Still waiting for the actual trial against former Rep. Rick Renzi, who CREW considered one of the most corrupt members of Congress while he was still serving. In the meantime, the Department of Justice added five new charges against Renzi:

The Justice Department has expanded its case against former Rep. Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.), adding five new corruption charges.

Prosecutors added insurance fraud and racketeering accusations in a second superseding indictment filed in late September. It is the second time the government has added charges to the original indictment, first filed in February 2008.

We learned more about the case against former Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ) from the investigation of the firings of the U.S. Attorneys.  Top officials at the White House and the Justice Department worked in tandem to have the Justice Department violate its own policy on commenting about an ongoing investigation -- and, in this case, those comments were designed to affect an election:

Under exhaustive questioning, former White House counsel Harriet Miers and former presidential adviser Karl Rove did not acknowledge any misconduct and denied that [US Attorney Paul] Charlton was terminated because of his case against Renzi.

However, Miers acknowledged contacting the Justice Department at the behest of a Rove subordinate in the Office of Political Affairs, who was concerned about the negative publicity resulting from news leaks in the Renzi investigation.

According to transcripts and exhibits, Miers phoned Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty on Oct. 24, 2006, to learn whether Justice Department officials might issue some kind of clarifying statement about the Renzi inquiry. A declaration of that type would violate a Justice Department policy banning comment about ongoing investigations.

Two days later, with the November election looming, a federal official confirmed to The Arizona Republic that a "preliminary inquiry" of Renzi was under way but emphasized that earlier news reports about the case were fraught with factual errors.

"People are assuming there is evidence of some crime (by Renzi) even though that's not necessarily true," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "I want to caution you not to chop this guy's head off."

Renzi was re-elected but subsequently resigned after his indictment on 44 counts of fraud, extortion, money laundering, embezzlement and other crimes. Some of the charges stem from a federal land-swap deal in which Renzi is accused of misusing his position for financial gain; others are linked to the purported use of clients' insurance premiums to finance his political campaign.

The ramifications of the dismissal of the case against Senator Ted Stevens continue to reverberate.  Unfortunately, it extends beyond the Stevens case:

While the allegations of prosecutorial misconduct in the Stevens trial are limited to his case alone, the damage to the Department of Justice Public Integrity Section may make judges more willing to listen to defense attorneys who challenge evidence. Jurors may also be more willing to listen to claims of innocence by politicians under scrutiny, experts say.

Some Department of Justice watchers predict there will be staff changes in the leadership of the Public Integrity Section — moves that could slow down criminal investigations into other lawmakers.

Among the pending cases are charges against former Reps. William Jefferson (D-La.) and Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.), who have been indicted on a host of corruption charges, including bribery and fraud. Former Rep. John Doolittle (R-Calif.) has been implicated in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, and Reps. Don Young (R-Alaska), John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) and Peter Visclosky (D-Ind.) have found themselves drawn into other criminal probes by the Justice Department, although no charges have been filed in those cases.

Melanie Sloan, as usual, succinctly summed up the situation:

“This sordid mess reflects equally poorly on the Public Integrity Section and Sen. Stevens, but in the end it is the public that has lost the most: a corrupt politician has escaped punishment and future prosecutions of politicians have been jeopardized,” said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. (emphasis added)

The Constitution's "speech and debate" clause is one of the main defenses proferred by laywers for Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ) who is facing federal corruption charges including money laundering, conspiracy and wire fraud.   The prosecutors in the case have aggressively argued against use of that defense.  We agree.  It's not a get out of jail free card for members of Congress:

In extensive filings, prosecutors said they are not relying on his legislative acts to prove their case.

They also said that Renzi's lawyers were seeking to expand the breadth of the speech or debate clause beyond a scope that the Supreme Court and appellate courts have granted.

Renzi's defense team has contended that "the speech or debate clause protection is absolute" - that the constitutional clause provides a privilege immunizing the congressman from prosecution concerning virtually any of his functions related to the legislative process.

But in their motion, prosecutors said, "Renzi claims that he is entitled to dismissal of every count of the indictment" on the basis that evidence of legislative acts was introduced in the grand jury, and "that the government 'must necessarily' introduce evidence of legislative acts to support its theory of the case at trial."

However, they said the Supreme Court has applied speech or debate protection only to "legislative acts," and in a situation that "expressly covers actual 'speech or debate in either House.'"

Other legislative activities "must be an integral part of the deliberative and communicative processes" in congressional proceedings concerning proposed legislation, activities "essential to legislating," the prosecutors said.

According to The Hill, staffers for the Arizona senators were interviewed about a land deal, which figures prominently in the case against Rep. Renzi.   Expect a "speech and debate clause" defense from Renzi at some point soon:

Federal agents interviewed staffers for likely Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) as part of their corruption case against Rep. Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.).

