White House: "These Are The Records Of A Liar" (Abramoff revelation)

[sabra]

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2006/09/white_house_the.html

White House: "These Are The Records Of A Liar"


ABC's Jessica Yellin reports: The Heart of the White House Pushback

* Those 485 contacts include instances in which Abramoff's records indicate he simply sent an email to a WH official or bumped into one at an event. The White House emphasizes the report does not detail 485 times Abramoff's records show he or his associates actually met with White House officials
* The investigation is based on Abramoff's own emails and billing records. They are the documents of a known liar.

Rove
They point out -- of the 10 contacts with Rove, two are based on emails Abramoff sent to third parties in which he claims to have had casual contact with Rove. In one he says he bumped into Rove at the Gridiron; another says he reached Rove on his cell. In a third Abramoff says he sat with Rove at an NCAA game but the WH says they didn't sit together; they say Rove stopped by to say hi and paid for his own tickets.
The White House claims that according to the report, in one six month period in which the Committee reviewed Abramoff's billing records only 1% of his time (30 hours out of 3000 total) was spent with "White House contacts" 99% was not.
Of course, this is the White house's effort to minimize the findings in the report.

Note the report also contains instances in which Abramoff's records show he had direct personal contact -- meals, meetings -- with WH officials including Rove. It also makes clear that Abramoff had significant contact with Rove's assistant, Susan Ralston. It documents 69 lobbying contacts between Abramoff and Ralston and says in some instances, according to the documents, Ralston passed communications or documents between Abramoff and his associates and Rove. Also, if the White House takes issue the Committee basing its findings on Abramoff's records…one might ask why the White House didn't give the Committee emails and records from Administration officials.

No WH Investigation
Per the WH, the White House Counsel's Office has not conducted its own internal investigaton into Abramoff contacts with White House officials and whether those officials followed ethics rules.

[Richard Steele]

1. Dick Steele: "This is the Press Release of Known Liars." nm

[Roy]

2. hmm might get interesting...

Abramoff don't like being called a liar, even by his friends.