Vanity Fair Exclusive: Abramoff on relationship with Bush, DeLay, Burns

[ProSense]

Abramoff Interview: Lobbyist Details Relationship With Bush, DeLay, Burns

Vanity Fair is set to publish an in-depth interview with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Abramoff sheds new light on his close relationships with top conservatives, including some not typically associated with the Abramoff scandals like Ken Mehlman and Newt Gingrich. Some choice quotes:

On President Bush:

President Bush, who claims not to remember having his picture taken with Abramoff. According to Abramoff, at one time, the president joked with Abramoff about his weight lifting past: “What are you benching, buff guy?”

On former Rove deputy Ken Mehlman:

According to documents obtained by Vanity Fair, Mehlman exchanged e-mail with Abramoff, and did him political favors (such as preventing Clinton administration alumnus Allen Stayman from keeping a State Department job), had Sabbath dinner at Abramoff’s house, and offered to pick up Abramoff’s tab at Signatures, Abramoff’s own restaurant.

more...

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/03/08/abramoff-vanity-fair/

[Crankie Avalon]

1. "What are you benching, BUFF GUY"???

Oy, vey. :eyes: :silly:

[The Backlash Cometh]

2. yellow carpets and buff guys are optimistic things in Bush's life.

[ProSense]

3. Vanity Fair: Bush Had Ties to Abramoff (AP article)

Vanity Fair: Bush Had Ties to Abramoff

7 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff says President Bush knew him well enough to joke with him about weightlifting. "What are you benching, buff guy?" Abramoff said Bush asked him. The president has said he doesn't know Abramoff.

Abramoff said he finds it hard to believe Bush doesn't remember the 10 or so photos he and members of his family had snapped with the president and first lady.

"He (Bush) has one of the best memories of any politician I have ever met," Abramoff wrote in an e-mail, according to Vanity Fair's April issue being released this week. "Perhaps he has forgotten everything. Who knows?"

Abramoff pleaded guilty Jan. 4 to charges that he and a former partner, Adam Kidan, concocted a fake wire transfer to make it appear they were putting a sizable stake of their own money into a multimillion-dollar purchase of SunCruz Casinos gambling fleet in 2000. Abramoff also has pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a probe into his ties with members of Congress and the Bush administration.

more...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060308/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_abramoff_1

[ProSense]

4. Abramoff says he worked with top Republicans (Reuters article)

Abramoff says he worked with top Republicans

24 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff said in the latest issue of Vanity Fair magazine that he worked closely with many top Republicans, despite their claims to the contrary.


"Any important Republican who comes out and says they didn't know me is almost certainly lying," he said in the magazine's April edition, released to reporters on Wednesday.

Abramoff pleaded guilty to fraud charges in January and is cooperating with prosecutors in a corruption probe that could implicate lawmakers and officials across Washington.

In his plea, he admitted that he showered golf trips, sports tickets and other gifts on lawmakers in return for actions that would help his clients.

more...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060308/pl_nm/crime_abramoff_dc_1

[ProSense]

5. Abramoff says he got 'every appropriation we wanted'

Abramoff says he got 'every appropriation we wanted'

By GWEN FLORIO
Tribune Capitol Bureau

HELENA — Jack Abramoff, the Washington lobbyist at the center of a congressional influence-peddling scandal, told Vanity Fair magazine that "every appropriation we wanted, we got" from U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns' committee.

"Our staffs were as close as they could be," Abramoff told Vanity Fair, which hit newsstands in New York and Los Angeles Wednesday with a story on Abramoff headlined "Washington's Invisible Man."

more...

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060309/NEWS01/603090303/1002

[ProSense]

6. Abramoff: Bush Knew Me

Abramoff: Bush Knew Me

March 8, 2006

(CBS/AP) Convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff says President Bush knew him well enough to joke with him about weightlifting. "What are you benching, buff guy?" Abramoff said Mr. Bush asked him.

The president has said he doesn't know Abramoff.

Abramoff said he finds it hard to believe Mr. Bush doesn't remember the 10 or so photos he and members of his family had snapped with the president and first lady.

"He (Bush) has one of the best memories of any politician I have ever met," Abramoff wrote in an e-mail, according to Vanity Fair's April issue being released this week. "Perhaps he has forgotten everything. Who knows?"

more...

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/08/politics/main1384881.shtml