Ex-Official to Plead in Abramoff Probe (Griles)

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Ex-Official to Plead in Abramoff Probe
By JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press Writer
4:32 AM PDT, March 23, 2007

WASHINGTON -- Former Deputy Interior Secretary Steven Griles will plead
guilty Friday to one count of obstruction of justice in the Jack Abramoff
corruption investigation, The Associated Press has learned.

Griles, an oil and gas lobbyist who became an architect of President Bush's
energy policies while at the Interior Department between July 2001 and July
2005, is the highest ranking Bush administration official implicated in the
Washington lobbying scandal.

The former No. 2 official at the Interior Department has agreed to a felony
plea admitting that he lied five times to the Senate Indian Affairs Committee
and its investigators about his relationship with Abramoff, people involved
in the case told the AP.

Griles will admit he concealed that he had a unique relationship with
Abramoff, people involved in the case said on condition of anonymity,
because a federal judge had not yet approved the plea deal. Griles and
Abramoff met on March 1, 2001, through Italia Federici, a Republican
environmental activist whom Griles had been dating.


Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/wire/sns-ap-griles-abramoff,1,3162270.story

[maddezmom]

1. how many of bush's people have been indicted or charged?

any one have a running list around?

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

2. An even better question:

How many haven't been indicted or charged? (that deserve to be)

[Roland99]

4. oodles. And this stuff is big-time crimes! What where they pinning on Clinton?

A firing of people in the White House Travel Office? ooooooo....scary

Losing money on a land deal? wow...The Clintons couldn't even create a scam properly. :eyes:



But this admin spies on its citizens, fires US Attorneys investigation corrupt Congressman, welcomes male gay prostitutes to the press corps and military PR events, welcomes female porn stars to GOP fundraisers, gives billions in tax breaks to oil companies when they're making record profits, lies to the Congress about the cost of the Medicare Prescription Drug Bill, lies to the Congress (and the nation) about WMDs and the cost of the Iraq War and the # of troops needed to secure the peace, sends out policy PR videos as "news" from various departments including the Dept. of Education and the Social Security Administration, purges the CIA of people critical of the intelligence evaluations and then brings in hookers for the new top dogs in the CIA, guts safety and environmental regulations to free up more money for their corporate johns, alters scientific reports on global warming to erase and modify facts to fit policy, etc. etc. etc.



But, hey, Clinton had an affair with an intern and tried to keep it quiet!! BURN HIM!!!

[Amonester]

16. Please allow me to define one of THerr appalling "etc's" here:

Funds Being Secretly Funneled To Violent Al Qaeda-Linked Groups

“We are simply in a situation where this president is really taking his notion of executive privilege to the absolute limit here, running covert operations, using money that was not authorized by Congress, supporting groups indirectly that are involved with the same people that did 9/11.” - Seymour Hersh

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=3174214

Imagine that, imagine that... if Clinton would have just said something like that, just said, not done something like that...

Just... try... to... imagine... what they would have done to him...

Imagine that... Imagine that.

[redqueen]

19. Funding several groups with ties to Al Qaeda... you'd think that'd be huge...

without any congressional oversight... they just did what they wanted to, as usual.

I don't know why there are still those 30%... just complete denial, I guess.

[Roland99]

22. It's a good thing that the LIBERAL MEDIA is blasting this like a missing blonde white woman!

:eyes:

[underpants]

12. Here is a list so far

This doesn't include Libby's conviction or Griles
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/underpants/86

[catzies]

28. That's great - I wonder where Clinton's list is? It's a whole lot smaller

and these are all REAL high crimes and misdemeanors.

[babylonsister]

3. K&R! The bigger they are... nt

[pberq]

5. How about this additional info?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070323/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/griles_abramoff;_ylt=Ajq0N7GUxuWjqW6J9scw_mas0NUE

"Griles lives in Virginia with Sue Ellen Wooldridge, who until January was an assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department's environmental division.

The AP reported in February that Wooldridge, as the nation's environmental prosecutor, bought a $980,000 vacation home last year with Griles and Donald R. Duncan, the top Washington lobbyist for ConocoPhillips. Nine months later, she signed an agreement giving the company more time to clean up air pollution at some of its refineries."

