Abramoff Had Closer Ties to Bush, Rove

The White House had extensive contacts with imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff than the administration has previously acknowledged publicly, according to a draft report about the lobbyist’s White House ties released by a House committee Monday.

Abramoff pleaded guilty two years ago to fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy to bribe public officials. The White House has long maintained that Abramoff’s relationship with Bush administration officials was minimal and the lobbyist was unsuccessful in his attempt to influence policy decisions.

But hundreds of pages of documents released Monday by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee show that Abramoff communicated with former White House political adviser Karl Rove, and Rove’s deputies in the White Office of Political Affairs, regularly about the administration’s domestic agenda and succeeded in getting the White House to fire a State Department official. Rove described Abramoff as a “casual acquaintance.”

Although Waxman said his investigation was hampered by six unnamed individuals, three of whom were White House officials, who asserted their Fifth Amendment privilege, his staff uncovered information that documents 485 lobbying contacts between Abramoff and White House officials between January 2001 and March 2004, including 170 meetings over meals and 16 meetings over drinks with White House officials, 156 of which Abramoff billed to his clients.