House Holds Hearing on FBI's Capitol Raid

George Washington University Law School Professor Jonathan Turley, right, testifies on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, May 30,2 006 before a House Judiciary Committee hearing on the FBI raid on Rep. William Jefferson's, D-La. office. From left are, Baltimore Law School Professor Charles Tiefer, former Pennsylvania Rep. Robert Walker, and Turley. (AP Photo/Dennis Cook) (Dennis Cook - AP)

One hearing, Sensenbrenner said, would include Gonzales and Mueller.

"They didn't get it right this time," Sensenbrenner said during the first session, titled "Reckless Justice: Did the Saturday Night Raid of Congress Trample the Constitution?"

Democrats supported the hearing and the prospect of a thorough, televised questioning of the Bush administration.

"We've never been told why the search had to be done in the middle of the night," said the committee's ranking Democrat, John Conyers of Michigan. "We've never learned why the member in question was not permitted to have his attorneys present while his offices were searched for some 18 hours."

The hearing comes more than a week after the FBI, without giving House leaders notice, conducted an overnight raid of Jefferson's suite in the Rayburn House Office Building as part of a bribery investigation. House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi issued a rare joint statement last week protesting the raid as a violation of constitutional separation of powers protections.

One witness at the hearing, former Rep. Bob Walker, R-Pa., said Congress should play hardball in seeking answers to its questions by subpoenaing administration documents authorizing the raid.

"The American people should be deeply concerned that a decision to conduct a raid on Congress was made consciously and evidently at high levels inside the Justice Department and the FBI," Walker told the panel.

"If the Rayburn raid was a precedent for coming attractions and intimidating tactics, the way Congress responds initially must be improved," he said.