HUGE h/t to Drudge:

I’m posting the entire Atlanta Journal Constitution article for tomorrow, because I don’t want my readers to have to register to view it (the AJC is another one of those pesky on-line papers that makes you register).

McKinney deal may be in works
Lawyer rejects talk of any negotiations

By BOB KEMPER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 06/07/06 WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors investigating the confrontation between Rep. Cynthia McKinney of Georgia and a Capitol police officer have been talking privately with McKinney’s office in hopes of resolving the case without the spectacle of an indictment and trial, officials familiar with the talks say. Prosecutors for several weeks have been carrying on confidential discussions with the DeKalb County Democrat in what they characterized as an effort to reach a plea agreement, even as they were presenting evidence in the March 29 incident to a grand jury, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The grand jury has not yet decided whether McKinney should be charged, an official familiar with the proceedings said, and no decision is expected this week. The prosecutors have subpoenaed at least six witnesses to appear before the jury over the last two months.

McKinney’s office rejected claims that there have been discussions of a plea agreement, saying the congresswoman has not been charged with anything and may never be, so there’s no plea to negotiate.

“At this time, I have no comment as I am unaware of any ‘legal case’ regarding Ms. McKinney and [the] March 29 incident,” William Moffitt, one of McKinney’s lawyers, said in an e-mailed statement.

A spokesman for U.S. Attorney Ken Wainstein’s office and a Justice Department spokesman declined to comment on the talks or even confirm they were occurring.

Negotiated settlements in cases as controversial and politically sensitive as McKinney’s are common, according to former federal prosecutors and lawyers with experience in Washington’s Superior Court. They said there is often pressure on the prosecutors from higher-ups at the Justice Department and possibly the White House to resolve such cases quickly and quietly.

The Justice Department declined to comment on McKinney’s case. A White House spokesman said he had no information on whether McKinney’s case had been discussed in the West Wing.

Capitol Hill police said they were dismayed that the investigation into McKinney’s confrontation with the police officer is taking so long to resolve. They said failure to charge McKinney would send the message that it is all right to hit a police officer.

The incident occurred as McKinney was entering a House office building and started to skirt a security checkpoint, as members of Congress and their aides are allowed to do. When a police officer who did not recognize McKinney tried to stop her McKinney, struck him in the chest with her fist, according to the police report.

McKinney was not wearing a special lapel pin that would have identified her as a congresswoman, but House members are not required to wear the pins. She also had changed her hairstyle since posing for her official House photo, which guards can consult to confirm her identity.

McKinney and her lawyers said she was acting in self-defense after the officer touched her inappropriately. After the incident, McKinney held a news conference in which she said she was the victim of racial profiling by Capitol police, stopped only because she was a “female, black congresswoman.”

Under pressure from fellow Democrats and black lawmakers, McKinney eventually apologized for the incident on the House floor.

— Scott MacFarlane of Cox Broadcasting contributed to this article.

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