Salty Sea Dog and former congressman Eric Massa (D-Public Showers) is under investigation by the FBI for corruption. Uh oh! His campaign made large, suspicious payments days after he announced that he would not seek reelection.

The Washington Post has, or will shortly have, the story. They say:

The FBI and Justice Department prosecutors appear to be focusing their preliminary investigation on large payments Massa's campaign made last month to his top aide and to renew the lease for the congressman's personal car within days of his announcement he would not seek reelection.

This will be fun! (We'll update once we know more.)

Update: Here we go!

The following day, Massa's campaign paid $40,000 to his chief of staff Joe Racalto, a critical witness in the ethics probe, The Post reported last week. The campaign also paid $39,000 to renew a car lease for a campaign vehicle he drives.

Massa has said he did not authorize the $40,000 payment, and he has accused Racalto of telling the campaign comptroller, incorrectly, that the fee had been approved. Racalto has said he was owed the $40,000 under a long-standing agreement to be paid for ongoing political work on the campaign.

Hm. So either Massa paid off a "critical witness" or said "critical witness" scammed himself some cash. Massa tends to remember events a little differently than other people do, so I'm leaning toward believing Racalto, at the moment. (But isn't this Racalto guy the guy who never told House leadership about how incredibly bad his boss' behavior was? Hmm again!)

[Pic: Getty]