Rep. Brian Baird (left)/official photo

By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
WASHINGTON — The FBI has taken over an investigation into an alleged death threat aimed at Democratic Rep. Brian Baird of Washington state over the healthcare furor, the Columbian newspaper reported.

The paper reported that the U.S. Capitol Police, which had been investigating the matter, confirmed that the FBI was probing the threat, which was made by phone in August.

Baird appeared on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” and said the disruptive behavior at town halls meetings on health care “reminded him of the atmosphere that led Timothy McVeigh to bomb the Alfred R. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995,” the paper reported.

Days later,  Baird’s staff reported that someone called his D.C. office and left the message: “You think Timothy McVeigh was bad, there’s a Ryder truck out there with your name on it.”

For Full Report

This probably won’t be enough to block his confirmation, but it certainly doesn’t help.

By Ed O’Keefe
The Washington Post
WASHINGTON — President Obama’s nominee to lead the nation’s airport security officers received a censure from the FBI in 1988 after asking a San Diego police officer to run a background check on his ex-wife’s boyfriend.

Obama tapped Erroll Southers in September to serve as administrator of the Transportation Security Administration. Southers is currently chief of homeland security and intelligence at the Los Angeles International Airport’s police department and associate director of the University of Southern California’s Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events. He previously served as a homeland security adviser to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-Calif.).

For Full Story

The Jewish library in Vienna

History sometimes has a way of righting  itself — even if it takes a while.

That seemed to be the case Monday when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials returned to Vienna’s Jewish community a 16th Century Hebrew Bible that had been looted by the Nazis 71 years ago during “Kristallnacht”, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New York said.

ICE officials turned over the book to the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Manhattan during a repatriation ceremony.

Authorities  said the bible dates back to the year 1561 and was donated to the Jewish community library in Vienna in 1908. On Nov. 9, 1938, the Nazi Gestapo seized the library during “Kristallnacht”, a violent and coordinated attack on Jewish people.

Earlier this year, authorities said, a New York City auction house, Kestenbaum & Company offered the bible up for sale. ICE determined the book had been stolen by the Nazis and the owner of the bible, a Swiss consignor, agreed to turn it over to the Jewish community, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

“Seventy one years ago today, on Kristallnacht”, the Nazis carried out a violent and coordinated attack on Jewish people, ransacking the places they lived, worked and gathered,” said New York U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement. :The passage of time does not diminish our remembrance, or the duty to return all surviving works of art and precious symbols stolen by the Nazis.

Sam Hicks/fbi photo

WASHINGTON — The FBI’s Baltimore field office will be named after agent Sam Hicks, who was killed last Nov. 19 in a shooting in the Pittsburgh area while serving an arrest warrant in a drug case, the Associated Press reported.

The AP reported that Hicks’ wife Brooke and their son Noah will attend a Nov. 23 dedication ceremony in Baltimore.

Hicks, 33,  had been a Baltimore City Officer before joining the FBI.

The woman who shot and killed Hicks, Christina Korbe, is awaiting trial. She has told investigatators that she thought Hicks was an intruder. The FBI had gone to the house to arrest her husband.

By Allan Lengel

WASHINGTON — James McTighe, the son of a CIA case officer, will take charge of the FBI’s Salt Lake City Division, replacing Timothy J. Fuhrman, who was recently named special agent in charge of the Mobile, Ala. office.

McTighe had last served as special assistant for deputy director John Pistole at FBI headquarters, the FBI said.

McTighe joined the FBI in 1983 and was first assigned to the Cincinnati Division, where he worked general property crimes, public corruption, fugitives, and drug cases, the FBI said.

In February 1986, he was off to the Miami Division, where he worked general property crimes, bank robberies, kidnappings, and extortions. He was also a pilot with the Special Operations Group.

In 1998, he became a supervisory special agent and shift supervisor in the Strategic Information and Operations Center at FBI Headquarters.

Two year later, he became assistant inspector, Inspection Division in 2000. About a year later he became a team leader.

In 2002, he went to Denver as a field supervisor for the Organized Crime/Drug squad and was named assistant special agent in charge for criminal matters, the FBI said.

