Karl Rove seems to have his grubby little fingers in most slices of Republican pie, makes sense that Rove would be buddies with Jack Abramoff.
Chicago Tribune | Abramoff said to arrange Bush meeting
When the government of Malaysia sought to repair its tarnished image in the United States by arranging a meeting between President Bush and its controversial prime minister in 2002, it followed the same strategy as many other well-heeled interests in Washington: It called on well-connected lobbyist Jack Abramoff for help.It was a tall order. The prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, had been chastised by the Clinton administration for repeated anti-Semitic statements and for jailing his political opponents. But it was important to the Malaysians, according to an Abramoff associate who attended meetings with the Malaysian ambassador and Abramoff.
Abramoff contacted presidential adviser Karl Rove on at least four occasions to help arrange a meeting, according to an eyewitness to the activities.
Finally, this former associate said, Rove's office called to tell Abramoff personally that the Malaysian leader would soon be getting an official White House invitation.
...While White House officials have taken pains to distance Bush and his aides from Abramoff, hoping to shield the president from the scandal's political fallout, former associates say Abramoff would often brag of his ties to the highest levels of the administration.In addition to the now-famous photographs of him with Bush at White House functions, one lobbyist recalls Abramoff's frequent refrain when confronting important legislative issues: “I'll call Karl on that.”
The Malaysian embassy did not respond to requests for comment on Abramoff's work. But bills from the American International Center to the Malaysian embassy have been turned over to a Senate Committee investigating Abramoff's representation of Indian tribes, which he has admitted to defrauding.
The records show that checks from the Embassy of Malaysia from American International Center. Lobbying records show that Abramoff's lobbying firm, Greenberg Traurig, received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Center but did not disclose that the funds originated with the government of Malaysia.
Abramoff told associates that they did not need to disclose Malaysia as the client on federal lobbying disclosure forms - or register as a foreign agent with the Justice Department - because the client was American International Center, a domestic organization, not the government of Malaysia.
Tags: corruption, /Rethuglicans
