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Jihad Watch Court Docs: Iranian-American Lobbying Group NIAC Defrauded Feds, Lied to Congressmen, Paid for Congressional Testimony, and Arranged Secret US/Iran Meetings Pamela Geller has just published this revealing and important message from the Iranian-American human rights activist Arash Irandoost: Dear Friend,حرف بس است. متحد شویم. عمل کنیمIt is time to act. Court documents released as a result of a lawsuit filed by NIAC against Hassan Dai paint a very disturbing picture of Trita Parsi and the NIAC. They range from defrauding the federal government, lying to members of Congress, arranging secret meetings between the US and the criminal regime,...

WASHINGTON — House Republicans, overriding their top leaders, voted on Monday to significantly curtail the power of an independent ethics office set up in 2008 in the aftermath of corruption scandals that sent three members of Congress to jail. The move to effectively kill the Office of Congressional Ethics was not made public until late Monday, when Representative Robert W. Goodlatte, Republican of Virginia and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, announced that the House Republican Conference had approved the change. There was no advance notice or debate on the measure. The surprising vote came on the eve of the...

Twenty-five years after its revolution of 1979, Iran has yet again become too big of a problem for Washington to play politics with. Fortunately, commencing his second-term, President George W. Bush is in a unique position of strength. On the one hand, he is less vulnerable to special interests in Washington seeking confrontation with Iran. On the other hand, his strong record on national security grants him enough political maneuverability to solve America's Persian puzzle once and for all by easing the increasingly costly and unsustainable policy of isolating Iran in return for an end to Iran's objectionable policies. President...

The Iranian Web of Influence in the United States   By Hassan Daioleslam FrontPageMagazine.com | Wednesday, April 02, 2008 On March 21, 2008, the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) announced its decision to penalize three Iranian-connected companies as "they knowingly exported three U.S. origin aircraft to Iran in violation of the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”) and are preparing to re-export three additional U.S. origin aircraft to Iran in further violation of the EAR."1The principal firm among these is Balli Group PLC based in London. Iranian brothers Vahid and Hassan Alaghband own the company. Balli owns...

More than 100 members of Congress—past and present—as well as congressional campaign committees and the national parties benefited from political donations from the political action committee or employees of Stanford Financial Group since 2000, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The Securities and Exchange Commission charged the firm’s head, R. Allen Stanford, on Tuesday with orchestrating a $8 billion fraud. Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal reported on Stanford’s status as an “international cricket sponsor, Washington political donor and private banker to Latin America’s wealthy.” President Barack Obama was the third-ranking recipient among lawmakers, with $31,750 collected from company employees during...

What could the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) possibly have in common? CAIR founders had close ties to Hamas, Palestinian Sunni Islamic extremists. NIAC and its main spokesman, Trita Parsi, have become apologists for the regime in Tehran, which exports a rival Shiite brand of Islamic extremism. Sunnis and Shias. We all know the story. They hate each other worse than Irish Catholics and Irish Protestants. Right? Well, no. As I pointed out in Countdown to Crisis: the Coming Nuclear Showdown with Iran, Sunnis and Shias get along just fine when it...

Ayatollahs’ Lobby In Washington Offering Human Rights as a Negotiating Item By Hassan Daioleslam Binding accountability for Iran’s suppression of its population to nuclear issues and Iran’s meddling in Iraq amounts to doing the bidding of the ruling ayatollahs. The National Iranian American Council (NIAC) and its president Trita Parsi have organized a panel in the US House of Representatives on July 26th, 2007, titled “Human Rights in Iran and US Foreign Policy Options.”1 According to the published agenda, representatives from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch will participate. The sponsors of the program (NIAC and Trita Parsi) are key...

Iran's Oil Mafia April 16, 2007 Frontpagemagazine.com Hassan Daioleslam Robert William (Bob) Ney is a current federal prisoner and a former Ohio Congressman from 1995 until November 3, 2006. Ney pled guilty to charges of conspiracy and making false statements in relation to the Jack Abramoff lobbying and bribery scandal. Ney reportedly received bribes from Abramoff, other lobbyists, and two foreign businessmen - a felon and an arms dealer - in exchange for using his position to advance their interests. Conspicuously missing from this dossier of disservice to the country was Ney’s assistance in the creation of a Washington-based lobbying...

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today released its 2006 list of Washington’s “Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians.” The list, in alphabetical order, includes: 1. Jack Abramoff, Former Lobbyist – 2. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) 3. Former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-CA) 4. Former Rep. Tom Delay (R-TX) 5. Former Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) 6. Rep. Denny Hastert (R-IL) 7. Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL) 8. Rep. William “Dollar Bill” Jefferson (D-LA) 9. Former Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) 10. Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) 6 Dishonorable Mentions: 1. Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) 2....

Seems like just yesterday Republicans were warning Democrats not to count their hicks before they were catched. Democrats said they had a plan to get the guys with the Confederate flags, but Republicans said you can’t con those folks into loving federal overreach. Democrats said they could draw pro-life votes, but Republicans scoffed: “We’re the pros. Get a life!” Democrats said they could attract budget-balancers and Republicans countered: “That is our constituency and you can’t budge it.” Well, bite your tongues, all you RNC guys and gals with the starched collars. Them there rubes done drug you out the door....

