Posted on 05/24/2006 8:10:05 PM PDT by hipaatwo
Brian Ross Reports:
Richard Esposito and Rhonda Schwartz contributed to this report.
Despite a flat denial from the Department of Justice, federal law enforcement sources tonight said ABC News accurately reported that Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert is "in the mix" in the FBI investigation of corruption in Congress.
Speaker Hastert said tonight the story was "absolutely untrue" and has demanded ABC News retract its story.
Law enforcement sources told ABC News that convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff has provided information to the FBI about Hastert and a number of other members of Congress that have broadened the scope of the investigation. Sources would not divulge details of the Abramoff’s information.
"You guys wrote the story very carefully but they are not reading it very carefully," a senior official said.
One focus involves a letter Hastert wrote in 2003 urging the Secretary of the Interior to block an Indian casino that would have competed with tribes represented by Abramoff.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.abcnews.com ...
There is significance to the Abramoff and Janus-Merritt references there: a firm called Janus Partners/Partner is listed in Federal Election Commission forms (for contributors to Congressman Christopher Cannon) as associated with Mark J. Robertson, president of Williams Mullen Strategies, a lobbying firm that has worked for both COTECNA (of Oil-for-Food fame) and Gabon.
Robertson previously had arranged a US visit for Gabonese President Omar Bongo at the same time Bongo hired as lobbyists Pierre Salinger and Jacqueline Wilson (then in the process of divorcing Joseph [* Piasa notes: Joseph Wilson, now the hubbie of CIA starlet Valerie Plame Wilson of Iraq-Niger yellowcake fame]--recently back from organizing Clinton's trip to Africa--but curiously listed in records as having a phone number at the $735,000 house Joseph and Valerie Plame purchased at that time, while Joseph was living separately in Valerie's apartment; over the next four years, Jacqueline would receive at least $712,000 from Gabon for her lobbying services).
Robertson has more recently worked with USAID and Iraq's Minister of Infrastructure and Water to establish their respective roles in the Iraq Reconstruction efforts.
(As an aside of possible interest, Abramoff, Robertson, and Janus-Merritt Strategies have all contributed to Congressman Cannon, on whose staff David Safavian has worked. Another contributor to Cannon was Coastal Corp., the company of Oil-for-Food figure Oscar Wyatt.)
163 posted on 10/17/2005 11:47:56 AM PDT by Fedora | To 162
The original ABC story said Hastert had written a letter on behalf of one of Abramoffs indian tribe clients opposing a gambling permit being given to another indian tribe.
Any one who has been in washington more than 5 minutes knows that congressmen write letters on behalf of people and organziations all the time. NO one pays any attention to them.
When I was young an naive I asked a congressman to write a letter to the FCC asking them to grant me a station. The congressman who was a good friend told me it would have zero effect on my application. The FCC knew the congressman was writing the letter on behalf of a constituant. The FCC would make the decision on the merits not what some congressman wrote to please a voter.
The congressman writes the agency a bull crap letter. The agency writes the congress man back a bull crap letter. Then does what it was going to do anyway. The charges annouced by ABC have zero merit to anyone who has spent more than a hour on capital hill.
ABC may very well have gotten caught in a sting, or may have a reporter who just made the story up.
The ABC charges against Hastert are very much like the charges against Congressman Ney that have been floating for months. They make no sense.
A congressman taking 400 grand for getting someone a huge government contract is one level of corruption. That is Jefferson.
Puting an item in the congressional record or writing a letter to a government agency is bull crap. That is what they say hastert and ney did. Congressmen write letters and put garbage in the congressional record for constituants and lobbyists all the time. It is not a crime. It means nothing.
Consider that Daschles wife was hired by companies to lobby a congress where her husband was minority leader. That is a confict.
People often give campaign money to office holders who hold the same opinion they do. The fact that a congressman voted the way a donor wanted should be expected.
The odd item would be teh congressman who voted against his donors. That would be crazy. Why would the donors contribute to his campaign?
I think ABC is full of it and is refusing to admitt it. They must suffer from the Dan Rather syndrome.
Yes one of the best and funny things about this is that the liberals are getting to the point that they do not even trust their liberal MSM. Too funny.
Kills two birds with one stone. Catch the leakers and build more distrust for the msm from their remaining few viewers.
I somehow knew you'd still be working! Do you EVER sleep?
Same company, but not same unit.
That vile pupating aphid, Brian Ross, makes Rather look like a man of great integrity.
Soon, lol.
That is right. It is awesome to watch these fools keep taking the bait.
It wll be time to pay the toll keeper soon. Can't wait. Round up the rogues, msm reporters and editors, donk senators, congressmen and their aides and lets have some trials by juries or witness plea bargins. Let them appeal their convictions to SCOTUS and get slapped down.
Pay back time.
If the FBI is investigating corruption in Congress, aren't all members of Congress then "in the mix"?
No way can they move against Hastert without also indicting Harry Reid.
I can't tell anymore if a story is by the mainstream media or truthout.org.
They've all become as rabid as their "sources."
ping to an interesting theory
Yes sir they are. I would say though, donks are at the front of the line and there is only a bout ten seats left, so looks like the donks are the lucky ones going to trial by jury show.
bttt
And the MSM is really hitting the bottom of the barrel now.
that's it I think - they are trying to take down the house leadership to get the immigration bill through. they know that the immigration bill is the Dems ticket to election demographic nirvana for the future.
I am fairly new here, a few months, and I am middle aged, so please forgive my ignorance but what exactly does "bttt" mean? Someone responded to one of my posts earlier tonight and I did not know what it meant.
Sorry about my ignorance.
Yep, but DeLay was pretty much forced to resign anyway. The real irony of this is perhaps he wouldn't have needed to if Hastert had only had the spine to stick up for him...like he's doing for Jefferson.
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