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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff said in the latest issue of Vanity Fair magazine that he worked closely with many top Republicans, despite their claims to the contrary. "Any important Republican who comes out and says they didn't know me is almost certainly lying," he said in the magazine's April edition, released to reporters on Wednesday. Abramoff pleaded guilty to fraud charges in January and is cooperating with prosecutors in a corruption probe that could implicate lawmakers and officials across Washington. In his plea, he admitted that he showered golf trips, sports tickets and other gifts on lawmakers...

House Armed Services Committee chairman Duncan Hunter blasted former President Clinton on Sunday for advising the Dubai government on how to overcome U.S. opposition to its purchase of some operations at U.S. ports. Appearing on ABC's "This Week," Hunter told host George Stephanopoulos: "In our hearing just two days ago, your former boss, President Clinton, was referred to by the president of the ports [company] as having made a phone call to the Emir of Dubai." Hunter noted that the Emir "is the sole stockholder and the director of this company and President Clinton gave him advice on who he...

Just announced: Duke Cunningham was sentenced to 8 years, 4 months in prison, and ordered to make over $1 million in restitution.

SAN DIEGO -- Former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, who collected $2.4 million in homes, yachts, antique furnishings and other bribes on a scale unparalleled in the history of Congress, was sentenced Friday to eight years and four months in prison, the longest term ever meted out to a congressman.

The paper trail seems so obvious it makes you wonder whether anyone ever worried about getting caught. When Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas) and his wife flew from Houston to a golf resort in Scotland in June 2000, the first-class airfare cost $14,001, a big-ticket item for a public servant. But someone else paid. The American Express bills of lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who pleaded guilty to fraud charges in January, show he footed the bill for the tickets, in an apparent violation of House ethics rules. "The source of the travel expenses may not be ... a registered lobbyist," according to...

Fellow Americans, there comes a time every mans life when we must give up ourselves before we are worthy to recieve. There comes a time in this war on terror when in order to protect liberty, we have to give it up in the mean time for safty. That's right folks. Today, Americans have forsaken the creator for the creation and have decided that they would value our "civil liberties" than protecting western civilization and rich white people from the tender mercies of radical Islamic terrorists. Selfish liberals insist and whine that Bush has no right to spy on Americans...

Former UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter, promoting his book in New Mexico, said that Iran simply wants peaceful nuclear power, not nuclear weapons, and that US Ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, already has a speech written for the coming US nuclear bombing of Iran. “We just don’t know when, but it’s going to happen,” Scott Ritter said to a crowd of about 150 at the James A. Little Theater on Sunday night. Ritter described how the U.S. government might justify war with Iran in a scenario similar to the buildup to the Iraq invasion. He also argued that Iran...

Senator Joseph Biden (D-DE) failed today to address rumors that Nevada Senator Harry Reid will step down next month as Senate Minority Leader. Reid has been stung by revelations that his political action committee (PAC) accepted more than $60,000 in contributions from Indian tribes linked to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Appearing on CNN's Late Edition, Biden avoided discussing either the Reid situation or any upcoming changes in Senate Democratic leadership. Reid is no stranger to scandal, having been the subject of a 1979 Justice Department probe into allegations that Reid — then Nevada Gaming Commission chairman — had received bribes...

Embattled Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio) said Thursday he will run for re-election even if he is indicted for his connections to disgraced Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Attacking lobbyists wrong battle Jan 18, 2006 by Walter E. Williams Jack Abramoff, the Washington lobbyist who's pled guilty to charges of conspiracy, fraud and tax evasion, has showered millions of dollars on the campaign coffers of both Republican and Democrat congressmen. Like a kid caught with his hands in the cookie jar, many congressmen seek to distance themselves by purging their coffers of Abramoff money. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., in reaction to Abramoff's guilty plea, has pledged to "examine and act on any necessary changes to improve transparency and accountability for our body when it comes to...

-- Republican Bob Ney is in talks to quit a key committee chairmanship, which would make him the 2nd casualty of the Abramoff scandal. Watch CNN or log on to http://CNN.com and watch FREE video, plus live, commercial-free video with CNN Pipeline. More Americans watch CNN. More Americans trust CNN.