WASHINGTON - Republicans decided long ago their party won't pay a significant price at the polls for the scandal spawned by lobbyist Jack Abramoff. It's a proposition likely to be tested anew in the aftermath of Rep. Bob Ney (news, bio, voting record)'s agreement to plead guilty to corruption charges. Within minutes of the disclosure of Ney's signed plea bargain papers on Friday, House Democrats circulated a list meant to suggest guilt by association. It highlighted the names of more than 60 Republican incumbents who have accepted political donations from the six-term lawmaker. "Americans are ready for a new direction...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 14 — Representative Bob Ney, Republican of Ohio, has agreed to plead guilty to federal criminal charges related to his dealings with the corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff, lawyers and others with knowledge of the investigation said Thursday. A guilty plea would make Mr. Ney, a six-term congressman, the first member of Congress to admit to criminal charges in the Abramoff investigation, which has focused on the actions of several current and former Republican lawmakers who had been close to the former lobbyist. People with detailed knowledge of the investigation said Mr. Ney had entered an in-patient rehabilitation facility...

The Jack Abramoff scandal that rocked Capitol Hill last winter claimed its second electoral victim as Ohio Republican Rep. Bob Ney announced Monday he will abandon his re-election race. But as Republicans try to hold onto the seat, questions are arising over the “sore loser” provision in Ohio election law. Ney, a 12-year incumbent, has not been charged. He has been named in several guilty pleas of Abramoff associates and federal officials have told him he is a target of the probe. Last month, Ralph Reed, the former Christian Coalition director and another Abramoff associate, lost a Republican primary lieutenant...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Rep. Bob Ney (news, bio, voting record), enmeshed in a congressional corruption scandal, abruptly abandoned his race for re-election Monday after months of prodding from Republican leaders worried about losing his seat this fall. Ney said in a statement he is innocent of any wrongdoing, and had acted for the sake of his family. "I must think of them first, and I can no longer put them through this ordeal," he said. The six-term lawmaker has long been involved in the influence-peddling investigation spawned by Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, and is the second congressman to announce his...

U.S. Rep. Bob Ney, dogged by an influence peddling probe in Washington, will not seek re-election, state Sen. Joy Padgett said early Monday. Ney called Padgett on Saturday and asked the fellow Republican to run in his place, saying that defending himself has been a strain on his family, she said. "It's a very sad time," Padgett said of Ney's decision, first reported by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review on its Web site. She said Ney told her, "that there's only so much he can take. He said, 'I have to do this.'" Padgett told The Associated Press she would run for...

WASHINGTON - Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, under federal investigation for possible insider trading, will have a nice nest egg to fall back on when he retires from Congress in January, recording income last year of more than $5 million from his largest blind trust. Frist, R-Tenn., is hardly the richest member of the millionaires' club of Congress, but he and numerous other lawmakers whose financial dealings have been questioned were under scrutiny as House and Senate lawmakers disclosed their finances Wednesday. Rep. Alan Mollohan (news, bio, voting record), D-W.Va., steered millions in federal money to nonprofit groups in his...

WASHINGTON - For the first time since the Abscam scandal a quarter-century ago, multiple lawmakers face criminal and ethics investigations that are tarnishing Congress, already low on public approval. Three separate bribery investigations by the Justice Department were bad enough news for lawmakers. But the woes only increased last week when the House ethics committee broke a 16-month partisan gridlock and announced investigations into the same matters. "We have an entire generation who imagines their member of Congress in an orange jumpsuit," said Paul Light, a New York University professor of public service, referring to the common prison uniform. "It's...

WASHINGTON - In a burst of activity that ended 16 months of inaction, the House ethics committee on Wednesday opened investigations of a Republican and a Democrat who are subjects of federal bribery inquiries. One lawmaker is connected to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Rep. Bob Ney (news, bio, voting record), R-Ohio, who had strong ties to Abramoff and accepted favors from him, will be investigated along with Rep. William Jefferson (news, bio, voting record), D-La. A former aide to Ney pleaded guilty last week, admitting he tried to corrupt the congressman. Two businessmen have pleaded guilty to bribing Jefferson. The...

A former chief of staff to Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, pleaded guilty Monday in the Jack Abramoff scandal, admitting he participated in a conspiracy to corrupt Ney, his staff, and other members of Congress with trips, free tickets, and meals. Neil Volz, 35, admitted that he engaged in the conspiracy for more than four years, both while he was Ney's chief of staff and after he left to go work with Abramoff.

WASHINGTON - A former congressional chief of staff to Rep. Bob Ney (news, bio, voting record), R-Ohio, pleaded guilty Monday in the Jack Abramoff influence peddling scandal, admitting he participated in a conspiracy to corrupt Ney, his staff and other members of Congress with trips, free tickets and meals. Neil Volz, 35, admitted that he engaged in the conspiracy for more than four years, both while he was Ney's chief of staff and after he left to go to work for Abramoff. Volz's admissions during a hearing before U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle are part of a widening influence...