In August 2005, he became assistant special agent in charge for the Cleveland Division. In 2007, he worked for deputy director Pistole.

Before joining the FBI, he was in the Marine Corps where he earned his naval aviator wings.

Allan Lengel

WASHINGTON –  It’s almost judgment day for ex-Rep. William Jefferson,   the New Orleans Congressman who at one time seemed invincible.

That was at one time.  Last year, he lost his seat in a bid for a 10^th term.  Then this past summer he was convicted by a federal jury on 11 of 16 public corruption charges in Alexandria, Va.

This Friday the 13^th, U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III will sentence him in Alexandria. The government is asking for a sentence of  27 to 33 years.  It says that’s what the federal sentencing guidelines call for. Still, I’ll be shocked if the sentence comes any where near that.  I’m predicting something closer to 10 to 12 years. OK, maybe 15 tops. But no more.

I could be off, but here’s my thoughts. Jefferson is 62. That’s got to be taken into consideration. A long sentence  would essentially amount to a life sentence. His crimes are egregious and an insult to the public,  but they’re not worthy of a life sentence.

Secondly, some of the biggest crooked politicians have gotten sentences far less than 33 years.  California Congressman  Randy “Duke” Cunningham got  8 years and 4 months for taking more than $2.4 million in bribes, which is apparently the toughest sentence any Congress member has ever gotten in a  federal public corruption case.

And Ohio’s Congressman Jim Traficant  (a guy who never had a good hair day) got eight years after being convicted on public corruption charges. If being obnoxious was a crime, he would have gotten a lot more.

Now here’s why Jefferson certainly can’t get less than 9 years.  His former aide, Brett Pfeffer got 8 years in prison for bribing Jefferson. And businessman Vernon Jackson got 7 years and 3 months in the case.

Both of them pleaded and agreed to cooperate.  Conversely, Jefferson fought the feds to the end and got convicted.

Granted, the judge figured at some point (he hasn’t yet) that he’d cut Jackson’s and Pfeffer’s  sentences for cooperating. Still, he set the bar high with those tough sentences.  So essentially, it would be a sham and injustice  if Jefferson got a lesser sentence than those two guys.

It all could have been different. Way back, months after the FBI raided Jefferson’s  homes in Washington and New Orleans in August of 2005 and found $90,000 in his freezer,  Jefferson’s attorney explored the possibility of a plea agreement.

In all likelihood, he could have hammered out a plea agreement that would have sent him off to prison for 4 to 6 years. But the talks never went very far. Jefferson, a Harvard Law graduate,  was not all that interested.

So on Friday he’ll  feel the full weight of the judicial system. No matter what he gets – 10 years or 30 years – it won’t be pretty.  This final chapter in this long, drawn out legal battle will be a sad one, particularly for those many many folks in New Orleans who invested so much hope in him over the years.

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan/dod photo

WASHINGTON – The FBI issued a statement Monday on the Fort Hood, Tex., shooting, saying that “at this point there is no information to indicate Major Malik Nidal Hasan had any co-conspirators or was part of a broader terrorist plot.”

“ The investigation to date has not identified a motive, and a number of possibilities remain under consideration,” the statement said.

At the same time, the Washington Post reported that Hasan, who was hospitalized after being shot multiple times, was in  contact via email earlier this year with a  radical cleric in Yemen who has been critical of the U.S. for what he sees as a war against Islam.

“U.S. intelligence agencies intercepted between 10 and 20 e-mails from Maj. Nidal M. Hasan to Anwar al-Aulaqi, a U.S. citizen who once was a spiritual leader at the suburban Virginia mosque where Hasan had worshipped, Rep. Peter Hoekstra (Mich.), the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said later Monday,” the Post reported.  “Aulaqi responded to Hasan at least twice, Hoekstra said, but he described the responses as “innocent.”

“The FBI dropped an inquiry into the matter after determining that the e-mails did not warrant further investigation, according to a law enforcement official, who spoke under the condition of anonymity,” the Post reported.

