Abramoff plea bargain to bring corruption probe to Congress

[swag]

via http://talkingpointsmemo.com

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/3560966.html

By MICHAEL HEDGES
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - A plea agreement between prominent lobbyist Jack Abramoff and federal prosecutors is expected this week, bringing a wide-ranging corruption probe to the doors of Congress, according to sources close to the investigation.

Abramoff, who collected millions of dollars in controversial fees from Indian tribes with interests in the gambling industry, reached a tentative deal with prosecutors in a Washington-based investigation late last week, according to one of the sources. The lobbyist has given expensive gifts to several members of Congress, including Rep. Tom DeLay, of Sugar Land, and prosecutors are examining whether lawmakers improperly aided Abramoff clients in return.

Barring a last-minute snag, the terms of Abramoff's plea bargain were expected to be announced in Washington as early as Tuesdat or Wednesday. People close to the case spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Abramoff also was working toward a deal with prosecutors in South Florida on an indictment there that was to go to trial next Monday, according to a source. A federal judge in South Florida has a hearing set for today in the case. Abramoff was charged with fraud in connection with the takeover of a fleet of gambling ships.

By reaching an agreement with Abramoff, federal investigators would gain the ultimate insider witness in a probe into favors the one-time king of Washington lobbyists gave members of Congress and possibly their staff members.

. . . more

[Rainscents]

1. ...can't wait!

:popcorn:

[FreedomAngel82]

2. Me too!

So is he going to sing about EVERYTHING? There was an interesting thread in GD talking about his ties to the hijacker Atta and gambling.

[bettyellen]

3. kickety kick

[Purveyor]

4. CBS Evening News was hinting...

that announcements by prosecutors may be made as early as tomorrow...

"Keep Hope Alive"!

[aquart]

13. What a good omen for the New Year that would be.

[aquart]

5. I'm hopping up and down with anticipation. Are we there yet????

[SeattleGirl]

6. This could get real good!

And if the sumbitches go down, I'll be dancing in the streets!

[Straight Shooter]

7. Tom DeLay can go to jail and sing "Precious Memories"

as he remembers the good times he had at the expense of decent citizens, while he sneered at them from his perch of power.

[zann725]

19. Will he get to wear an ankle bracelet like Martha...or will he be spared?

As long as he looks good in orange.

[Catherine Vincent]

8. Do we know anything about the prosecutors involved in this case?

Names?

[Auntie Bush]

9. This is all I have to say about that

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:


:toast::toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast:


:puke:

[AndyTiedye]

10. Is That the Theme from "Dragnet" I hear in the Background?

As Tom Delay awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. He was lying on his hard, as it were armor-plated, back and when he lifted his head a little he could see his dome-like brown belly divided into stiff arched segments on top of which the bed quilt could hardly keep in position and was about to slide off completely. His numerous legs, which were pitifully thin compared to the rest of his bulk, waved helplessly before his eyes...

(with apologies to Kafka)

[zippy890]

27. HA- funniest thing I've read, can just picture Delay

as a giant bug flipped on his back, unable to move,

...but suddenly he notices the media camera approaching and his terrified face turns into a horrible insect-like smile...........

your take on 'Metamorphosis' by Kafka is hysterical

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Mabus]

11. I'm patient

I can wait. :popcorn: Hopefully the fallout will help us with the 2006 election cycle.

[fooj]

12. Wonder if Hastert and his thugs will convene as scheduled...

Assholes.

[BOHICA06]

14. What the House Banking & Post Office

was to the Democrats, it looks like Abramhoff will be to the Repubs .... worm turning time!

[John Q. Citizen]

20. Except that your comparison is like an

M-80 fire cracker contrasted with a cruise missle.

We are talking major bribery, obstuction, and murder here (as in the Sun Cruise Case)involving many congresspeople/Senators and their staffs.

[BOHICA06]

21. Yeah, but .... I doubt

these revelations will result in putting 104 seats up for grabs ... 15 or 20 maybe. It will still take some doing to change House control.

