Wal-Mart has fired James Hirni, the former Team Abramoff lobbyist who prosecutors on Friday charged with giving illegal gifts to two congressional staffers.
In a statement emailed to The Hill, a company spokesman wrote:
“Based on Mr. Hirni’s [expected] guilty plea which relates to conduct occurring prior to and unrelated to his employment by the company, we terminated his employment.”
Todd Boulanger, another former Abramoff team member implicated in the scheme resigned on Friday from the lobbying firm Cassidy and Associates. Boulanger has not been formally charged at this point.
Hirni had worked as Wal-Mart’s “director of Republican outreach”. He first represented the retail giant in 2004 while working with Abramoff at the law and lobbying firm Greenberg Traurig.