Feds Seek Vid of Feeney StatementFederal investigators are continuing on Rep. Tom Feeney’s (R-FL) trail. The latest pin to drop — the FBI has asked Florida Today for a video of an interview with Feeney. During the interview, from September of last year, Feeney minimized his relationship to Jack Abramoff to the vanishing point, saying that ““My office has never done anything for Jack Abramoff” and that “he’s never asked us for anything.” (The St. Petersburg Times later found a possible exception to that.)
“We didn’t have any relationship at all with him other than he gave us a contribution” was the kicker.
Feeney, of course, accompanied Abramoff on one of his infamous golf junkets to Scotland in 2003. Feeney was one among three lawmakers on the trip — the other two were ex-Reps. Bob Ney (R-OH) and Tom DeLay (R-TX).
The feds appear to be interested in Feeney’s public representations about his relationship to Abramoff and that trip to Scotland. During the Florida Today video, he described it as a “legitimate business trip.” In April, The St. Petersburg Times and Orlando Sentinel disclosed that FBI agents were seeking emails Feeney’s spokesman had sent the papers in answer to questions about the trip.
The question is whether Feeney knew that Abramoff had really paid for the trip, which was supposedly sponsored by the National Center for Public Policy Research (one of the sham nonprofits Abramoff used as cover). If Feeney lied on the disclosure forms, that would be a crime. Feeney’s spokesman told the St. Pete Times “earlier this year that the congressman was not sure who paid for the Scotland visit, but added it could have been Abramoff’s clients.”
The ethics committee ruled in January that the trip was improper and fined Feeney $5,643.
Via The Crypt.