer and have instead opted to use strong-arm tactics that were designed to generate headlines," Blalack and Mark Holscher, both attorneys with O'Melveny & Myers LLP, said in a joint statement.
Wade and MZM did not return calls seeking comment.
Cunningham, who was a fighter pilot in Vietnam, is a member of the House Intelligence Committee and defense appropriations subcommittee.
He issued a statement late last month, shortly after investigation began, saying that he had "showed poor judgment" in selling his home to Wade, although he denied that he improperly helped Wade's company win a Pentagon contract.
He said there was nothing improper about living on Wade's boat, named "Duke-Stir," since April 2004, saying that he paid more than $8,000 in dock fees and $5,000 in maintenance costs in exchange for the deal.
"I want my constituents to know that, despite my personal friendship with Mr. Wade, I gave his company, MZM, no preferential treatment," Cunningham said in his statement.
He said Wade purchased the Del Mar home for use as an office and corporate housing since MZM was doing work for the nearby Miramar Marine Corps Air Station.
Wade, a former Pentagon program manager and naval reserve officer, and his wife, Christiane, contributed $12,000 to Cunningham's campaigns between 2001 and 2004, according to the Federal Election Commission.
Pentagon spokesman Army Lt. Col. Chris Conway said the Defense Information Systems Agency recently blocked further orders under a blanket purchase order awarded to MZM in the fall of 2002. The company has received $163 million in orders thus far under the contract.
He said the block was ordered after the Pentagon inspector general ruled that the contract was not competitively awarded.
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David Corn | CIA Leak Is Big Trouble For Bush
CIA Leak Is Big Trouble For Bush By David Corn The Nation ... Today's TO Features, --------------, CIA Leak Accusation Rocks White House ...
HTTP://www.truthout.org/docs_03/printer_100103E.shtml
Rove Testifies Before Grand Jury in CIA Leak Probe
Go to Original. Rove Testifies Before Grand Jury in CIA Leak Probe By Curt Anderson The Associated Press. Friday 15 October 2004. Washington ...
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/printer_101604W.shtm
The LAT reports that a lawyer for Karl Rove said that although the presidential advisor spoke with a Time magazine reporter days before CIA operative Valerie Plame's name was leaked to the press, Rove was not responsible for the leak. The Time reporter, Matthew Cooper, is one of two journalists being held in contempt of court for not cooperating with a federal investigation into Plame's identity leak. Even though the White House has dismissed a claim by Plame's husband that Rove was involved in blowing her cover, the Newsweek website claimed that Rove was one of Cooper's sources and in a segment on "The McLaughlin Group," an MSNBC analyst claimed to have similar information.
http://slate.msn.com/id/2121979/
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/070305Z.shtml
Homes of Calif. Lawmaker, Defense Contractor Raided
By Reuters
Saturday 02 July 2005
Washington - Federal agents investigating the relationship between Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham and a defense contractor searched the congressman's California home and the contractor's home and yacht, the U.S. Attorney's office said on Saturday.
Channing Phillips, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Washington, declined comment on whether any materials were seized in Friday's raids, saying that the search warrants were under seal.
The Internal Revenue Service, the Pentagon's Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the FBI have joined the U.S. Attorney's office in the investigation of Cunningham and Mitchell Wade, who until recently was chief executive of MZM, a Washington-based government contractor that provides highly classified intelligence work for the Pentagon.
The investigation began after news reports that Wade had purchased Cunningham's home in Del Mar, California, in late 2003 for more than $1.6 million and then sold it months later at a loss of $700,000. Cunningham also was living rent-free on Wade's boat at the Capital Yacht Club on the Potomac River.
In addition to executing search warrants at Cunningham's home in the San Diego area and Wade's yacht and Washington home, Phillips said federal agents had searched the offices of MZM Inc.
K. Lee Blalack, a lawyer for Cunningham, called the search of Cunningham's home "an appalling abuse of government power" since the congressman had agreed to cooperate fully with a federal subpoena for various documents.
"They will apparently not take yes for an answer and have instead opted to use strong-arm tactics that were designed to generate headlines," Blalack and Mark Holscher, both attorneys with O'Melveny & Myers LLP, said in a joint statement.
Wade and MZM did not return calls seeking comment.
Cunningham, who was a fighter pilot in Vietnam, is a member of the House Intelligence Committee and defense appropriations subcommittee.
He issued a statement late last month, shortly after investigation began, saying that he had "showed poor judgment" in selling his home to Wade, although he denied that he improperly helped Wade's company win a Pentagon contract.
He said there was nothing improper about living on Wade's boat, named "Duke-Stir," since April 2004, saying that he paid more than $8,000 in dock fees and $5,000 in maintenance costs in exchange for the deal.
"I want my constituents to know that, despite my personal friendship with Mr. Wade, I gave his company, MZM, no preferential treatment," Cunningham said in his statement.
He said Wade purchased the Del Mar home for use as an office and corporate housing since MZM was doing work for the nearby Miramar Marine Corps Air Station.
Wade, a former Pentagon program manager and naval reserve officer, and his wife, Christiane, contributed $12,000 to Cunningham's campaigns between 2001 and 2004, according to the Federal Election Commission.
Pentagon spokesman Army Lt. Col. Chris Conway said the Defense Information Systems Agency recently blocked further orders under a blanket purchase order awarded to MZM in the fall of 2002. The company has received $163 million in orders thus far under the contract.
He said the block was ordered after the Pentagon inspector general ruled that the contract was not competitively awarded.
-------
TRUTHOUT INDEX:
http://www.truthout.org/index.htm
David Corn | CIA Leak Is Big Trouble For Bush
CIA Leak Is Big Trouble For Bush By David Corn The Nation ... Today's TO Features, --------------, CIA Leak Accusation Rocks White House ...
HTTP://www.truthout.org/docs_03/printer_100103E.shtml
Rove Testifies Before Grand Jury in CIA Leak Probe
Go to Original. Rove Testifies Before Grand Jury in CIA Leak Probe By Curt Anderson The Associated Press. Friday 15 October 2004. Washington ...
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/printer_101604W.shtm
The LAT reports that a lawyer for Karl Rove said that although the presidential advisor spoke with a Time magazine reporter days before CIA operative Valerie Plame's name was leaked to the press, Rove was not responsible for the leak. The Time reporter, Matthew Cooper, is one of two journalists being held in contempt of court for not cooperating with a federal investigation into Plame's identity leak. Even though the White House has dismissed a claim by Plame's husband that Rove was involved in blowing her cover, the Newsweek website claimed that Rove was one of Cooper's sources and in a segment on "The McLaughlin Group," an MSNBC analyst claimed to have similar information.
http://slate.msn.com/id/2121979/
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