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As Abramoff Sinks, Other Officials Hold Their Breath

By TChris, Section Other Politics
Posted on Sat Nov 26, 2005 at 08:59:40 AM EST
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by TChris

The Washington Post reports that the Jack Abramoff inquiry has morphed into an investigation of corruption in Congress and the Bush administration. The most immediate target is Rep. Robert Ney. (TalkLeft background on the Ney investigation is collected here.)

Ney's lawyers have been denying that Ney is a target of the investigation, but the Post's sources disagree.

[T]he sources said that during the third week of October prosecutors told Ney and his former chief of staff, Neil Volz, that they were preparing a bribery case based in part on activities that occurred in October 2000. Abramoff and another business partner, Adam Kidan, were also told that they are targets in that case, the sources said.

The five-year statute of limitations for filing charges based on those events expired last month; the prosecutors sought and received a waiver of the deadline from all four men while they continue their investigation, the sources said. Prosecutors are often able to obtain such waivers by giving the targets a choice of being indicted right away or granting more time to see if information might surface that exonerates them.

Also under scrutiny are Tom DeLay (are you surprised?), Sen. Conrad Burns, and Rep. John Doolittle.

The Post has reported that Burns, who received $137,000 in contributions from Abramoff lobbyists and their tribal clients, obtained a controversial $3 million school construction grant for one of Abramoff's wealthy tribal clients after pressuring the Bureau of Indian Affairs. ...

Doolittle's former chief of staff, Kevin A. Ring, went to work with Abramoff. Doolittle's wife, Julie, owned a consulting firm that was hired by Abramoff and his firm, Greenberg Traurig, to do fundraising for a charity he founded. Two sources close to the investigation said that Ring, while working for Abramoff, was an intermediary in the hiring of Julie Doolittle's firm, Sierra Dominion Financial Solutions Inc., which last year received a subpoena from the grand jury investigating Abramoff.

White House officials have also stepped into the Abramoff quicksand. Former Bush administration procurement chief David Safavian "has already been charged with lying and obstruction of justice in connection with the Abramoff investigation" (TalkLeft background collected here), while "prosecutors are continuing to seek information about Abramoff's dealings with then-Deputy Interior Secretary J. Steven Griles, including a job offer from the lobbyist at a time when he was seeking department actions on behalf of his tribal clients."

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    As Abramoff Sinks, Other Officials Hold Their Breath | 5 comments (5 topical)
    Re: As Abramoff Sinks, Other Officials Hold Their (5.00 / 1) (#2)
    by Sailor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:27 PM EST
    And here I thought that delay, do little and neigh was the republican platform;-)

    Re: As Abramoff Sinks, Other Officials Hold Their (none / 0) (#1)
    by roxtar on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:27 PM EST
    Can Ney get a deal? And if so, who does he have to give up? (I'm assuming that Scanlon can rat out everyone at the top of the totem pole, eliminating (or at least reducing) the value of Ney as a witness.) I can see Ney having direct knowledge of Abramoff's crimes,but who else? Did these guys have so much hubris that they sat around and compared the bribes they were taking? And if Ney does get a deal, what kind of deal will it be? Scanlon's agreement requires him to pay 19 million+/- in restitution, and the reduction from 60 months is to be determined based on the value of his cooperation. What can Ney give the DOJ that keeps him out of prison? I think Ney does a stretch, cooperation or no.

    Re: As Abramoff Sinks, Other Officials Hold Their (none / 0) (#3)
    by desertswine on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:27 PM EST
    HA! It burns me that I didn't think of that first!

    Re: As Abramoff Sinks, Other Officials Hold Their (none / 0) (#4)
    by Zeno on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:27 PM EST
    John Doolittle? Really? Oh, please, please, please, please indict and convict him. It's true. I despise him.

    Re: As Abramoff Sinks, Other Officials Hold Their (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:27 PM EST
    This is all fantastic, but I'm still waiting for this to make its way back to Abramoff's most valuable connection, Karl Rove, with whom he shared an executive secretary, and who no doubt is up to his neck in all of this. Unfortunately, I doubt Rove accepted bribes himself - he probably just facilitated the arrangements between Abramoff and the others. Maybe Ney could give up Rove to shave off a few years? Actually, though, I think Abramoff himself has the most potential for allowing the investigation to reach into the White House. Does anyone have any theories as to why Abramoff hasn't flipped yet and what his legal strategy may be?

    As Abramoff Sinks, Other Officials Hold Their Breath | 5 comments (5 topical)