U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona Diane J. Humetewa and fellow prosecutors disclosed the interviews with aides for McCain and fellow Arizona Republican Sen. Jon Kyl in a written response to Renzi’s attorneys, who asked for the contents of the interview to help prepare for Renzi’s upcoming trial, which is scheduled for October.

The aides were interviewed about land exchanges, according to an April letter from Humetewa filed with the U.S. District Court of Arizona late last week. The letter did not indicate when the interviews occurred.

A federal land swap critical to developing a $3 billion copper mine southeast of Phoenix is at the heart of the case against Renzi, who is facing 35 public corruption charges, including conspiracy, money-laundering, extortion and insurance fraud. Renzi is retiring at the end of this session.

For CREW’s reaction to today’s Ethics Committee announcement to defer the investigation into Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ), please see CREW’s statement regarding yesterday’s announcement by the Ethics Committee on its deferral of its investigation into Rep. Vito Fossella (R-NY).  It's posted below.  Please just substitute relevant Renzi information into statement.

Bottom line:  We're shocked.  Given the track record of the House Ethics Committee, we shouldn't be.  But, we are. 

Last month, we reported that Rep. Renzi was trying to delay the start of his trial for a variety of corruption-related charges.

Today, we learned the start of the trial has, in fact, been delayed -- unclear why:

A federal court has agreed to push back the trial of Rep. Rick Renzi (Ariz.) until Oct. 14, according to court documents.

The lawmaker’s lawyers had asked for a delay of the trial, which was scheduled to begin at the end of this month.

Rep. Rick Renzi wants a delay in the start of his trial. Based on this article in CQPolitics, it sounds like his lawyers intend to use the Constitution's Speech and Debate Clause as a defense:

Embattled Rep. Rick Renzi , R-Ariz., has asked a federal judge in Arizona to delay his scheduled April 29 trial on conspiracy, fraud, extortion and money laundering charges stemming from a land-swap deal.

Prosecutors will not oppose the Arizona lawmaker’s bid to have his trial deemed a “complex case,” which would allow more time to sort out motions, discovery and other pre-trial issues.

Renzi’s lawyers also said that because he is a sitting congressman who faces allegations related to his legislative activities, they would raise the issue of legislative privilege afforded by the Constitution’s Speech or Debate clause.

Renzi pleaded not guilty March 4 to a 35-count indictment — handed down Feb. 21 — that charges he conspired with one former business partner in a land-swap scheme and with another associate to commit insurance fraud.

Renzi, 49, maintains he is innocent of any wrongdoing.

CREW named Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ) one of the most corrupt members of Congress in our 2007 edition of Beyond DeLay.   Renzi was indicted on February 22, 2008 on a variety of corruption-related counts.  The primary focus has been on Renzi's suspect land deal.  But, there's more:

Rep. Rick Renzi, R-Ariz., allegedly defrauded dozens of pro-life organizations for hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund his first congressional bid, according to an analysis of the recent indictment against him, a state insurance claim and an interview with an insurance lawyer involved in the case.

When federal prosecutors indicted Renzi, 49, on 35 felony counts two weeks ago, many reports focused on alleged crimes stemming from a complicated series of land swaps the congressman facilitated.

But the indictment also accuses Renzi, who ran an insurance firm before coming to Capitol Hill, of misappropriating hundreds of thousands of dollars in insurance premiums and using the money to fund his congressional campaign.

Organizations such as Arizona Right-to-Life, the Hope Crisis Pregnancy Center and the Wickenburg Pregnancy Resource Center paid insurance premiums to Renzi's insurance firm, Renzi & Company, but received notices their insurance coverage was going to be cancelled for nonpayment, according to a 2003 complaint filed with the State of Arizona. The complaint was first reported by the Phoenix New Times.

According to the indictment, Renzi funneled those payments -- totaling more than $400,000 -- through various accounts and finally to his campaign.

Rep. Rick Renzi has found a defender in the House:

[Rep. Tom] Cole (R-Okla.), a classmate of Renzi’s who has worked closely with him on Native American issues, appeared to separate himself from Boehner’s sentiment when asked about it at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast.

Cole and Boehner have tangled over Cole’s leadership at the NRCC. Cole also expressed confidence that the GOP can hold the seat.

“I think he’s got every right to do what he thinks,” Cole said. “I guess I believe in the American legal system. You’re allowed to go argue your case. I don’t tell people that they ought to resign, and I wouldn’t share that kind of discussion, honestly, in a public venue anyway.

“At the end of the day, Rick says he’s innocent. Rick’s going to argue that case. He has the right to do that,” Cole said.