Ex-House Majority Leader DeLay Doesn’t Know Why DOJ Probe Took So Long
Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay says he doesn’t know why it took six years for the Justice Department to finish an investigation of his ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
No federal criminal charges will be filed against the former GOP congressman, according to stories in The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times, the New York Times and the Associated Press. DeLay said his lawyers started inquiring about the status of the case in June, and at one point there had been a year-and-a-half period of no contact from the DOJ, according to the BLT account.
DeLay’s lawyer, McGuireWoods chairman Richard Cullen, told the BLT the defense strategy was to cooperate as much as possible. DeLay turned over his computer and e-mails and told his aides to cooperate.
DeLay criticized the case as part of “the criminalization of politics.” He still faces state charges in Texas related to 2002 campaign donations.
