Ex-Deputy Pleads Guilty in Abramoff Case

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

Ex-Deputy Pleads Guilty in Abramoff Case
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Mar 23, 9:03 PM (ET)

By JOHN HEILPRIN

WASHINGTON (AP) - Former Deputy Interior Secretary J. Steven Griles on Friday became the highest-ranking Bush administration official convicted in the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling scandal, pleading guilty to obstructing justice by lying to a Senate committee.

The former No. 2 official in the Interior Department admitted in federal court that he lied to investigators about his relationship with convicted lobbyist Abramoff, who repeatedly sought Griles' intervention at Interior on behalf of Indian tribal clients.

Griles, an oil and gas lobbyist who became an architect of President Bush's energy policies, is the ninth person convicted in a continuing Justice Department probe. The government is still actively investigating other public officials linked to Abramoff, said officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.


Former Deputy Interior Secretary Steven Griles, arrives at U.S. Federal Court in Washington, Friday, March 23, 2007. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Abramoff's ties to at least three other current or former Republican lawmakers have come under scrutiny in the criminal probe: Rep. John Doolittle of California, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas and former Sen. Conrad Burns of Montana. None of them has been charged; all have denied wrongdoing. One former House member, Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, already is serving a jail term on a guilty plea.

Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20070324/D8O27I582.html

[Lerkfish]

1. keep going, folks!

keep on knocking them down...

[Fridays Child]

2. Now, how to get at what this guy knows...

Is it too much to hope that he'll talk?