A Justice Department investigation into influence-peddling on Capitol Hill is focusing on a "first tier" of lawmakers and staffers, both Republicans and Democrats, say sources close to the probe that has netted guilty pleas from lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Law-enforcement authorities and others said the investigation's opening phase is scrutinizing Sens. Conrad Burns, Montana Republican; Byron L. Dorgan, North Dakota Democrat; and Minority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, along with Reps. J.D. Hayworth, Arizona Republican, and Bob Ney, Ohio Republican. A source working with the Justice Department on the investigation told The Washington Times that Abramoff was questioned during several interviews...

Republicans are looking for "their" John McCain. The popular Arizona maverick is already a Republican, of course. But the GOP needs a McCain in the "Keating Five" sense. Back in 1990, Senate Democrats roped McCain into the scandal over savings and loan kingpin Charles Keating on tenuous grounds, just so not all the senators involved would be Democrats. The GOP now craves such bipartisan cover in the Jack Abramoff scandal. Republicans trumpet every Democratic connection to Abramoff in the hope that something resonates. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.), took more than $60,000 from Abramoff clients! North Dakota Democratic...

WASHINGTON — Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., came to the defense of disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff on Monday, saying he's a good person who's been unjustly criticized. "They're portraying Jack as a monster. I see him more as a good person who's done bad things and has to be punished for doing bad things," Rohrabacher, a longtime friend of Abramoff, said in a phone interview. "I think that he obviously has done some things that are wrong and illegal and he's going to have to pay the price for it," Rohrabacher said. "I think that a lot of other things...

By his own admission, Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff is a crook. But that isn't the worst that can be said about him. He defrauded his clients of millions of dollars, bribed public officials, cheated on his tax returns, and deceived lenders to qualify for a loan. But that isn't the worst that can be said about him, either. He made himself at home in and contributed to the swamp of corruption that fills Washington with its stench. His e-mails to cronies, with messages like "Can you smell money?!?!?!" and "I'd love us to get our mitts on that moolah!!", oozed...

Top Republicans in the House are buzzing - and scrambling - at news alleging that Randy "Duke" Cunningham, a former San Diego congressman who's pled guilty to bribery and other illegal activities, was wearing a wire for the FBI during the summer and early fall of 2005. The undercover operation, according to senior Justice and federal law enforcement, is part of a broadening investigation into the Jack Abramoff bribes-for-favors scandal now roiling Washington. The disgraced former lawmaker initially began cooperating with federal investigators after they uncovered evidence of his illegal acceptance of bribes in cash and luxury items from at...

A report commissioned in mid-1999 by Rep. Curt Weldon (R) looks into possible Chinese front companies in the US seeking technology for the Chinese military. Dr. Eileen Preisser and Michael Maloof are commissioned to make the report. Dr. Preisser, who runs the Information Dominance Center at the US Army's Land Information Warfare Activity (LIWA) and will later become closely tied to Able Danger, uses LIWA's data mining capabilities to search unclassified information. According to Maloof, their results show Chinese front companies in the US posing as US corporations that acquire technology from US defense contractors. When the study is completed...

WASHINGTON - Fallout from the Jack Abramoff scandal continued Friday as more lawmakers said they will donate to charity campaign contributions related to the disgraced lobbyist. Sens. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Rick Santorum, R-Pa., said they plan to donate to charity a total of nearly $30,000 in campaign contributions they received from tribes connected to Abramoff, who pleaded guilty this week to felony charges in a wide-ranging political corruption investigation. Cantwell will be donating nearly $18,000, and Santorum, about $11,000. Sen. Mark Pryor (news, bio, voting record), D-Ark., meanwhile, said he is returning $3,800 in contributions he received from former...

Washington's power players have always bragged about being well-wired, but for disgraced former congressman Duke Cunningham, "wired" wasn't just a figure of speech. In a week when legislators are focused on the question of who else might be brought down by ex-lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s cooperation with prosecutors as he seeks lenient sentencing over his two federal guilty pleas this week, sources tell TIME that ex-Rep. Cunningham wore a wire to help investigators gather evidence against others just before copping his own plea.

Gingrich Blasts Republican "Teamwork" Newt Gingrich, the original architect of the Republican Revolution, is obviously dismayed to see his handiwork going up in flames. Even so, the force with which Newt is blasting his party's corruption woes is surprising. As he told Bloomberg: The Abramoff scandal has to be seen as part of a much larger and deeper problem. It's not about lobbyist corruption. You can't have a corrupt lobbyist without a corrupt member or corrupt staff. This was a team effort. There are a series of behaviors, a series of attitudes, a series of crony-like activities that are not...