[lutefisk]

14. So, are they splitting the mortgage three ways? Kind of doubt it.

I've read (don't have a link right now) that Griles and Wooldridge have spent something like $2.5 million on real estate in the past few years. It would be interesting to see the paperwork and follow the money trail on those purchases- apparently it pays to work in the Bush administration (and especially Gale Norton's office, in this case).

[Qutzupalotl]

27. *cough*DukeCunningham*cough*

Could swear I've heard that scenario before.

The Audacity of Rapacity.

[Botany]

6. Anybody seen Gale Norton?

I wonder if any U.S. Attorneys were stopped in other investigations of Abramoff?

Keep sing Jack ... our long national nightmare is coming to a end.




Jack Abramoff



Susan Ralston who used to work for Abramoff before becoming the top
aid to Karl Rove.

[Rhiannon12866]

9. That was my first thought, as well.

She sure stepped down at a most convenient time...:-(

[Botany]

13. She wanted to spend more time with her family

:rofl:

It was well documented that Abramoff used his restaurant "Signatures,"
in Washington D.C., to feed and fund raise for republican congresspersons
who then in turn wrote letters to Norton asking for "special treatment"
for Indian Tribes who were Abramoff's Clients. And Norton granted such
requests too.

I think that the U.S. Attorney firings really lifted the covers off of nothing less
then corruption of huge sections of the government. I hope Jack is singing
big time.

[Rhiannon12866]

20. They all do, LOL.

I wonder what the excuse would be if one of them was an unmarried orphan, ROFL... :rofl:

And thanks for the additional information. I take part in a lot of environmental "actions," so already knew that Norton was bad news, another one of those "anti" appointments, like selecting the "torture guy" for AG, or the person who ignored the bin Laden memo for Secretary of State, but I did not know about the Abramoff connection with Norton, only with the White House. *sigh* Let's hope that the truth will come out in these investigations. If Jack Abramoff sings, heads will have to roll...:woohoo:

[lutefisk]

11. Oh, Gale? She works for Shell Oil

http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2005872,00.html

"Gale Norton, a former interior secretary for the Bush administration and a supporter of opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and other sensitive environmental landscapes for oil production, has taken up a senior legal post at Shell...

Shell, which reported record profits last week, has also recently appointed another perceived enemy of the green lobby, Cam Toohey, to work in Alaska.

Mr Toohey used to work for Ms Norton in the interior department having moved from a post as head of Arctic Power, a group which lobbied for oil development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge...

In addition, Shell has taken on Elizabeth Stolpe, a Bush environment adviser and former oil industry lobbyist."

Maybe Sue Ellen Wooldridge will pop up there, too.

[bobthedrummer]

30. Gale was part of Mr. Cheney's National Energy Policy Development Group

(NEPDG) who, after continuous refusals to release requested documents to the GAO, was taken to the DC US District Court during the first week of September 2001.

Here's a link to a recently archived DU investigation thread about the NEPDG as well as some other probable Bush administration corruption related public issues.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x440721

on edit: Changed Gayle to Gale in subjectline

[Zenlitened]

7. Ex-Deputy of Interior Dept. to Plead Guilty

Source: New York Times

WASHINGTON, March 23 — J. Steven Griles, the second-highest official at the Interior Department during President Bush’s first term, pleaded guilty today to obstruction of justice and lying about his ties to Jack Abramoff, the disgraced lobbyist who obtained help from the Interior Department for his Indian tribal clients.

(snip)

Mr. Griles, 59, the Deputy Secretary of the Interior under Gale N. Norton from 2001 to 2004, was a high-profile lobbyist for oil and gas companies before joining the Bush administration. Once in office, he came under scrutiny for continuing contacts with his former industry clients, and then for his relationship with Mr. Abramoff. After leaving the Interior Department, he resumed his former career as a lobbyist.

(snip)

Mr. Griles agreed to plead guilty to a felony charge of lying to the Senate Indian Affairs Committee on Nov. 2, 2005, when he said that he had no special relationship with Mr. Abramoff.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/23/washington/23cnd-giles.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

[napi21]

8. Well, look at this litttle tidbit!

One key issue, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity, was that Mr. Griles was involved romantically at that time with Italia Federici, who ran an advocacy group that received donations from Mr. Abramoff and his tribal clients. Ms. Federici introduced Mr. Griles to Mr. Abramoff, and acted as an intermediary between the two men.

