Barbour May Face Indictment
By Pierre Thomas/CNN
WASHINGTON (Feb. 26) -- Haley Barbour, the former head of the Republican National Committee (RNC), may soon find out if he will be the subject of a Justice Department indictment.
Justice attorneys are at a critical stage in deciding whether Barbour should be indicted on election law violations, CNN has learned.
At issue is whether a non-profit research group founded by Barbour, The National Policy Forum, provided an illegal flow of overseas cash to
the GOP in 1994. That is the year the Republicans took control of Congress.
Justice attorneys have completed what is called a prosecution memorandum that lays out the case for filing charges against Barbour and possibly the RNC.
Called before Senate hearings last July, Barbour flatly denied any wrongdoing.
"The RNC gave over $5 million to Republican House candidates in 1994," Barbour said then. "None of it, not a red cent, came from the money the RNC got back from The National Policy Forum."
One law enforcement official told CNN the discussions about Barbour are extremely sensitive and it's uncertain "which way it will go."
The memorandum still has a number of layers of review before it ever reaches Attorney General Janet Reno. But Justice officials face a mid-March deadline for taking action on a number of possible Federal Election Commission violations.
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