WASHINGTON _ The Federal Bureau of Investigation is combing through Rep. Robert A. Brady's emails to see if he led a conspiracy to pay off a challenger to drop out of the Democratic primary in his district in 2012.
The FBI has accused the Pennsylvania Democrat of leading a scheme to conceal a $90,000 bribe for former Philadelphia Municipal Court Judge Jimmie Moore. Moore has pleaded guilty and is cooperating with authorities. The email search marks the first time Brady himself has been personally investigated.
The claim against Brady was contained in a Nov. 1 search warrant affidavit released Friday that allowed investigators to sift through evidence on Brady's campaign email, bobcongress@aol.com.
Brady could be charged with wire fraud, lying to the FBI and making an illegal campaign contribution, according to the affidavit.
Two of Brady's aides, Ken Smukler and Donald "D.A." Jones, were charged last month with making illegal campaign contributions on Brady's behalf. The two were also charged with conspiring to hide money in Moore's campaign finance reports. The $90,000 was allegedly funneled from Brady's campaign fund, through a third party polling firm, to Moore's campaign.
"The investigation has uncovered evidence which indicates that Brady, Smukler and Jones utilized Smukler's and D.A. Jones' corporations to conceal payments from Brady's campaign ... for Moore to withdraw from the 2012 Democratic primary race," FBI Special Agent Jonathan R. Szeliga wrote in the affidavit.
Brady has adamantly denied through lawyers and spokespeople that he did anything wrong. His camp maintains he paid the polling firm $90,000 for exclusive rights to its data, a claim the FBI has called bunk.
Brady's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.
It remains unclear why Brady may have felt he needed Moore to drop from the race.
At the time of the alleged transaction, Moore had less than $5,000 in his war chest, while Brady, a long-tenured incumbent, sat on a mound upwards of $750,000.
Brady is in his 10th term in the House and is the ranking member on the administrative committee, which oversees settlement payments in Congress, including for sexual assault.
