The big indictment we have all been waiting for:

WASHINGTON - Rep. John Doolittle said Thursday that the Justice Department has issued subpoenas to him and five of his staff members seeking records going back 11 years.

Doolittle declined comment about the development. But his criminal defense attorney said in a prepared statement that the subpoenas "raise serious constitutional issues going to the very core" of the separation of powers between the Congress and the executive branch.

In a release issued by Doolittle's office, it said that the Justice Department has assured the five staff members that they are merely witnesses. Left unanswered is the question of what Doolittle's status in the investigation is, and whether he has become a target in the on-going investigation related to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff that would mean an indictment is near.

The new round of subpoenas come almost a month after three Doolittle's aides -- Ron Rogers, the congressman's chief of staff, Dan Blankenburg, his deputy chief of staff, and scheduler Alisha Perkins - had been subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury investigating the Abramoff scandal.

In April, the congressman's house in Oakton, Va. was searched by the Federal Bureau of Investigation pursuant to a search warrant for records belonging to his wife Julie's business. The business, Sierra Dominion Financial Solutions, was hired to work for Abramoff and was paid more than $66,000 over a 17-month period. The only known assignment it had was fundraising work for an Abramoff charity, but $40,000 in $5,000 monthly increments was paid to the company after the March 2003 event was canceled.

In April, Doolittle disclosed that the search occurred after federal prosecutors tried to persuade him to pleaded guilty to a crime he said he didn't commit. Doolittle said prosecutors believe his wife was paid for work she didn't do as a way to pass money to him for assistance he gave the lobbyist.