Senator Harry Reid has gotten himself into a difficult position. Of colurse, the national media is uninterested in publicizing Democrat lapses, so don't look for anything resembling the feeding frenzy surrounding the trumped—up inductment of Tom Delay, when it comes to this story. The Las Vegas Review—Journal reports:

The money that led to the indictment this week of two Las Vegas pastors and the wife of one of them came from federal grants arranged by Sen. Harry Reid in September 2001, a Reid spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Moving to distance Reid from a possible scandal, aide Tessa Hafen said the senator sought the money on behalf of a nonprofit social services agency and not for the churches or persons who have been accused of mishandling the money.

But:

A Reid relationship with the Second Baptist Church surfaced in 1997, when the senator donated $250 to the church where Davis was and still is pastor.

The money came from John Huang, who was convicted of making illegal contributions to the 1996 re—election campaign of President Clinton.

At about the same time, Reid donated another $250 from Huang to the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Las Vegas.

Reid said he made the contributions to the churches instead of returning the money to Huang because he did not think Huang deserved it.

This sounds like the sort of thing Ronnie Earle would call "money laundering." Lucky for Reid that prosecutors in Nevada probably have higher standards.

Hat tip: David B.

Thomas Lifson  9 30 05