Thursday, February 09, 2006

Hot Damn; It's all coming together

These corrupt bastards' heads are going to roll yet!


The Abramoff Emails

The Progress Report has obtained the text of emails written by Jack Abramoff in which the fallen lobbyist personally describes his relationship with President Bush. They depict a relationship far more extensive than has been previously reported. The emails written by Abramoff were addressed to Kim Eisler, the national editor of Washingtonian magazine. The Washingtonian recently reported the existence of several photographs showing Abramoff and Bush together. Eisler is also the author of Revenge of the Pequots, a book about tribal politics for which Abramoff was interviewed. White House Secretary Scott McClellan has claimed any contacts between Abramoff and Bush were limited to a few widely-attended holiday receptions at the White House. (Asked about the President's contacts with Abramoff on January 17, McClellan said, "It is actually only two Hanukkah receptions that he attended.") Bush said flatly of Abramoff, "I don't know him." According to Eisler, however, Abramoff wrote that Bush "SAW ME IN ALMOST A DOZEN SETTINGS, AND JOKED WITH ME ABOUT A BUNCH OF THINGS, INCLUDING DETAILS OF MY KIDS." Read the emails here.

ABRAMOFF HAS PHOTOS WITH BUSH ON DISPLAY IN HIS HOME: According to Eisler, Jack Abramoff has several photos with President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush in his house, "just sitting in his office." McClellan has previously said if photos of Bush with Abramoff exist, they are shots taken at "widely attended" Hanukkah receptions in 2001 and 2002. That's not what Eisler saw in Abramoff's home office. He reports that none of the photos at Abramoff's house were from holiday parties. One photo at Abramoff's home depicts Bush shaking hands with Abramoff inside the Old Executive Office Building. Another shows Bush with Abramoff at what appears to be the Corcoran Gallery of Art. A third photo, which has not previously been disclosed, is of Abramoff's wife with Laura Bush.

WHITE HOUSE OFFICIAL IN ABRAMOFF INVESTIGATION CROSSHAIRS: The details about Abramoff's relationship with Bush emerge as the criminal investigation, which has already rocked Congress, zeros in on the administration. The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that the scandal "
poses significant problems for the Bush White House." One administration official, David Safavian, has already been indicted for "giving Mr. Abramoff inside information from the GSA [General Services Administration] at a time when the lobbyist was seeking government leases for a client [Tyco]." Safavian is also accused of misleading investigators about a golf trip to Scotland he took with Abramoff in 2002. The Wall Street Journal also reports that "questions still swirl about [former Interior Department official Steven J.] Griles and [Karl] Rove." Griles, who Abramoff referred to as his "man" in the Interior Department, is "waging a vigorous effort to avoid being charged." Abramoff "bragged of his 'contact' with Mr. Rove when Tyco International Ltd. sought action on tax legislation in 2002." Rove says he "doesn't remember talking to Mr. Abramoff about Tyco."

UNTIL ABRAMOFF, THE WHITE HOUSE DISCLOSED STAFF LEVEL MEETINGS: Despite an explicit promise by Scott McClellan last month to provide a "thorough report" of Abramoff's connections with the White House, the Bush administration now refuses to provide any information. McClellan claims that the White House "doesn't get into discussing staff level meetings." That's not true. For example, when the Enron scandal broke, the White House disclosed that Ken Lay had called Treasury Secretary Don Evans for help and Evans turned down his request. (For more, read the USA Today article "Contacts between Enron, Bush Cabinet detailed.") What did Abramoff ask of the White House? And why is the White House so adamant about keeping it secret?

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