I remember Italia Federici when she testified before the Senate! She was LYING HER A** OFF! Kept saying she wasn't aware of ANYTHING! I think it was McCCain who kept askingher "Do you really want us to believe that you were in charge of this operation but KNEW NOTHING!"

[exlrrp]

29. Other interesting tidbits

"...Griles, 59, lives in Falls Church, Va., with Sue Ellen Wooldridge, who until January was an assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department's environmental division. They began dating in February 2003, when Wooldridge was Norton's deputy chief of staff and counselor. Wooldridge became Interior's top lawyer and counseled Griles on ethics matters.

The AP reported in February that Wooldridge, who became the nation's chief environmental prosecutor in November 2005, bought a $980,000 vacation home last year with Griles and Donald R. Duncan, the top Washington lobbyist for ConocoPhillips. Nine months later, she signed an agreement giving the company more time to clean up air pollution at some of its refineries...."

This is bizarre--"... an assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department's environmental division..." buys a house with the head lobbyist of Conoco and then approves an agreement which benefits that company? Why isn't THAT illegal? why isn't Wooldridge being investigated?

"...Federici co-founded the advocacy council with Norton -- before Norton joined the Bush administration -- and with Grover Norquist, a conservative GOP activist, college friend of Abramoff and a close ally of Bush..."
The only thing CREA advocates is slamming Democrats. A "Republican Environmental advocate" is a contradiction in terms.

"...Abramoff also sent e-mails to aides about meetings with Griles that don't appear on Griles' office calendars. Federici and Abramoff regularly exchanged e-mails from 2001 through most of 2003, seeking meetings with Griles or favors from him. Griles routinely passed on departmental information to Federici, who passed it on to Abramoff, according to e-mails and other evidence obtained by the Senate committee...."

Did Griles ever come clean about his contacts with Abramoff? Were these meetings done?
What is the result of this investigation?

[Vinca]

10. And this administration thinks we ought to take Karl and

Harriet at their word they're telling the truth in front of Congress?? I don't think so.

[gratuitous]

15. Gee, for a partisan witch hunt

We sure seem to keep turning up a lot of witches!

And the interconnected network of hacks, fixers, bagmen (and bagwomen), and just plain crooks in this administration keeps yielding more and more grist for the mills of justice. But Karl and Harriet should be interviewed once, in closed session, without a transcript kept. Wasn't it Karl who was interviewed five times during the Libby Affair before he suddenly remembered some of the conversations he'd had, conversations that if he had continued to forget them would have put him in the dock as well?

Whatever they're smoking at the White House has to produce some pretty powerful hallucinations, if they think the public is going to trust them any further than I could toss the Washington Monument over my right shoulder.

[NastyDiaper]

17. Wow, have I been waiting for this one.

http://thinkprogress.org/?s=griles
http://thinkprogress.org/?s=gale+norton

[confludemocrat]

18. agreement does not require Griles to help investigators with grand jury probe

so the fucker gets off easy. Sweet for him, and for his boss Gale Norton.

[robinlynne]

24. He's not even charged with anything except perjury!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He REALLY GOT OFF SCOTT FREE!

[IWantAChange]

21. here's hoping the fed judge doesn't approve the deal and Griles is forced to sing

[SteppingRazor]

23. some additional info on Griles:

He certainly deserved jail, and not just for the Abramoff link. Griles was one of the many Bush appointees that I like to call "opposite day" appointees. Mainly first-term appointees, these were people who had formerly wanted to destroy the very things that Bush put them in charge of. There are many more famous examples — John Bolton likely springs immediately to most minds — but Griles was a particularly nasty one. A former lobbyist for coal-mine owners, he was put in charge of mine safety over at the Dept. of Interior, among other things. Of course, disasters such as that at the Sago Mine swiftly followed.

[NoAmericanTaliban]

25. Italia Federici, a Republican environmental activist - oxymoron

if I ever heard one. She was working for a corporate sponored fake activist group. I know she
pissed off McCain during the senate hearings. Wonder if they will go after her too?

[Disturbed]

26. Italia Federici has to be next.

I caught her testimony. She is a lying, corrupt scumbag.

[PhilipShore]

31. Kick

:nopity: