The FBI says it has video footage of Rep. Bill Jefferson (D-LA) accepting $100,000 from an FBI informant. Jefferson, who has not been charged with anything, insists that he has committed no crime.
The FBI says it taped Rep. Jefferson putting a suitcase containing the bribe money into the trunk of his car. A search of Jefferson's Washington, D.C., residence revealed that Jefferson hid the money in his freezer, officials say. The agency also conducted a weekend raid of Jefferson's Capitol Hill office.
The disclosures were contained in an 83-page affadavit accompanying the search warrant for Jefferson's office. The congressman has been under investigation for over a year in a public corruption probe. He has not been charged with anything to date, but the affadavit noted that there is probable cause to suspect Jefferson commited wire fraud, bribery of a government official and bribery of a foreign official.
A former Jefferson aide and a Kentucky businessman have already pleaded guilty in the case. Jefferson held a news conference in New Orleans last week in front of the town's federal courthouse, where he proclaimed his innocence.
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