Prosecutor in DeLay case subpoenas Abramoff documents

[MagickMuffin]

Go Ronnie:applause::applause::applause:

The prosecutor in the Texas money laundering case against Rep. Tom DeLay issued subpoenas today looking for links between lobbyist Jack Abramoff and fundraising by the former majority leader.

District Attorney Ronnie Earle issued the subpoenas in Austin the same day that Abramoff pleaded guilty in Washington to federal charges of conspiracy, tax evasion and mail fraud.

In the Texas case, Earle sought records from Abramoff's former employers, legal firms Greenberg Traurig LLP and Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds, LLP. He also subpoenaed records from a lawyer for the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, a former Abramoff client, and from a representative for the Barona Band of Mission Indians, a California tribe.

Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds contributed $25,000 and the Barona Band, $5,000 to TRMPAC in 2002. The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians contributed $1,000 in 2001, according to TRMPAC records.

In his subpoenas, Earle asks for correspondence between the subpoenaed parties and TRMPAC; Americans for a Republican Majority, DeLay's national fundraising committee; David Safavian, the Bush administration's former chief procurement official indicted in the Abramoff case; Abramoff, former Christian Coalition director Ralph Reed and DeLay's co-defendants.

:applause::applause:

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/printstory.mpl/headline/metro/3562538

[sonias]

1. Texans for Public Justice also trying to get evidence

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/01/4earle.html
Subpoenas look for Abramoff, DeLay connection
Texans for Public Justice, a government watchdog group, also raised the specter of outsiders trying to influence the court in the politically charged case.

In a request to the court, it sought evidence of communication among DeLay's defense team, his co-defendants and Republican campaign donors with the court. The request includes e-mails, phone messages, faxes, letters, calendar entries and phone records, including the daily calendar for each sitting justice since Sept. 1.

Message to Texas Court of Criminal Appeals - we're watching you!

Good going for Craig McDonald and the fine folks at TPJ!
http://www.tpj.org/index.jsp
:applause::applause::applause:


Sonia