Well folks, it is time for another exciting episode of The Jack Abramoff Show! This is from Yahoo News:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Jack Abramoff said in correspondence made public on Thursday that President Bush met him "almost a dozen" times, disputing White House claims Bush did not know the former lobbyist at the center of a corruption scandal.
"The guy saw me in almost a dozen settings, and joked with me about a bunch of things, including details of my kids. Perhaps he has forgotten everything, who knows," Abramoff wrote in an e-mail to Kim Eisler, national editor for the Washingtonian magazine.
Abramoff added that Bush also once invited him to his Texas ranch.
The messages were made public by the American Progress Action Fund, a liberal activist group. Eisler confirmed their accuracy to Reuters but said he did not intend them to become public.
"They reflect the feeling of frustration he has not just with Bush but with all these guys claiming they didn't know him," said Eisler, who knew Abramoff through a book he wrote about the Pequot Indian tribe.
Abramoff pleaded guilty to fraud charges in early January and is cooperating with prosecutors in a corruption probe that could implicate lawmakers and officials across Washington.
Bush has said he never had a discussion with Abramoff and does not remember having his picture taken with him.
The White House has said Abramoff attended three Hanukkah receptions at the White House.
Eisler said he had seen five photographs of Abramoff with Bush, none taken at Hanukkah parties.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said on Thursday that the revelations did not prove Bush knew him well.
"I think as the president also indicated, he's taken at least five photos with many people in this room at the annual holiday reception. And so I think you need to put this in context," McClellan said.
Abramoff spokesman Andrew Blum declined to comment.
What I find especially interesting is that Abramoff is getting bitter at President Bush's denials about not meeting him. Like it or not, Abramoff's radioactive--now that he's pleaded guilty to fraud charges, and is cooperating with federal prosecutors. What is happening now is that those who have not been touched by the Abramoff scandal--or have been singed by it--have been trying to distance themselves away from Abramoff. The Republicans in Congress have been doing this, and more with trying to taint the Democrats in the Abramoff scandal, by making this a bipartisan corruption case. And even with the reports coming out regarding Abramoff's relationship with president Bush, the Bush White House has been denying any relationship between the president and Abramoff.
So can poor Abramoff do about all this loneliness? One suggestion is to tell all to the feds--expose the corruption and the dirty dealings within the Republican Congress and the White House. An even more damaging piece of evidence would be published photos of President Bush with Abramoff--that is the nightmare scenario that the Bush White House does not want to have coming out during a midterm election year. Right now, it is a game of he said / they said, between Abramoff and the White House. The more information Abramoff gives to the feds, the greater his chances of getting a reduced sentence since the feds will have criminal cases against even bigger fish, than Abramoff.
I'm certainly waiting anxiously to see the photos of Bush with Abramoff.
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