Posted on 02/11/2002 9:15:10 AM PST by Triple
A powerful Washington, D.C., law firm with unusually close ties to the White House has earned hefty fees representing controversial Saudi billionaires as well as a Texas-based Islamic charity fingered last week as a terrorist front.
The influential law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld has represented three wealthy Saudi businessmen - Khalid bin Mahfouz, Mohammed Hussein Al-Amoudi and Salah Idris - who have been scrutinized by U.S. authorities for possible involvement in financing Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network.
In addition, Akin, Gump currently represents the largest Islamic charity in the United States, Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development in Richmond, Texas.
Holy Land's assets were frozen by the Treasury Department last week as government investigators probe its ties to Hamas, the militant Palestinian group blamed for suicide attacks against Israelis.
Partners at Akin, Gump include one of President Bush's closest Texas friends, James C. Langdon, and George R. Salem, a Bush fund-raiser who chaired his 2000 campaign's outreach to Arab-Americans.
Another longtime partner is Barnett A. ``Sandy'' Kress, the former Dallas School Board president who Bush appointed in January to work for the White House as an ``unpaid consultant'' on education reform.
In September, a federal grand jury issued subpoenas for Holy Land records around the same time terrorist investigators froze the assets of a North Texas Internet firm hired by Holy Land.
Holy Land shared office space with that firm, InfoCom Corp., which was raided by police on Sept. 5, just days before the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks.
Holy Land has denied any link to Hamas.
According to Akin, Gump, the firm represents Holy Land in a federal lawsuit filed against the charity and another suspected Hamas entity by the parents of a man allegedly murdered by Hamas operatives in the Middle East.
In a statement issued Friday, Akin, Gump said it decided last week to decline a request to represent Holy Land in its defense of terrorism-related charges made by the U.S. Treasury Department.
Akin, Gump, which maintains an affiliate office in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, is also a registered foreign agent for the kingdom. It was paid $77,328 in lobbying fees by the Saudis during the first six months of 2000, public records show.
In addition to the royal family, the firm's Saudi clients have included bin Mahfouz, who hired Akin, Gump when he was indicted in the BCCI banking scandal in the early 1990s. In 1999, the Saudi's placed bin Mahfouz under house arrest after reportedly discovering that the bank he controlled, National Commercial Bank in Saudi Aabia, funneled millions to charities believed to be serving as bin Laden fronts.
A bin Mahfouz business partner, Al-Amoudi, was also represented by Akin, Gump. When it was reported in 1999 that U.S. authorities were also investigating Al-Amoudi's Capitol Trust Bank, Akin, Gump released a statement on behalf of their client denying any connections to terrorism. One year earlier, the firm had co-sponsored an investment conference in Ethiopia with Al-Amoudi.
Akin, Gump partner and Bush fund-raiser Salem led the legal team that defended Idris, a banking protege of bin Mahfouz and the owner of El-Shifa, the Sudanese pharmaceutical plant destroyed by U.S. cruise missiles in August 1998.
cw-2 The plant was targeted days after terrorists - allegedly on the orders of bin Laden - bombed two U.S. embassies in Africa. The U.S. Treasury Department also froze $24 million of Idris' assets, but Akin, Gump filed a lawsuit and the government later chose to release the money rather than go to court. Idris, who insists he has no connection whatsoever to bin Laden or terrorism, is now pursuing a second lawsuit with different attorneys seeking $50 million in damages from the United States.
Charles Lewis, executive director of the Center for Public Integrity, a Washington, D.C.-based non-partisan political watchdog group, said Akin, Gump's willingness to represent Saudi power-brokers probed for links to terrorism presents a unique ethical concern since partners at the firm are so close to the president.
The concern is more acute now, Lewis said, because Bush has faced stiff resistance from the kingdom in his repeated requests to freeze suspected terrorist bank accounts.
``The conduct of the Saudis is just unacceptable by international standards, especially if they are supposed to be one of our closest allies,'' Lewis said.
Speaking of Akin, Gump partner Kress' office in the White House, Lewis added: ``That's not appropriate and frankly it's potentially troublesome because there is a real possibility of a conflict of interest. Basically you have a partner for Akin, Gump . . . inside the hen house.''
But another longtime Washington political observer, Vincent Cannistraro, the former chief of counter-intelligence at the Central Intelligence Agency, said the political influence a firm like Akin, Gump has is precisely why clients like the Saudis hire them.
