Tom DeLay on Television?

Last night Tom DeLay, newly indicted member of Congress and former House majority leader, appeared on at least two television programs, "Softball" and "Insanity and Colmes." And on both shows, he went right after the prosecutor, Ronnie Earle, accusing him of engaging in a partisan witchhunt, of conspiring with Nancy Pelosi to get him.

I can say one thing about these appearances: I sure hope that DeLay was on these shows against the advice of counsel. Because I'm pretty sure that his statements in his interview with Sean Insanity were (almost?) enough to support a conspiracy conviction. I don't have a transcript, but he essentially admitted that TRMPAC had engaged in laundering corporate funds, that he knew it was going to do that, and that he had helped set it up . . . to do that. He seemed to think that the fact that he had never participated directly in any of these transactions saved him, somehow, or that there was some loophole in the Texas law that made what he did technically legal. But this is a conspiracy case, and conspiracy is a very loose doctrine. He basically admitted that he was on that train. If the train was an agreement to break the law, he's screwed. By his own words. In fact, even if some Clintonesque loophole applies, he might still be guilty of conspiring to violate the law, even if the law was never violated.

Politics aside, I couldn't believe my eyes or ears last night. The judge in this case should issue a gag order, just to save DeLay from making Earle's case for him (any more than he already has).

In political terms, I guess that DeLay believed he had to aggressively attack the charge to undermine it. But not a wise legal maneuver.

Footnote: I haven't had time to study the issue, but it's possible that Texas law only criminalizes a knowing violation of campaign finance rules, which could create a possible defense where DeLay would say that he believed his actions to have been 100% legal. (The law doesn't usually allow mistake of law as a defense, for obvious reasons.) That seems to be the word coming out of the 'papers this morning. Even if such a defense exists, however, it's still a mistake to go on television and shoot your mouth off.