The Muckraker's Reference Section
George W. Bush
Jack Abramoff was a Pioneer for the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign, having raised over $100,000 for President Bush's reelection. That, combined with Abramoff's insider status, earned him some connections to the White House and the President, who has appeared in one publicized photo with the lobbyist and is allegedly in several others.
Bush has denied remembering Abramoff specifically, although Abramoff claims that they talked about their children together and that Bush razzed him about various personal issues, including his weight.
Key Points:
Abramoff was on Bush's Dept. of Interior Transition team.
While working in the White House, Abramoff cultivated relationships with J. Steven Griles, deputy Secretary of the Interior, and Roger Stillwell, the interior desk officer for the Marianas Islands. Stillwell has admitted to accepting gifts and passing intra-office emails along to Abramoff. He claims no wrongdoing.
Abramoff's lobbying team logged 200 White House contacts for his tribal clients.
According to the Associated Press, Team Abramoff logged 200 contacts with the White House in the first 10 months of Bush's presidency. The goal of the meetings was to promote the interests of one of Abramoff's biggest clients, the Northern Marianas Islands, as well as to push for friendly hires in federal agencies. The meetings were with a number of figures, including then-AG John Ashcroft and advisers to VP Dick Cheney.
Abramoff's tribal clients made contributions to ATR in exchange for obtaining meetings with President Bush.
Grover Norquist arranged meetings for Bush every year from 2001 through 2004. For example, on May 9, 2001, Norquist arranged a meeting between the Coushatta, Choctaw and Bush. Two other corporate entities were there. The price to attend was $25K each.
Susan Ralston, Karl Rove's secretary at the White House, was formerly secretary to Jack Abramoff.
Abramoff bragged that he landed Ralston the job when she made her move to Rove's office, though associates say she got the job through Ralph Reed.
Abramoff arranged Mathahir Mohamad's 2002 meeting with Bush.
The Malaysian president claims to have paid Abramoff $1.2 million in exchange for a meeting with Bush. According to Mohamad, the money did not come from Malaysian public coffers and the Heritage Foundation encouraged the meeting.
While at GSA, David Safavian used his influence to help Abramoff with real estate dealings.
Safavian advised Abramoff on acquiring federal property in White Oak, MD, which Abramoff intended to use for his Eshkol Religious Academy. Safavian also tried to help Abramoff secure the Old Post Office Building in Washington to build a luxury hotel. Around the same time, Safavian took an expensive trip to the famous St. Andrews golf course in Scotland at Abramoff's expense. Safavian would later become chief procurement officer at the White House's Office of Management and Budget. He resigned from his White House post just two days before being arrested in September 2005 for obstruction of justice and false statements charges.
Abramoff attended White House holiday parties.
Abramoff attended Christmas and Chanukah celebrations at the White House, according to a White House aide as quoted in TIME Magazine. Scott Mclellan admits that Abramoff may have attended large receptions at the White House in 2001 and 2002.
Abramoff tried to arrange a meeting between Bush and the President of Gabon.
Abramoff drew up a contact with President Omar Bongo of Gabon in which Bongo would pay $9 million in exchange for a meeting with President Bush. Abramoff never collected the $9 million, and Bongo and Bush later had a meeting that was unrelated to the Abramoff contract.
Research by Ryan Chiachiere
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