Analysis of Judge's Decision in the Raid of Congressman Jefferson's Office
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A federal judge has weighed in on that controversial FBI raid on a lawmakers' Capitol Hill office in May and it offers a clear rebuke to the congressman targeted in that bribery investigation and also for those who suggest the feds overstepped their constitutional bounds. Joining us is our senior legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin, to walk us through the legalities of all this. The judge was very clear on this. Jeff, good to have you back with us, by the way.</s>JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Nice to see you.</s>MILES O'BRIEN: And let me just share a little piece of the ruling because this is Judge Thomas Hogan, who is the chief U.S. District Judge. Where is it, "Jefferson's interpretation would have the effect of converting every congressional office into a taxpayer subsidized sanctuary for crime. Such a result is not supported by the constitution or judicial precedent and will not be adopted here." We don't have to ask him how he really feels about this, do we.</s>TOOBIN: You know what, I thought this case was a classic demonstration of how completely out of touch members of congress are, both with the concerns of their constituents and with what constitutional law really is.</s>MILES O'BRIEN: So they don't even understand the law.</s>TOOBIN: The law -- and also just think about the common sense of it. You know, here you have a congressman who, at the very least, is engaged in behavior that certainly merits a criminal investigation. This is a guy with $90,000 in cash wrapped up in tin foil in his freezer.</s>MILES O'BRIEN: Not just any cash, cash with serial numbers that matches that cash used in a sting operation that the FBI was involved in. This is the cash.</s>TOOBIN: Exactly so you couldn't possibly say that this is the Bush administration out to get congress. This is a totally legitimate criminal investigation against a congressman who appears entirely corrupt, and they did what a normal criminal investigator does, search the premises. So here you have not the democrats, not the republicans, the entire leadership of both parties of congress, getting on their high horse about the speech or debate clause which is supposed to protect members of congress from expressing their opinions, I mean, it was just ridiculous their legal argument.</s>MILES O'BRIEN: And the speech and debate clause, if you really go back and look at the history, it was to stop the executive branch from more or less arresting people on their way to vote, and in some way stopping their right to do their job. This -- there's no way this fits into that.</s>TOOBIN: Plus you have a search warrant here, whereas Judge Hogan pointed out you have the executive branch authorized by the judicial branch. A judge has to sign a search warrant. So this wasn't just the executive branch going off on its own to search this office. It was with the authorization of the executive branch and as he said, you know, what the legislature is trying to do here, what congress is trying to do here is say, without consultation or approval from any other branch of the government, putting themselves off limits.</s>MILES O'BRIEN: Now Congressman Jefferson's attorney says they will appeal. There's no surprise there. But what I found kind of interesting is, the judge in this case says the material can be reviewed immediately. So in other words, the appeal process, which could take some time, the whole thing could be moot, right?</s>TOOBIN: But interestingly, if you look at what the Bush administration said yesterday, they appear to have gotten somewhat nervous by the extreme congressional reaction. So they have not yet said they are going to look at the material. They set up an interesting structure. I mean the Bush administration actually went about this very carefully. They sent a team of agents who were not involved in this investigation, would review all the material first to separate out the relevant and the irrelevant stuff and that process is on hold, and we don't know if that's going to go forward.</s>MILES O'BRIEN: Just to underscore the point, he has not been indicted, Congressman Jefferson, but there is a grand jury and this was probably what they were waiting for, before they proceeded.</s>TOOBIN: Correct, but several of his colleagues have been indicted, some have pled guilty, colleagues in this apparent scheme. So, I mean I would say the odds of the Congressman Jefferson getting indicted are approximately 99.9 percent.</s>MILES O'BRIEN: And probably sooner rather than later.</s>TOOBIN: Sooner rather than later.</s>MILES O'BRIEN: Jeff Toobin, thank you very much.</s>TOOBIN: See you later.</s>MILES O'BRIEN: See you in a little bit. Soledad?</s>SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Dozens or so democrats are looking past this year's midterm elections to November, 2008. And as CNN's Candy Crowley tells us, most are currently running a race to not be like Hillary Clinton.</s>CANDI CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Evan Bayh is not a household name, which is to say he is not Hillary Clinton. That could work. The junior senator from Indiana spent the end of his congressional break in Eagle Point Park Lodge in, and we're not kidding, Clinton, Iowa. And at the Raccoon Valley Community House in Adel. It is the nascent movement of the '08 democratic presidential campaign. Right now, it is roughly defined as Hillary Clinton and about a dozen others.</s>SEN. EVAN BAYH, (D) INDIANA: Is it a little bit of a David versus Goliath situation? Yeah, probably is. But as I recall, David did okay.</s>CROWLEY: Call her Goliath or the 500 pound guerilla, her office would prefer you call her not yet decided on whether to run. She is whatever else the prism through which the others are viewed, running to the left of her. Think John Kerry, Russ Feingold or to the right, think former Virginia Governor Mark Warner or Indiana Senator Evan Bayh who is in Iowa or New Hampshire just about every month.</s>BAYH: This is a critical juncture for our country, this is no ordinary time. There are big stakes.</s>CROWLEY: He talks national security, energy policy and budget. The former governor of Indiana, Bayh also thinks the next democratic nominee should have a track record of winning republican and independent support.</s>BAYH: People deep down they want less polarization and division. So they're going to look at all of us and say, who can help bring that about in a principled way. I think they're going to look for someone who can carry a couple of red states because they know that that's going to be what it takes to get the job done.</s>CROWLEY: It's not like he said she was unelectable, but that word has come up a lot in this '08 pre-game period, so much that the pro-Hillary camp felt it necessary to write an op ed outlining why she can win. Do you think she's polarizing?</s>BAYH: I like Hillary. I don't, but you know, that's up for the people to decide eventually.</s>CROWLEY: Bayh says his plan is to be who he is, which is not Hillary Clinton, but it is the guy who has five times been elected to the red state of Indiana. Candy Crowley, CNN, Davenport, Iowa.</s>SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Candy Crowley, of course, part of the best political team on TV. The report first aired in "THE SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer, that's weekdays of course at 4:00 and at 7:00 p.m. eastern time.</s>MILES O'BRIEN: It seems Albert Einstein wasn't just a brilliant scientist, he was also quite a ladies man as well. According to some just released letters, Einstein told his wife he had a half dozen girl friends who showered him with unwanted affection. Not sure how smart that was. Einstein spent a lot of time lecturing in Europe and the United States and he wrote hundreds of letters to his family. In them he described about six women he spent time with while being married. The letters released yesterday by Hebrew University. Soledad?</s>SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: At one point he even said something like I'm fed up with my theory of relativity in one of the letters, really an interesting look at him.</s>MILES O'BRIEN: Enough with that.</s>SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Enough with that, getting tired of it. Ahead this morning, you might have insurance to protect your home from a storm. Doesn't mean it's going to cover all the damage. This morning, we've got advice on exactly what kind of coverage you need.</s>MILES O'BRIEN: How old is too old to get behind the wheel? We posed that question in the wake of this scene right there.</s>SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: And a mother accused of kidnapping her own 10- month-old baby, she said she did it for his own good. Doctors say though she risked his life. We'll explain all ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.