[Vidar]

15. Thanks for the good news.

[Independent_Liberal]

16. Get down folks! It's gonna blow!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!

:D

[meow2u3]

17. Abramoff will sing like a canary

I can't wait for Tom "Bugboy" DeLay, Bob "Horseshit" Ney, and all the rest to go down, down, down!

:popcorn:

[ClayZ]

18. Boy, oh Boy!

[Up2Late]

22. Great! A guy like Abramoff doesn't get a "deal" unless he has...

...a LOT to give in exchange. :woohoo:

[joeunderdog]

29. Am I the only skeptic here?

I thought Abramoff WAS the big fish?

Who is he giving up? You don't actually thing there are pols who are going to do more time or face more charges than Abramoff, do you?

A win for the Right is NO TRIAL. The prolonged public exposure is what they fear most. If the prosecutors call everything plea bargaining, it gives them an acceptable atmosphere to shorten sentences and then possibly not land the big fish like Delay. And if everything gets wrapped up expiditiously, presidential pardons can cure everything.

Like with Enron, some of the highest ranking criminals are "cutting deals." For what--all to land Kenny? Doubt it.

I know that tials are risky and expensive, but the American public could take some consolation to see this process, and to see that not everyone can plea out of some of the worst corruption in the history of American Politics. Put the whole frickin process on trial and let everyone hear all the details. This is the RW's worst nightmare.

[Up2Late]

30. The people he's "giving up" are the corrupt members of Congress...

...or even some in the executive branch.

Mostly Congressional Republicans and Senators, but their could be a few Democrats with dirty hands too. This could end up being a MAJOR House Cleaning (pun intended).:evilgrin:

[Demeter]

23. It's About Time

This is water torture...drip,drip,drip

[Judi Lynn]

24. From the Houston Chronicle:Abramoff plea bargain announcement expected

Jan. 2, 2006, 11:44PM
Abramoff plea bargain announcement expected
Deal may give prosecutors a view into possible favors

By MICHAEL HEDGES
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - A plea agreement between prominent lobbyist Jack Abramoff and federal prosecutors is expected this week, bringing a wide-ranging corruption probe to the doors of Congress, according to sources close to the investigation.

Abramoff, who collected millions of dollars in controversial fees from Indian tribes with interests in the gambling industry, reached a tentative deal with prosecutors in a Washington-based investigation late last week, according to one of the sources. The lobbyist has given expensive gifts to several members of Congress, including Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, and prosecutors are examining whether lawmakers improperly aided Abramoff clients in return.

Barring a last-minute snag, the terms of Abramoff's plea bargain were expected to be announced in Washington as early as today or Wednesday. People close to the case spoke on the condition of anonymity.
(snip)

"Mr. DeLay is not concerned about the potential of Mr. Abramoff cooperating with the government," Cullen said in a recent interview. "Mr. DeLay thinks everybody should be cooperating (with investigators) and telling the truth."
(snip/...)

http://chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/3560998.html

[MagickMuffin]

25. For All of the Casino Jack Junkies amongst us,

be sure to check out c-span! :popcorn:
Should be interesting

SCHEDULE
Tues. & Weds., January 3 & 4
Two-Part LIVE Call-in Show on Jack Abramoff Trial Lobbying Senate Investigation
On C-SPAN at 8pm ET

[Tiggeroshii]

26. Very sooper awesome! :-D

YAY!

[leveymg]

28. Not so good, if it omits the bigger crime: GOP foreign influence peddling

Abramoff's Firm Fined for Illegal Foreign Campaign Contributions
by leveymg
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/1/2/15814/29480

There's a very significant piece of background information in today's Raw Story report, which notes that the Greenberg Traurig (GT) law firm, which hosted Abramoff's lobbying shop, was previously convicted of knowingly accepting illegal foreign campaign contributions. A German paid the largest fine to date for that offense after a foreign-source contribution went through a GT lobbyist. Under Federal Election Commission laws, foreign individuals and companies are barred from contributing to American political campaigns and parties.

