Pelosi-Hastings Meeting Could Signal End of Chairmanship Bid

WASHINGTON – House Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi will meet Tuesday with Florida Rep. Alcee Hastings, and those with knowledge of Pelosi's thinking told FOX News that Hastings will be told he is not going to be the next chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

Though no formal decisions have been announced and Pelosi aides say the situation remains fluid, they suggest that the meeting at Pelosi's Capitol Hill office was requested by Hastings so he could bow out of the race before Pelosi denies him the job.

"He knows he's not going to get it," said one senior House Democratic aide. "The question is why he didn't bow out long ago."

But a source close to Hastings says "it is simply not true" that the congressman wants to end his chances for the chairmanship.

In comments over the weekend, Hastings left the impression he was resigned to not receiving the chairmanship from Pelosi, due in large measure to his impeachment from the federal bench in 1989 for conspiring to accept a bribe from two convicted racketeers, and then, according to the Senate impeachment trial, lying to cover it up.

Pelosi aides have been scrutinizing the House and Senate proceedings in the Hastings impeachment, FOX News has learned, and apparently don't like what they have seen.

"It's ugly," said one Pelosi aide. "It's just really, really bad."

Hastings has public support from many quarters, including from Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, who will lead the Financial Services Committee next session.

"Alcee Hastings has served in the Congress for a long time, since the events that were the cause of the impeachment. I think he's entitled to be judged" on his performance since then, Frank told "FOX News Sunday."

In a letter to the House Democratic Caucus last week, Hastings wrote that he requested to meet with Pelosi to argue that his being impeached should be irrelevant to his becoming the next intelligence panel chairman.

"Recently, I asked our Speaker-elect to set aside 45 minutes to meet with me and Professor Terrance Anderson of the University of Miami. Terry is the most informed person in the world regarding my trial in U.S. District Court, the 3 ½ year investigation by the five-judge 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, the 26 judge Judicial Conference, the seven person impeachment inquiry in the House of Representatives, the 12 person U.S. Senate trial, and the numerous appeals to courts at every level," Hastings wrote.

"Professor Anderson could explain to anyone interested about our experiences at the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court. And finally, the decision after my election as to whether or not I should be seated in the House of Representatives," he said.

No schedule has been set for Pelosi to name an Intelligence Committee chairman except that the position must be filled by Jan. 4, 2007, when the 110th Congress convenes.

Texas Rep. Silvestre Reyes is the most-often mentioned candidate for the post. He is next in line after Hastings. Rep. Jane Harman of California, the current ranking member of the panel, has already been told by Pelosi that she won't be given the chairman's gavel.

FOX News' Major Garrett and Molly Hooper contributed to this report.