Meanwhile, the FBI, in its  statement said:

“Major Hasan came to the attention of the FBI in December 2008 as part of an unrelated investigation being conducted by one of our Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTFs). JTTFs are FBI-led, multi-agency teams made up of FBI agents, other federal investigators—including those from the Department of Defense—and state and local law enforcement officers.

“Investigators on the JTTF reviewed certain communications between Major Hasan and the subject of that investigation and assessed that the content of those communications was consistent with research being conducted by Major Hasan in his position as a psychiatrist at the Walter Reed Medical Center. Because the content of the communications was explainable by his research and nothing else derogatory was found, the JTTF concluded that Major Hasan was not involved in terrorist activities or terrorist planning. Other communications of which the FBI was aware were similar to the ones reviewed by the JTTF.

“Our top priority is to ensure that the person responsible for the Fort Hood shooting is held accountable. The ongoing investigation includes forensic examinations of Major Hasan’s computers and any Internet activity in hopes of gaining insight into his motivation. But the investigation to date indicates that the alleged gunman acted alone and was not part of a broader terrorist plot.”

OTHER STORIES OF INTEREST

• Ballistics and DNA Link Suspect in Seattle Cop Killing (AP)
• Feds Say Chicago Man Had al Qaeda Video (AP)
• Justice Dept. Asked for List of People Who Visited News Site (CBS News)
• Ex-SEC Attorney Pleads Guilty to Impersonating a Rep of  Hedge and Pension Fund (NY Law Journal)
• Ex-Atty. Gen. Mukasey Says Fort Hood Attack Was Terrorism (Main Justice)
• Defining Terrorism (Security DeBrief)

William J. Jefferson

WASHINGTON — Ex-Rep. William  Jefferson, who is painfully aware of “the stain on his honor”,  should get a sentence of less than 10 years, not the 27 to 33 years recommended by the prosecution, Jefferson’s lawyer wrote in a motion filed Monday.

“No court has ever imposed a sentence longer than 100 months in a case involving a United States Congressman, even a United States Congressman convicted of bribery after a trial,” Jefferson’s attorney Robert P. Trout wrote just days before Friday’s sentencing in Alexandria, Va.

” In light of all of the facts and circumstances set forth… the defense urges the court to impose a sentence of less than 10 years in this case,” Trout wrote. Jefferson was convicted in the summer of 11 of 16 counts of corruption.

The defense motion was in response to the government’s sentencing memorandum, which called for a harsh sentence of 27 to 33 years in prison, and urged the judge to put Jefferson away immediately after the sentencing, reasoning that the ex-Congressman  might flee the country rather than serve his time.

Jefferson’s motion laid out Jefferson’s history in life, starting with his humble beginnings to his rise as a Congressman and his strong religious practice.

Jefferson’s attorney Trout  indicated that he would ask that the former politician remain free pending his appeal. If not, he asked the judge to let Jefferson report to prison on a certain date after Christmas so he could spend the holiday with his family.

The motion also noted that Jefferson had suffered plenty already.

“There is no one more painfully aware than Mr. Jefferson that the stain on his honor is permanent and self-inflicted. He suffers in the knowledge that he has brought sorrow and humiliation to his family, and dishonor to the House of Representatives,” the motion said.

“His legacy is not merely tarnished, but it has been obliterated, and worst of all, his personal and professional disgrace has been visited on his children, whose attempts to make their own way in the world will now also require overcoming what the name, fairly or unfairly, has come to represent.”

“This is not to suggest that he has been ‘punished enough.’ But the profound personal fallout from his actions can be considered as one factor in determining what sort of judicial punishment is ‘necessary’ or ‘just’.”

Read Jefferson’s Motion

John Gotti Jr./trutv.com

It’s now down to the final lap: closing arguments in racketeering trial of John Gotti Jr. Prosecutors hope they can nail it this time after seeing the last three trials end in a mistrial.

On Monday, during closing arugments, the prosecution told a federal jury in New York that Gotti built and “ran a massive cocaine trafficking operation”, according to the New York Daily News.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Trezevant told jurors Gotti did “whatever was necessary” to run the drug operation, the Daily News reported. The defense was scheduled to deliver its closing in the afternoon.