This raises a question: are we ever going to hear more about how Jack Abramoff and Grover Norquist funneled money to the GOP from Islamic banks and fees from groups tied to terrorist finance?

According to reports published in The Hill, a respected Washington political newsletter, Jack Abramoff and Grover Norquist continued to lobby after 9/11 on behalf of Islamic banks and groups that had been accused of financing terrorist groups. We must now ask, is that side of the Republican influence-peddling scheme ever going to be revealed in court documents, or is this going to get buried as part of Jack's plea agreement with the Bush Justice Department? See, www.dailykos.com/story/2005/10/17/122311/72 ; www.dailykos.com/story/2005/12/13/91057/126

Rawstory is running an article today reporting that the law firm was aware of his unlawful practices months before The Washington Post first reported on them in 2004. Greenberg Traurig claims it had no knowledge of Abramoff's wrongdoing until it was revealed in The Post. According to today's RawStory: http://rawstory.com/...

Before he was a pariah, Abramoff was Greenberg Traurig's poster boy.

SNIP

With Abramoff, Greenberg Traurig did even better than they had hoped. The firm's lobbying receipts leapt fourfold, from $3 million in 2000, to $16 million in 2001. At the peak in 2003, the firm grossed $26 million on lobbying alone.

The scandal hounding Abramoff isn't the first the firm has faced. In 1998, the Federal Election Commission levied a $77,000 fine against Greenberg for knowing soliciting illegal contributions from foreign national. The fine given the German developer in the case, $323,000, was the largest of its kind ever assessed by the FEC.

Reporting in national media, including The Washington Post which has been covering the Abramoff story closely, have virtually ignored foreign sources of fees and funding collected by Abramoff and his various shell companies, money which if it were commingled with Jack's political contributions to the Republican Party would be a violation of federal law.

According to SourceWatch, GT has been involved in other political fundraising and election scandals: http://www.sourcewatch.org/...

Bush-Greenberg Traurig Connections
The following enumerations were published (http://portland.indymedia.org/...) in September 2004 by, among others, the Portland Indymedia. Some sources have been provided in support.

1. "Represented President George W. Bush in the Bush-Gore 2000 Florida election vote recount."

"Court's reputation being tested," (http://quest.cjonline.com/...) Associated Press (cjonline.com), December 11, 2000: "Barry Richard, a partner in the firm, is the lead Bush attorney in Florida. Richard, who is a Democrat, said he was called Nov. 8 about representing Bush." re Barry S. Richard
"Ethics experts say Scalia, Thomas connections not conflicts of interest," (http://archives.cnn.com/...) CNN, December 12, 2000: See "Justice Scalia's sons": "Another Bush lawyer, Barry S. Richard, is a partner in that firm's Tallahassee office."
"Florida Attorneys for Bush and Gore to Debate 2000 Presidential Election Recount," (http://clasnews.clas.ufl.edu/...) University of Florida, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, March 25, 2003: "Barry Richard, chief Florida attorney for Bush ... an attorney of Greenberg Traurig law firm in Tallahassee,..."
"Greenberg Traurig Instrumental in Florida Vote Recount Victory," (http://www.gtlaw.com/...) GTLaw.com, January 13, 2004.
2. "Personally represents Florida Governor Jeb Bush."

