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Deal reached on Cunningham subpeonas (AP) 28 feb 2007 | Source: U.S. Congress
WASHINGTON - Three House committees subpoenaed in connection with the bribery investigation into imprisoned former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham and his associates reached an agreement with prosecutors Tuesday allowing the subpoenas to be withdrawn.
Under the agreement, five outstanding subpoenas will be withdrawn and the committees will voluntarily hand over documents in addition to material already provided, according to a statement released by Brendan Daly, a spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record).
Two committee staffers will appear March 1 before the federal grand jury in San Diego that has been considering evidence stemming from the Cunningham case, Daly said.
The subpoenas were sent in December and January to the Appropriations, Armed Services and Intelligence committees and the two staffers.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in San Diego did not immediately return a call for comment.
Cunningham, a San Diego-area Republican, was sentenced in March to more than eight years in prison for accepting $2.4 million in bribes in exchange for steering government business to defense contractors.
Earlier this month, the grand jury indicted a former top official (*C.I.A. Foggo) and a San Diego defense contractor (*Wilkes) on fraud and money laundering charges in an investigation that spun off from the Cunningham probe (*the trick using Palfrey escort service). The defense contractor, Brent Wilkes, was also charged in a separate indictment along with a New York mortgage banker on charges of bribing Cunningham.
The subpoena deal comes after nearly a year of negotiations over the documents that began while the House was still under Republican control.
“The agreements permit the committees to cooperate with the investigation in a manner that respects the constitutional prerogatives of the House and does not impair the committees’ functioning or compromise their legislative and oversight responsibilities,” Daly said.
The Justice Department has clashed with Congress in the past over its investigations of lawmakers. Republicans and Democrats alike were furious when the raided the office of Democratic Rep. William Jefferson (news, bio, voting record) of Louisiana in May for evidence in a corruption investigation.