HERE ARE SOME things we know
about Jack Abramoff and the White House: The disgraced lobbyist raised at least $100,000 for President Bush’s reelection campaign. He
had long-standing ties to Karl Rove, a key presidential adviser. He had extensive dealings with executive branch officials and
departments — one of whom, former procurement chief David H. Safavian, has been charged by federal prosecutors with lying to
investigators about his involvement with Mr. Abramoff.
We also know that Mr. Abramoff is an admitted crook who was willing to
bribe members of Congress and their staffs to get what he (or his clients) wanted. …
Here is what we don’t know about Jack
Abramoff and the White House: whom he met with and what was discussed. Nor, if the White House sticks to its current position, will we
learn that anytime soon. …
Information uncovered by Mr. Bush’s own Justice Department shows that Mr. Abramoff tried to do the
same inside the executive branch.
Under these circumstances, asking about Mr. Abramoff’s White House meetings is no mere exercise
in reportorial curiosity but a legitimate inquiry about what an admitted felon might have been seeking at the highest levels of
government. Whatever White House officials did or didn’t do, there is every reason to believe that Mr. Abramoff was up to no good and
therefore every reason the public ought to know with whom he was meeting.
Photos of Bush With Abramoff Are Withheld by Jim VandeHei and
Susan Schmidt, Washington Post Staff Writers
Several White House officials have been briefed about pictures of President Bush and
Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff taken since 2001 but will not release them on grounds that they are not relevant to the ongoing money-
for-favors investigation, aides said yesterday. …
Abramoff, who recently pleaded guilty in the growing bribery and corruption
scandal, was with Bush about a dozen times when pictures were taken by the official White House photographer or other participants over
the past five years, according to a source familiar with Abramoff’s legal situation. Abramoff, this source said, displayed at least five
of them on his office desk and has told people the president talked about his children’s names as well as personal details about their
schooling during one encounter. …
The source said Abramoff has more than half a dozen photos with Bush, including one of the two
men shaking hands, but has no intention of releasing them. The existence of the Bush-Abramoff photos was first reported by Washingtonian
magazine, which reviewed five photos but was not permitted to publish them. [mjh: WTF?]
Abramoff was no stranger to the Bush White House. He had served as one of Bush’s top fundraisers and assisted the Interior Department
during the president’s transition to power in 2000.