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From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: June 10, 2008 4:48:36 PM PDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: White House sought Jack Abramoff's approval on nominees to
Administration posts
President Met Disgraced Lobbyist At Least Six Times
The White House Had Previously Acknowledged Only Two Meetings
By JUSTIN ROOD
June 9, 2008 —
http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=5031587
The White House had stronger ties to disgraced superlobbyist Jack
Abramoff than it has publicly admitted, according to a draft
congressional report released Monday.
President Bush met Abramoff on at least four occasions the White
House has yet to acknowledge, according to the draft report by the
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
And White House officials appeared as comfortable going to Abramoff
and his lobbyists seeking tickets to sporting and entertainment
events, as they did seeking input on personnel picks for plum jobs,
the report found.
President Bush himself met Abramoff on at least six occasions, the
report said, citing White House documents; the White House had
previously acknowledged only two.
When questions were first raised about Abramoff's connection to Bush
officials in January 2006, then-White House spokesman Scott
McClellan said Bush had personally met Abramoff on just two
occasions, both at White House Hanukkah receptions.
McClellan told reporters there had also been "a few staff-level
meetings" between officials and Abramoff and his team, but declined
to provide more information.
<snip>
White House spokesman Tony Fratto called the report "warmed up
leftovers" and "a joke."
"Abramoff carried no weight here as the report makes clear," Fratto
wrote in an e-mail Monday afternoon. "Abramoff was spectacularly
unsuccessful in affecting policy," he said. "There's nothing new
here."
The draft report's findings, however, stated that "communications
from Mr. Abramoff and his associates carried weight with White House
officials."
On "some occasions," investigators found, "White House officials
initiated contact with Mr. Abramoff and his associates to solicit
recommendations on nominations for Administration posts."
However, aside from ousting a Clinton-era State Department employee
Abramoff had drawn a bead on -- one who had already inflamed other
conservatives -- the report shows little evidence of Abramoff
getting results from the White House.
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