WASHINGTON House speaker protests to Bush over raid on congressman's office

The FBI said they found $90,000 in the congressman's freezer.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Speaker Dennis Hastert complained directly to President Bush on Tuesday about the FBI's unprecedented raid on Rep. William Jefferson's office, while officials said senior Democrats worked to ease the Louisiana lawmaker out of a powerful committee assignment, at least temporarily.
"My opinion is that they took the wrong path," Hastert, R-Ill., told reporters after meeting with Bush in the White House. "They need to back up, and we need to go from there."
White House officials said they didn't learn of the search of Jefferson's office Saturday night and Sunday until after it happened. They pledged to work with the Justice Department to soothe lawmakers' anger.
"We are hoping that there's a way to balance the constitutional concerns of the House of Representatives with the law enforcement obligations of the executive branch," said White House press secretary Tony Snow. "Obviously we are taking note of Speaker Hastert's statements."
Discovery
FBI agents raided Jefferson's office over the weekend and issued an affidavit saying they had earlier discovered $90,000 in cash wrapped and stashed in the freezer of his home.
Jefferson has not been indicted and has denied wrongdoing. But his predicament spread concern through the upper echelons of Republicans and Democrats in both houses.
House Democrats especially reacted quickly, in keeping with their election-year vow to campaign against what they call a Republican "culture of corruption."
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