Abramoff's presence at White House confirmed

[montana500]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10925175/



Amazing.

[emulatorloo]

1. kick n/t

[ClassWarrior]

2. Go Davids. (Shuster & Gregory)

NGU.

[blue2helix]

3. Great!

Hope some reporters stick with it!

[Warren Stupidity]

4. Gregory kicks the snot out of snotty

"MCCLELLAN: Well if you've got something to bring to my attention, do so and I'll be glad to look into it.

GREGORY: That's not a fair burden to place on us. I mean, this guy is radioactive in Washington and he knows guys like Karl Rove. So did he meet with him or not? Don't put it on us to bring something specific."

[FreedomAngel82]

20. He's been doing really well lately

He and Helen Thomas deserve reporter of the year.

[stevedeshazer]

5. HAHAHAHAHA!

What can they say now? "I did not have meetings with that man, Mr. Abramoff."

:rofl:

[underpants]

6. May 9, 2001?? pffttt that was PRE 9/11

everything changed that day

:sarcasm:

[texpatriot2004]

7. but, but Chumpy * doesn't know him - WHATEVER! * IS A LIAR!

:mad:

[NVMojo]

8. Abramoff took Chairman Poncho/Coushatta Tribe to Bush in 2001

"The Pimping of the President"

snip...

Since we first reported the White House ATR fundraiser and the $1 million contribution to the Capital Athletic Foundation (see “K Street Croupiers,” November 19, 2004), the Coushattas, speaking through Austin attorneys at Hance, Scarborough, Wright, Ginsburg & Brusilow, and through Louisiana political consultant Roy Fletcher, have vociferously denied that tribal Chairman Poncho visited the White House after contributing $25,000 to ATR. They also denied the $1 million contribution to Abramoff’s foundation. Recently the story has changed. Or at least the version told by the majority that controls the council has begun to change. Two minority members of the five-seat council have pointed to the pay-to-play meeting with President Bush and the $1 million contribution to Abramoff as examples of the council’s financial mismanagement. One of the two members of the minority faction, David Sickey, has regularly made himself available to the press. Normally, press inquiries to the council majority are answered by Hance Scarborough, by Roy Fletcher, or occasionally by sources close to the council majority.

According to a source close to the tribal majority, Chairman Poncho recently “revisited that issue” of his visit to the White House. He had previously denied it because he thought he was responding to press inquiries that implied he had a one-on-one meeting with Bush. He now recalls that he in fact did go to the White House on May 9, 2001. Tribal attorney Kathryn Fowler Van Hoof went with him, although she did not get into the meeting with the President. That meeting lasted for about 15 minutes and was not a one-on-one meeting. At the meeting, Bush made some general comments about Indian policy but did not discuss Indian gaming. Abramoff was at the meeting—for which he charged the Coushatta Tribe $25,000. The change in Poncho’s position is odd in light of the fact that he and his spokespersons have maintained for more than a year that he did not meet with President Bush in May 2001.

Norquist has not responded to inquiries about using the White House as a fundraiser. It is, however, a regular ATR practice to invite state legislators and tribal leaders who have supported ATR anti-tax initiatives to the White House for a personal thank-you from the President. A source at ATR said no money is ever accepted from participants in these events. The $25,000 check from the Coushattas suggests that, at least in this instance, Norquist’s organization made an exception. The $75,000 collected from the Mississippi Choctaws and two corporate sponsors mentioned in Abramoff’s e-mail suggests there were other exceptions. Norquist recently wrote to the tribes who paid to attend White House meetings. His story regarding that event is also evolving. The contributions, he told tribal leaders in letters that went out in May, were in no way related to any White House event. That doesn’t square with the paper trail Abramoff and Norquist left behind, which makes it evident that they were selling access to the President.

more...

http://www.texasobserver.org/showArticle_new.asp?ArticleID=13

[Pacifist Patriot]

9. oh yeah, and he may have attended staff meetings.

You Think????!!!????

AAAGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Joanne98]

10. We need pictures!

[Warren Stupidity]

11. Why would a lobbiest be attending white house staff meetings?

Wouldn't that make him 'white house staff'?

[onenote]

13. I think it means it attended meetings with white house staff

In and of itself, nothing wrong with that. But my bet is that a bunch of these meetings were not in his role as lobbyist, but in his role as fundraiser and that they were with the political folks, like Rove. Probably billed his clients for these meetings.

onenote

[Warren Stupidity]

14. Yeah I wasn't being too serious, but...

seriously, how often are 'lobbyists' sitting in on white house staff meetings? I actually have never heard of this before.

[onenote]

15. well, I'm a lobbyist and I've had meetings with WH staff

But I've never attended a staff meeting.

onenote

[Warren Stupidity]

16. So it would be interesting if somebody in the media

clarified if JackA 'had meetings with white house staff' or 'attended white house staff meetings' as the difference is fairly huge. Then again, what are the chances that even if somebody in the media took an interest in this angle that their publisher would put on air or in print?

[FreedomAngel82]

21. Good question

I wonder if he was there when Jeffy was.

[snowbear]

12. And yet all Tweety talked about today was Hillary's comments...

He won't get off that topic.. despite the bigger stories (like this one) that his own network is reporting.

[kainah]

17. Friday night news dump n/t

[henslee]

18. This has to be big.... Abramoff at staff meetings & linked to Bonzo.

I mean what more do we need? Is Bonzo the teflon don -- i think not.

[wiley]

19. Delicious!

CORRUPT REPUBLICANS will get their due in courts and do their time. Do you really think * actually lied to the media or the American public? That is very serious. Maybe we can't impeach him today but we can send him a message that he doesn't get his SCOTUS nominee until he starts talking straight. Alito is the ultimate Trojan horse.