Late yesterday, ABC News and the Washington Times both reported that Utah prosecutors have been working with the FBI on allegations of corruption involving two US Senators — who at first blush could not be more opposite. Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senator Mike Lee have almost nothing in common politically, but may be connected to corruption tracked in Utah involving the online-gambling industry. ABC’s Brian Ross spoke to the two Utah prosecutors — one Republican, one Democrat — who want the Department of Justice to open a broader investigation of Reid and Lee:

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Two local prosecutors in Utah say a corruption investigation looking at state politicians and online gambling interests has yielded evidence that could implicate Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, and Senator Mike Lee, R-Utah.

The two district attorneys – one Democrat and one Republican – already working with a team of FBI agents, are urging federal prosecutors to pick up the case and investigate – something the Department of Justice has thus far declined to do.

The Utah officials say the evidence relates to suspect campaign contributions and other financial transactions.

Reid, a liberal Democrat, and Lee, a rising star in Republican politics, could not be more opposite politically but both have ties to the on-line poker world, the prosecutors say.

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This isn’t the first time a connection between Reid and Lee has arisen, John Solomon reports at the Washington Times, and it concerned Democrats at the time:

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The investigative efforts have been further complicated by the fact that Mr. Reid worked to get Mr. Lee’s chief counsel, David Barlow, confirmed in 2011 as the U.S. attorney in Salt Lake City. That action — a Democratic Senate leader letting a Republican be named to a key prosecutor’s position in the Obama administration — raised many eyebrows and angered some Democrats.

Subsequently, the entire office of federal prosecutors in Utah was forced to recuse itself from the corruption case after questions surfaced about a conflict of interest involving one prosecutor and a subject of the probe. After the recusal, state prosecutors secured a court order transferring the federal evidence gathered up to that point to their possession.

The process has left FBI agents in the unusual position of trying to help two local prosecutors make a case in state court without the ability to use the federal court system to determine whether accusations against two powerful members of Congress are true.

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That’s not the only “unusual position” that the FBI has had to take in this case. Normally, these kinds of allegations would go to a federal grand jury for further development, quarterbacked by the DoJ’s public integrity section. Instead, the DoJ has refused to do anything with the case:

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The probe, conducted by one Republican and one Democratic state prosecutor in Utah, has received accusations from an indicted businessman and political donor, interviewed other witnesses and gathered preliminary evidence such as financial records, Congressional Record statements and photographs that corroborate some aspects of the accusations, officials have told The Washington Times and ABC News.

But the Justice Department’s public integrity section — which normally handles corruption cases involving elected figures — rejected FBI agents’ bid to use a federal grand jury and subpoenas to determine whether the accusations are true and whether any federal crimes were committed by state and federal officials.

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-SNIP-

Read more:http://hotair.com/archives/2014/03/14/ha...-into-reid-lee/

Personal anecdote: Senator Lee is to be the main speaker at a Lincoln Day dinner I am attending in an adjacent county on March 21. If they allow questions I will ask him about this.

Or not.