July 31, 2007

FBI, IRS Search Ted Stevens' Home

UPDATED.

Two watchdog groups are calling for Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens (R) to step down, at least temporarily, from any appropriations-related committee posts after FBI and IRS agents searched his home in Girdwood, Alaska, yesterday. The groups, Taxpayers for Common and Sense and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, asked Republican Senate leaders to suspend any appropriations-oversight duties Stevens may be responsible for as long as the federal investigation is ongoing.

Stevens is the second-highest ranking GOP member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and also serves on six appropriations subcommittees.

Meanwhile, the Anchorage Daily News reports that GOP Sens. Trent Lott, the minority whip, and Lisa Murkowski, a fellow Alaskan, spoke out in Stevens' defense today.

This afternoon, AP reported that a Senate Commerce Committee financial clerk who works for Stevens recently testified before a federal grand jury and provided documents in a public corruption investigation involving the senator.

Stevens and his son, former state Senate President Ben Stevens, have been subjects of a DOJ investigation involving renovations made to the senator's home by contractor Bill Allen, who has pled guilty to bribing state lawmakers.

Agents spent more than eight hours inside Stevens' house. More than 20 agents and a dozen federal vehicles were involved in the search. The Daily News reported earlier that agents had removed items from Stevens' house and took extensive video yesterday, but officials would not specify what they were looking for or what they found.

The Daily News reports that the senator released a written statement saying his lawyers were told yesterday morning that federal agents "wished to search my home in Girdwood in connection with an ongoing investigation."

The Gate explored Stevens' troubles in further detail earlier this month.

Posted at 3:25 PM
Posted to: Senate, Ted Stevens
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