"Governor Bush Appoints Raquel A. Rodriguez to Serve As General Counsel," (http://sun6.dms.state.fl.us/...) My Florida, November 25, 2002. re Raquel A. Rodriguez
"Gov. Bush names Greenberg Traurig lawyer general counsel," (http://www.bizjournals.com/...) South Florida BizJournal, November 25, 2002.
"Hayden Dempsey Joins Greenberg Traurig LLP," (http://www.gtlaw.com/...) GTlaw.com, December 23, 2003. re Hayden R. Dempsey
Profile: Hayden R. Dempsey (http://www.rnla.org/...), Republican National Lawyers Association.
Profile: Justin Sayfie (http://www.pmbconsulting.com/...), Poole McKinley & Blosser website. re Justin J. Sayfie.
Bush Donor Profile: Justin J. Sayfie: here (http://www.tpj.org/...) and here (http://www.whitehouseforsale.org/...), Texans for Public Justice.
3. "Hired son of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on election day 2000--after which Justice Scalia cast one of the 5 to 4 deciding votes which placed Bush in presidency." re John F. Scalia

"Court's reputation being tested," (http://quest.cjonline.com/...) Associated Press (cjonline.com), December 11, 2000: "John Scalia accepted a position with the Miami-based firm Greenberg Traurig on Nov. 7, election day."
"Ethics experts say Scalia, Thomas connections not conflicts of interest," (http://archives.cnn.com/...) CNN, December 12, 2000. See "Justice Scalia's sons": "John Scalia, 35, has accepted a job offer with the Washington office of Greenberg Traurig. Another Bush lawyer, Barry S. Richard, is a partner in that firm's Tallahassee office. ... John Scalia won't actually join the Greenberg, Traurig firm until sometime next year, according to partner Joe Reeder, who said the job was offered weeks before the election and has no connection to the Florida case."
"Attorney John Scalia Joins Greenberg Traurig LLP's Tysons Corner Office," (http://www.gtlaw.com/...) GTLaw.com, January 10, 2001; Scalia's GTLaw profile (http://www.gtlaw.com/...).
4. "Miami-headquartered firm partially funded/sponsored delegation to Israel by House-Senate Armed Services Committee members and government contractors to witnes and be briefed on interrogation resistance procedures and torture techniques ... One of lobbyists joining them to Israel included Jack London, CEO, CACI International, the American defense contractor implicated by Major General Antonio M. Taguba in outsourced Iraqi torture at Abu Ghraib prison." See Taguba Report.

Ali Abunimah, "Israeli link possible in US torture techniques. In exchange for interrogation training, did Washington award security contracts?" (http://www.dailystar.com.lb/...) The Daily Star (Lebanon), May 11, 2004. Also posted May 18, 2004 by San Francisco Indymedia (http://sf.indymedia.org/...).
Tom Flocco, "Gonzalez confirmation hearing ignored US / Jordan torture links and legislative junket to Israel to witness 'anti-terror' exercises," (http://911citizenswatch.org/...) 911citizenswatch.org, January 7, 2005.
5. "Firm has prominent administrative positions in Massachusetts 9/11 Fund which also involves Bush family banking house Brown Brothers Harriman."

"$500,000 DONATION LAUNCHES MASSACHUSETTS 9/11 FUND. Stop & Shop and Greenberg Traurig LLP Launch Fund Supported by Victims' Families," (http://www.gtlaw.com/...) GTLaw.org, January 2002.
Yahoo! Search results (http://search.yahoo.com/...), December 20, 2005.
6. "One appointed as General Counsel of the Department of the Navy and its Office of Naval Intelligence just 90 days before the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon."

"Alberto J. Mora, General Counsel of the Department of the Navy (http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/...), "the 20th General Counsel of the Department of the Navy, was sworn into office on July 25, 2001."
7. "Firm works with 9-11 victims on planning out their U.S. gov't hushmail/bribery estates."

"As The Revolving Door Turns. How does Washington work these days? A telling tale of two Capitol Hill staffers," (http://www.businessweek.com/...) Business Week, July 11, 2005: "On the Hill, both Rudy and Shiffman were involved in issues that were creating a new and lucrative lobbying niche for Greenberg Traurig and others: claims brought by victims of war, terror, and torture against foreign governments and companies. In these cases, U.S. cooperation was key, either in pressing the POWs' case against Japanese companies or in unblocking foreign assets frozen by the U.S. Treasury."
8. "Firm partner is Marvin S. Rosen, Democratic National Committee (DNC) Finance Chairman who supervised activities of convicted fund-raiser and DNC vice-chairman of finance John Huang who had to return half of $3 million+ raised by him because of contributions from illegal foreign sources.

