The Jefferson Trial Kicks Off
16th June 2009
“One of our government’s most powerful officials, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, was using his public office for private gain,” Lytle told jurors in his opening statement here at the federal courthouse in Alexandria this morning.
With that, Lytle launched explanations of a dizzying array of alleged bribery schemes involving African-American businessmen who would arrive at Jefferson’s office looking for the Congressman’s help in pursuing business opportunities in West Africa. In exchange, said Lytle, the businessmen would end up being forced to pay bribes to sham companies set up to benefit Jefferson’s family.
God forbid that they should mention he was a Democrat until the next-to-last paragraph, in passing. Perhaps corruption is just so much a part of the Democrat lifestyle that we can assume “corrupt politician” = “Democrat”.
Defense attorney Robert Trout of Trout Cacheris was expected to counter after a lunch break that none of Jefferson’s alleged actions relate to his official duties, such as voting or introducing legislation. Trout is expected to say they were private acts and therefore not crimes.
And people would have come to him for these “private acts” even if he hadn’t been a Congressman. Sure, I believe that.