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You are here: Home / Politics / Abramoff Probe Update

Abramoff Probe Update

by John Cole|  January 11, 200612:14 pm| 13 Comments

This post is in: Politics

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This is from the Washington Times, so consider the source:

Justice Department investigation into influence-peddling on Capitol Hill is focusing on a “first tier” of lawmakers and staffers, both Republicans and Democrats, say sources close to the probe that has netted guilty pleas from lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Law-enforcement authorities and others said the investigation’s opening phase is scrutinizing Sens. Conrad Burns, Montana Republican; Byron L. Dorgan, North Dakota Democrat; and Minority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, along with Reps. J.D. Hayworth, Arizona Republican, and Bob Ney, Ohio Republican.

A source working with the Justice Department on the investigation told The Washington Times that Abramoff was questioned during several interviews about the lawmakers and their purported ties to the lobbyist and his former clients.

The source said prosecutors asked Abramoff whether the lawmakers had performed “official acts” in exchange for campaign cash or other favors. Although it is unknown whether any of the five will be charged in the case, the source said Abramoff was being “prepped” by five Justice Department attorneys in that event.

I have no idea if this expansive list is accurate, or this is just the Washington Times doing their part to spread the bi-partisan nature of the Abramoff ties. For now, the only one of the above listed who I think is in hot water is Bob Ney.

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Reader Interactions

13Comments

  1. 1.

    Nikki

    January 11, 2006 at 12:15 pm

    …Law-enforcement authorities and others…

    Who are the “others”?

  2. 2.

    Steve

    January 11, 2006 at 12:19 pm

    Not only is the Washington Times a key instrument of the Republican spin machine, but we should keep in mind, Abramoff himself is a very partisan Republican. If he bribed any Democrats, they would be the very first people he would serve up to the feds in an effort to reduce his own sentence. So if no Democrats are ultimately found culpable in this thing, it’s a pretty safe assumption that it’s because none of them took bribes from Abramoff.

  3. 3.

    Lines

    January 11, 2006 at 12:20 pm

    Ney committed other crimes for which he has yet to be held accountable. Ney is also the reason I don’t feel that anyone will actually be held accountable for any of the Abramoff Scandal, including Tom Delay. These guys are the Untouchables now

  4. 4.

    Blue Neponset

    January 11, 2006 at 12:22 pm

    I guess the “Law-enforcement authorities and others” didn’t get the memo about not commenting on ongoing investigations.

  5. 5.

    Jorge

    January 11, 2006 at 1:50 pm

    Ahh – the Moonie Times.

    From Reverend Sun Myung Moon’s lips to Rush Limbaugh’s listeners.

  6. 6.

    ppGaz

    January 11, 2006 at 1:57 pm

    Nobody despises JD Hayworth more than I do (my “az” is a state abbreviation, remember) ….. but I would’t take WT word for Heyworth being in trouble here. I am going to need more evidence.

    If I’m Abramoff, I’m slinging names as fast as I can and trying to make the best deal I can make. Which of those names represents a real problem, remains to be seen.

    A story based on the utterances of Abramoff, and reported in WT? Not convincing. Yet.

  7. 7.

    KCinDC

    January 11, 2006 at 2:11 pm

    A Washington Times article with completely unidentified “others” as the source? I don’t think that’s worth wasting our beautiful minds thinking about.

  8. 8.

    The Other Steve

    January 11, 2006 at 2:27 pm

    I heard the Washington Times has said their source for this information is 100% trustworthy.

    They read it directly from the NSA transcripts of the telephone calls.

    :-)

  9. 9.

    searp

    January 11, 2006 at 3:14 pm

    Ridiculous. Where is Doolittle? It has already been reported that he is being investigated. Bad dope published uncritically by a bad newspaper. Yes, I have read it many times, a bad newspaper.

  10. 10.

    Zifnab

    January 11, 2006 at 3:22 pm

    I think alot depends on how the elections in ’06 go. These investigations aren’t going away any time soon. But with a Republican Government, clearly the Republicans will remain virtually untouchable. If the Democrats seize power, I would love to see probes on the level of the ’94 era Congressional investigations into Clinton. But I doubt it.

    Intensive investigation into corruption will unearth plenty of bones in both parties. Even if the investigations were kept strictly to Abramoff, there would be inevitable tie-ins. I suspect that the Democratic “culture of corruption” line only goes as far as the next election cycle and then it’ll be back to business as usual.

    But if the Republicans maintain themselves through ’06, it really does bode ill for Democrats. I mean, the iron doesn’t stay hot forever. Eventually, if these guys truly do remain “Untouchable” then the public will grow so numb to scandal, they’ll just stop caring. And that’s when we really lose.

  11. 11.

    gt

    January 11, 2006 at 5:46 pm

    But with a Republican Government, clearly the Republicans will remain virtually untouchable.

    It’s fair to recall that in the middle of Clinton’s years teh Democrat run government proved to be anything but untouchable. For good or ill the ball is still in play.

    In any case the Republicans are going to get tehres but hte Democrats attempts to play “not me!” aren’t working. The donations and bribe patters 9as they appear so far) seem likned as much to who or what side had power to bribe for as anything else.

    What might disturb some is that Democrat cries of “They took more oney so they’re the bad guys!” Just makes me wonder if bribing a Democrat is easier/cheaper?

  12. 12.

    HH

    January 11, 2006 at 11:26 pm

    Of course an NYT story with anonymous sources has been accepted as 110% gospel by many of you, despite the fact that it has now come out that an “unstable” man with an enormous axe to grind is one of the sources.

  13. 13.

    Steve

    January 12, 2006 at 2:42 am

    An axe to grind like Richard Clarke had an axe to grind? Yeah, you folks sure destroyed his credibility!

    Considering that every single human being who has something bad to say about the Bush Administration gets labelled (a) a disgruntled former employee, (b) a partisan Democrat, or (c) both, I have to say y’all have cried wolf one too many times.

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