Evidently, the FBI:
This is perhaps the apotheosis of the Bush administration. The OSC's responsibility is to investigate whistleblower complaints, so it's just a little bit disconcerting that it's now being investigated for obstructing justice. It's totally backward. I mean, it would be like the Attorney General and other leaders in the Department of Justice refusing to anwer direct questions under oath, or the president taking the country to war over made-up weapons of mass destruction. It's topsy-turvy. It's crazy. In other words, it's just another day in the Bush administration.Federal Bureau of Investigation agents raided the Office of Special Counsel here, seizing computers and documents belonging to the agency chief Scott Bloch and staff.
More than a dozen FBI agents served grand jury subpoenas shortly after 10 a.m., shutting down the agency’s computer network and searching its offices, as well as Mr. Bloch’s home. Employees said the searches appeared focused on alleged obstruction of justice by Mr. Bloch during the course of an 2006 inquiry into his conduct in office.
The independent agency, created by Congress in the wake of the Watergate scandal, is charged with protecting federal employees and deciding whether their complaints merit full-scale investigation — a first line of defense against fraud and ismanagement in government. It also enforces a ban on U.S. employees engaging in partisan political activity.
I think Steve Benen puts it well:
Thank God the grown-ups are back in charge.Only with the Bush gang is this set of circumstances even possible — Bloch is ostensibly investigating the Justice Department for its political activities, and simultaneously the Justice Department sends the FBI to raid Bloch’s officeand home. What’s more, everybody is probably guilty.
This is perhaps the apotheosis of the Bush administration. The OSC's responsibility is to investigate whistleblower complaints, so it's just a little bit disconcerting that it's now being investigated for obstructing justice. It's totally backward. I mean, it would be like the Attorney General and other leaders in the Department of Justice refusing to anwer direct questions under oath, or the president taking the country to war over made-up weapons of mass destruction. It's topsy-turvy. It's crazy. In other words, it's just another day in the Bush administration.Federal Bureau of Investigation agents raided the Office of Special Counsel here, seizing computers and documents belonging to the agency chief Scott Bloch and staff.
More than a dozen FBI agents served grand jury subpoenas shortly after 10 a.m., shutting down the agency’s computer network and searching its offices, as well as Mr. Bloch’s home. Employees said the searches appeared focused on alleged obstruction of justice by Mr. Bloch during the course of an 2006 inquiry into his conduct in office.
The independent agency, created by Congress in the wake of the Watergate scandal, is charged with protecting federal employees and deciding whether their complaints merit full-scale investigation — a first line of defense against fraud and ismanagement in government. It also enforces a ban on U.S. employees engaging in partisan political activity.
I think Steve Benen puts it well:
Thank God the grown-ups are back in charge.Only with the Bush gang is this set of circumstances even possible — Bloch is ostensibly investigating the Justice Department for its political activities, and simultaneously the Justice Department sends the FBI to raid Bloch’s officeand home. What’s more, everybody is probably guilty.