``These are cozy political relationships . . . If you have a problem in Washington, there are only a few firms to go to and Akin, Gump is one of them,'' Cannistraro said.
Cannistraro pointed out that Idris hired Akin, Gump during the Clinton presidency, when Clinton confidante Vernon Jordan was a partner at the firm. ``He hired them because Vernon Jordan had influence . . . that's a normal political exercise where you are buying influence,'' he said.
Akin, Gump is not the only politically wired Washington business cashing in on the Saudi connection.
Burson-Marsteller, a major D.C. public relations firm, registered with the U.S. government as a foreign agent for the Saudi embassy within weeks of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
One of Burson-Marsteller's first public relations efforts for the Saudis was to run a large advertisement in the New York Times reading: ``We Stand with You, America.''
The Washington chairman for Burson-Marsteller, which also maintains an office in Saudi Arabia, is Craig Veith, who ran communications for the Republican Party in the 1996 elections.
Other GOP heavyweights who have held top positions at the PR giant include Sheila Tate, the campaign press secretary for the elder George Bush; Leslie Goodman, deputy director of communications for the 1992 Bush-Quayle campaign; Craig L. Fuller, chairman of the 1992 Republican National Convention and elder Bush's vice presidential chief-of-staff.
Read the Wall Street Journal editorial blasting Mueller on BCCI the week before he was appointed by Bush.
Some of the Bush supporters are too defensive sometimes. They do not understand that even if Bush comes out clean as whistle that these facts need to be investigated and mistakes and policiy failures need to be corrected to protect America. Protecting America and her citizens, come first, before the FBI, CIA and even the President. The Bush supporters also need to be concerned that Mueller and Tenet and Ashcroft have been sandbagging Bush and lying to him and giving him bad advice. I know I am concerned about this and I voted for Bush.
THe claim that we are not to raise valid critical questions and complaints without being accused of helping or being Democrats is an invalid and counterproductive claim especially at a time of war with terrorists on our shores when public trust and unity must be maintained by proper public investigations, disclosures and corrections of failures.
Unlike Kevin Bacon, you would probably only need 1 or 2 degrees of separation to link George W. Bush with any and all movers and shakers on the globe. He was an active presence in his father's administration, both a success and a flop as a businessman in the largest state in the union, of which he later became governor. He's no hayseed from Hot Springs. Legal Washington is so incestuous that I never try to untangle webs involving attorney links. I mean, Bob Bennett is William Bennett's brother for crying out loud.
That is only in a court of law. In the court of personal opinion it smells. Do you think Lindh is innocent because he gets that presumption in court? I don't. The President should distance himself from people who want to whitewash terrorists. Most people would.
I guess it's O.K. to link direct to the WP.
Please see replies #15,#19,and #25. Thanks.
So freaking what?
Nothing in this piece even begins to support the innuendoes. There are no "facts" that need investigation. One can only conclude that this is just baseless Bush-bashing.
see my above reply
and, if you can take it, you might consider that Bush may be the author of some poor judgement.
Yeh. Bears repeating. The Libertarians are still unhappy their guy didn't win. Neither did Gore.
There is much more substance to the article than to the spin of your reply #32.
Why not try posting some artricle that contain facts to support your point of view rather than just claiming that the article is baseless? At least Tiple produced a valid article from a good news source which is a lot more than what you have done so far.
If you really are interested in searching for the facts I suggest you go to the Boston Globe website and the Washington Post website and you can find many more valid articles on the same subject that provide a sound basis for raising valid, critical questions. If you search the FR archives you will also find other posts from other reputable news sources that raise the same valid facts and questions.
Your spin reminds me of the spin in reply #27 and also by the White House that Enron is just a business problem and not a political problem. That is an absurd spin even if the White House is filled with saints because Enron gave huge sums to POLITICIANS , Democrats and Republicans alike, who knew there was a problem and did not take corrective actions even when warned by US gov officials repeatedly in hearings (this was revealed by guests on NightLine who had testified earlier before Congress).
Enron is perceived by the public as a political problem regardless of White House spins to the contrary. The White House is taking the wrong approach and looks foolish (who do they think they are kidding, hmm?) to try and bludgeon with PR blitz anyone who suggests it is also political.
Not buying it.
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