I wonder -- will Speaker Nancy continue to stand by her man?

Sources tell CBS News that authorities are seeking an indictment against Congressman William Jefferson, D-La., on more than a dozen counts involving public corruption.

Jefferson has been the subject of a ongoing probe in which FBI agents allegedly found more than $90,000 in cash in his freezer in August 2005.

CBS News correspondent Bob Orr reports that the Justice Department is expected to unveil the charges later today.

This was the latest development in the 16-month international investigation of Jefferson, who allegedly accepted $100,000 from a telecommunications businessman, $90,000 of which was later recovered from a freezer in the congressman's Louisiana home.

Remember -- this is the same Louisiana Democrat who commandeered rescue craft to help him remove evidence "personal property" from his New Orleans home following Katrina.

More as this develops.

UPDATE: And what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a 94-page indictment with 16 charges that could bring up to 235 years in prison for the corrupt Louisiana Democrat (but I repeat myself).

Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., was indicted Monday on federal charges of racketeering, soliciting bribes and money-laundering in a long-running bribery investigation into business deals he tried to broker in Africa.

The indictment handed up in federal court in Alexandria., Va., Monday is 94 pages long and lists 16 alleged violations of federal law that could keep Jefferson in prison for up to 235 years, according to a Justice Department official who has seen the document.

Among the charges listed in the indictment, said the official, are racketeering, soliciting bribes, wire fraud, money-laundering, obstruction of justice, conspiracy and violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

The text of the indictment can be viewed here.

Oh, and here is this little tidbit about the consequences of this indictment for Jefferson.

Although the indictment will no doubt raise political pressures on him to step down, he does not face any official sanctions in Congress as a result of the indictment alone, according to House rules. But should he be convicted, Jefferson could face disciplinary action including being excluded from votes if he receives a prison sentence longer than two years.

I'm curious -- will Democrats insist he receive be subject to the same sort of limits that Tom DeLay was following his indictment for violations of a law that does not even exist in Texas? Will he lose any committee assignments? Or will they continue to hold him to their bosom as one of their own?

UPDATE II: I knew it -- Speaker Nancy stands by her man.

The charges in the indictment against Congressman Jefferson are extremely serious. While Mr. Jefferson, just as any other citizen, must be considered innocent until proven guilty, if these charges are proven true, they constitute an egregious and unacceptable abuse of public trust and power.

Matt Margolis notes the double standard Speaker Nancy applies when it comes to Democrats accused of corruption.

So, Democrats are given the benefit of the doubt--they are considered innocent until proven guilty--while Republicans like Tom DeLay, who was the victim of a politically motivated indictment, are immediately part of a "culture of corruption."

But then again, as one local Democrat blogger points out, hypocrisy on the part of Democrats isn't so bad because they don't claim to have any moral values.

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