Guest blogged by David Edwards
This morning, lawyers for super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff revealed a plea deal where Abramoff will plea guilty to fraud charges in a Florida fraud investigation. In return for the deal, Abramoff agreed to cooperate with any other federal investigations. AP has filed this report.
Republicans are worried about information that may implicate as many as a dozen in Congress including Tom DeLay and Bob Ney. Senator Conrad Burns (R-MT) is up for re-election and has returned more than $100,000 in campaign donations. Polls in Montana show that Senator Burns’ constituents are becoming concerned about his dealings with Abramoff.
ThinkProgress and RAW STORY are reporting that a news conference will be held at 12:30 et today. Some DU members suspect that the Abramoff scandal is masking foreign influence peddling by the GOP.
Video in Streaming Flash format…
Video in Windows Media format…
UPDATE: David Corn asks “What’s Good for Abramoff Is Good For America?” And in a just-published piece, Mad Cow Morning News follows David Corn’s reasoning to a grave possibility:
“Casino Jack” Abramoff and minion Adam Kidan just may be about to get away with murder.
At the press conference, the prosecutor read out the charges against Abramoff and then in a forceful but rehearsed voice said that “government officials and government action are not for sale. The Justice Department will aggressively investigate and prosecute these types of cases which have a devastating impact on the public’s trust of government. We will not shy away from that responsibility no matter where the trail leads.”
The prosecution of public officials by the DOJ has increased 90% in 3 years. When asked, the prosecutor chose not to give an explanation for the increase.
I’m not able to get the last link to work (foreign influence peddling)
Soul Rebel (#1):
The link to DU is fixed.
Thanks for the heads-up!
At 12:15, when Abramoff was scheduled to plead, only MSNBC among network and cable TV stations made any mention of it. The major networks were busy with normal weekday programming. Fox and CNN were covering the miners in West Virginia and the storms in California exclusively.
DeLay was quoted as blaming his problems on the liberal media. Hard to know who they are. Maybe he’s talking about us.
The neoCon into neoConvict evolution continues. The presstitutes in the MSM, also neoCons, continue to cover up.
The mission of the presstitutes in the MSM now will be to minimize and keep focus on other things.
But the people are watching. And they know what is going on.
Perhaps the presstitutes in the MSM are in a competition to see who can screw the American public the most. Congress, the president, and the presstitutes in the MSM are neck in neck it seems.
Yeah, and Corksoakers Nobs & Nitwits had a little 30 second blurb about it not even mentioning Gus Boulis or anything, all the reporter said was a deal about buying a "boat" or something
It was such a piece of fluff I almost puked
It’ll be hard for Tom Delay to act like he’s being smeared when everyone around him is pleading guilty.
Was it John over at C&L that went to Hollywood High with him, they used to call him Abraham Jackoff?
I heard that somewhere before, can’t remember where
Tom Delay can’t blame the liberal media since there isn’t one besides editorials in the New York Times, NONE of the networks cover him in a balanced way.
He can blame the blogosphere, which has far more power than the media ever did and I hope that continues!
😛
PS: Regarding verified voting I have been working on this issue non-stop, the news on Abramoff was more than welcome. I want to get rid of this congress as much as any of you all, regardless of who replaces them they need to be honest officials.
Anyway, I got a response from Governor Easley today in North Carolina:
"Dear Mr. Eldritch,
Thank you for writing the Office of the Governor. I will share your concerns with Governor Easley.
Thank you,
Kelley McFarland
Office of the Governor"
Here’s to great things for 2006!
Doug
wonder which motel Abramoff will decide to "suicide in" , my bet would somewhere in Georgia because ""There are no autopsy laws in Georgia. Had he committed suicide in Florida, there would have been a mandatory autopsy."" to pull a quote from the Lemme Suicide story.
PS I’m sure the military will be protecting Abramoff at this point….he knew "Mohammed Atta" and other nice people…
Doug
as in "rogue military"
Doug,
any rec’d links on the abramoff/atta/cruise ships stuff? Gotta get my learn on.. looks like its going to be an interesting year.
BVAC, a old story but a good one here
I hope it’s of Some Consolation to Jack Abramoff, that
he can buy K Y Jelly at the Prison commissary WHOLESALE !
The military is working with the Justice Department frequently. Just because you don’t hear it on the "news", just remember alot of things are really going on here behind the scenes.
They will ensure Abramoff is protected considering the amount of things he knows…..
Jack Abramoff’s hidden lifestyle."
Mad Cow’s going overboard in saying Abramoff is getting away with "murder" "the fix is in" and he never was good at being optomistic…
However, Daniel Hopsicker, citizen journalist has covered this issue extensively. From the whole Abramoff scam to Mohammed Atta…
Doug E.
An older story with Atta mentioned here
ahhh…there’s nothing like waking up in the morning to endictments in the air !!!!
:O 😛 :O 😛 :O 😛 😉
By the way, just so everyone is crystal-clear about this issue…
Yes, Jack Abramoff is a Zionist Neocon.