Profile: Marvin S. Rosen (http://www.gtlaw.com/...), GTLaw.com website.
9. Bush still owes Greenberg firm nearly one million dollars for work done by dozens of lawyers and paralegals--leaving some to question why a Republican candidate would hire a Democratic lawyer from a Democratic firm ...

"Bush Florida 2000 recount committee still owes lobbyist's former firm $314k. White House directs queries to RNC," (http://rawstory.com/...) The Raw Story, May 5, 2005:
"Greenberg Traurig has yet to receive more than $314,000 in legal fees charged to a Bush committee during the 2000 Florida recount ... As a corporation, Greenberg's unpaid tab represents a massive in-kind campaign contribution, far larger than anything that went unreported by DeLay. But it appears to be legal: corporations are allowed to donate any amount to the nebulous type of committee employed during the recount. It would, however, violate the committee's self-imposed $5,000 contribution limit from individual donors. ... Greenberg's leadership has apparently declined to press the issue. Jill Perry, Greenberg's director of marketing and public affairs, declined to comment," according to (http://rawstory.com/...) The Raw Story's John Byrne, May 5, 2005.

[Scurrilous]

31. Good news!

:kick:

[klook]

32. Frank Nitti

Anybody else notice the resemblance?

[Judi Lynn]

33. Jack Abramoff - No Fair & Balanced on Fox's Studio B- Just A Republican Co

January 03, 2006
Jack Abramoff - No Fair & Balanced on Fox's Studio B - Just A Republican Consultant's Take
With Jack Abramoff pleading guilty to conspiracy, mail fraud and tax evasion, Studio B covered this important story with just one opinion - the Republican side. We heard from Major Garrett from Fox and Roger Stone, Republican Consultant.

Not one word was uttered about Abramoff's special friend Tom Delay who toasted his good friend on one of his special trips with Abramoff. However, we did get Fox's and a Republican consultant's spin.

The following is my transcript (paraphrased, but pretty much verbatim). Note: Jane Skinner was substituting for Shepard Smith on Studio B.

Jane Skinner: Once powerful lobbyist, Jack Abramoff has struck a deal with federal investigators. He, today, pleaded guilty to fraud and other charges and has agreed to help a far reaching investigation into corruption on Capitol Hill. From Studio B live to our Major Garrett, who is in D.C. where, Major, I'm sure a few people are a bit nervous today with that cooperation?

Major Garrett: Indeed, Jane. This investigation has the potential and I underscore the word 'potential' to blow the lid off all sorts of deals that go on rather routinely in Congress. Deals that some members of Congress might think are legal but the justice department might think are illegal.
(snip/...)

http://www.newshounds.us/2006/01/03/jack_abramoff_no_fair_balanced_on_foxs_studio_b_just_a_republican_consultants_take.php

[Judi Lynn]

34. 'Corruption ... very extensive'

Posted 1/3/2006 10:29 PM Updated 1/3/2006 10:36 PM

'Corruption ... very extensive'
By Kevin Johnson and Jim Drinkard, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — A little more than a year ago, Jack Abramoff was enjoying many of the benefits access to official Washington can provide.
There were multimillion-dollar lobbying fees to collect, Super Bowl tickets to distribute and lavish trips and dinners to host.

What set Abramoff apart from legitimate Washington power brokers, federal prosecutors say, was his willingness to exploit an extensive network of Capitol Hill contacts — from well-positioned congressional staffers to members of the Republican leadership — regardless of the rules.

"The corruption scheme with Mr. Abramoff is very extensive," Assistant Attorney General Alice Fisher said. "Government officials and governmental action are not for sale."
(snip/...)

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-01-03-abramoff-side_x.htm



Asst. Attorney General Fisher