The real story: Jack Abramoff.
That’s why Chertoff originally ordered his investigation squashed back in 2003 which if you remember involved the removing of a Prosecutor in Guam. Rove was taking orders from Chertoff.
Doug
I am glad that this is coming to a head.
But, let’s not get giddy, The commander in Chief
will still get the last laugh, he will PARDON him.
Same with the Hammer, they will set the court and get away with everything.
Sorry to be such a wet blanket, after this year of corruption so blatant. I feel they have already fixed the courts.
Isn’t it funny Bush is crying about the SPY case.
Of course he has forgotten about the PLAME case.
Why,you ask? Because, eventually the American people will forget about Plame and just think about the SPY case.
We must not let them get away with this. Keep writing, keep digging, keep the fires of Democracy going
Bush will be impeached before he gets a pardon on anyone…..
He has no idea who he’s dealing with now, & Cheney will get the axe first…
Doug
When it rains……It pours. Let all the Whistle-Blowers come marching out in lock-step order down the aisle.
Doug E.
You know it’s serious when Fox totally ignores the Abramoff story all afternoon. I’ve been watching those mofos for three hours just to see how they would play it, and, guess what, they haven’t. Only word of the case was mentioned at 4:45 p.m. in a recap of the headlines. Neil Cavouto didn’t mention Abramoff at all, instead concentrating on all you didn’t want to know about coal mining and the West Virginia tragedy.
Doug, I hope you are right!! My question is if A. pleads a deal, will others go down? Or, will the buck stop with A.??
Here’s that funny article about Abraham Jackoff
My memory is shot, school wrong, person wrong…oh well
For Lou Marino: Neil Cavuto hasn’t talked about Abramoff yet because he hasn’t gotten his marching orders from the top (Murdoch) yet.
Every morning Fox decides on a storyline. If Iraq has been going badly, Fox’s approach is to say that Democrats aren’t united on an alternate plan. If Bush has been spying illegally on American citizens, their line is, "Who leaked this?" Now that Abramoff has pleaded guilty, I expect Fox will come up with something like, "Harry Reid took money from the Indian tribes, so Democrats are hypocrites to make an issue out of Abramoff. There’s nothing there."
For Robert Lockwood Mills: I guess you’re right, Robert, but you would think the network wouldn’t be so outrageously partisan, especially with the "fair and balance" logo they incessently advertise. I’m waiting to see what O’Reilly has to say.
Hey Jack, FRom 37yrs down to under 11 yrs.
" Such A Deeeal Ya Voudn’T Believe "
Where are the trolls today? What’s the spin?
Who’s connected to who in the ultimate scam? Note: You must be registered to see this
Doug E.
Jack Abramoff’s world uncensored: Who pulls the strings?
Doug E.
Fox Network is identical to the Bush administration in its politics, but also in its tactics.
During the Cold War we identified a Soviet tactic called the "big lie." Say the exact opposite of the truth, and keep saying it (it helped to have a one-party system and a state-controlled news arm like Pravda). If the United States accuses you of spying, say "We don’t spy, but they do" (both countries spied). If they say you have a nuclear arsenal put away, say, "We don’t, but the United States does" (both did). If a critic like Solzhenitsyn is sent to a gulag, say, "He was a traitor, trying to undermine the People’s Revolution" (bullshit).
Fox Network is the same. If they say "fair and balanced," you know it’s unfair and unbalanced. If O’Reilly proclaims a "no spin zone," assume that everything from his mouth is spin. If Bush gets caught in a "big lie," Fox will ignore the lie and put Charles Krauthammer and Mara Liason together on a panel to analyze why people want to undermine Bush.
Just recognize what Fox does, and why they do it. The movie "Outfoxed" was sourced by former employees who showed how a propaganda line comes down from the executive suite every single morning, after which O’Reilly, Hannity, Hume, Cavuto, etc. follow that line faithfully. Fox’s politics are 180 degrees from the old Soviet Union’s, but their tactics are identical.
I watched the C-Span Coverage last night of the Abramoff scandal.
Did anyone else pick up on how Reed was used, willingly. He was to rile the wacko right wing Christians to fight the casinos.
The Christian Right can’t even see how they have been used. Just like how they are used in the elections, they pick out something like, Gays, Abortion, Marital Fidelity and brand the Democrats.
Like they are the virtuous Ones?
Come on FOLKS, lets start pointing these things out,
over and over again.
Robert, I agree with you. They get marching orders and away they go with the spiel for the day!
Robert There’s no way its that simple, there’s a larger largesse behind this one and its going to flip things upside down……
The Christian right are "used" as a vehicle for the neocons to set a certain agenda and so forth, and Reed, the rest of them are part of that agenda. They are brainwashed pawns…..in the end the neocons hate christians to pieces and any of the hollidays.
Now you can see how that agenda unfolds, ie: wreck the casinos and get a certain "benefit". The benefits are always going to the same people, over and over again. And the WHACKO christians out here are going to wake up, and some of them aren’t going to like what they see….
Doug E