Login Here
Casino Jack strikes again:
Italia Federici, former head of a Republican environmental advocacy group, pleaded guilty Friday to tax evasion and obstructing a Senate investigation into the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal.As part of her plea deal with the Justice Department, Federici agreed to provide information that people close to the case said could lead investigators to other officials in Congress and the Bush administration.
Abramoff, the once-powerful lobbyist at the center of a wide-ranging public corruption investigation, was sentenced to five years and 10 months in prison on March 29, after pleading guilty to fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy to bribe public officials in a deal that required him to provide evidence about members of Congress.Federici admitted in court papers Friday she acted as a link between Abramoff and J. Steven Griles, a former deputy secretary at the Interior Department who for five years was her boyfriend.
Federici acknowledged that as Griles provided Abramoff with "advice and internal DOI information" _ both directly and through her _ she "hindered" the Interior Department's system for tracking lobbyist contacts with Griles.
Griles also has pleaded guilty to lying to Senate investigators about his relationships with Abramoff and Federici.
Too bad Griles' deal, as the highest ranking Bush Administration official to be caught up in the Abramoff net, does not require him to cooperate with investigators and their grand jury probes. As Steve Soto has noted, much of this does not pass the smell test.
And you have to wonder where Gale Norton was in all of this.
(h/t Peterr)
Share This 
Spotlight
Support this site!
Keep
up with news
Advertise on Firedoglake
Send
us your tips
Make us your homepage
About Firedoglake
Advanced search
Jane!
Swine
uno
MMmmmmmm, frogmarch in the afternoon…smells like, victory!
raven @ 2
Abramoff? No argument there.
MSM seems to consider the Abramoff scandal(s) as over, been there, done that, move along.
Given that Italia is the “scorned woman” where Griles is concerned, I’d think he may not be totally out of the woods as yet even though he pleaded out and got the wrist slap.
I’d bet she knows enough to get things opened up.
And can’t Wax da MAN call him in to testify on what he DID plead to?
allan_in_upstate @ 6
Are you kidding? Paris was in tears. The MSM would be irresponsible to not cover that wall-to-wall.
I hope this leads DIRECTLY to Gale Norton.
Her abrupt resignation didn’t pass the smell test either.She was up to her eyeballs in hinky shit.
I’m still pissed off at her.
OT Speaker Nancy Pelosi coming up live on MSNBC’s Chris Matthews Hardball as soon as the Is Paris Burning umteenth bulletins - and Al Sharpton’s opinion on the jailbird heiress. :~(
well Paris coverage did knock Tucker off the air for the day on MSNBC; so I’m grateful. I am hoping that his 3pm airing is off as well. Go Paris!
Laughing out loud with a close friend on the phone last night, wondering which hammer will hit Don young first - Abramoff, a renewed Indian Trust Fund investigation (notice the Dems have so far failed to deal with this, the biggest financial ripoof in American, maybe world history), or the Veco Alaska scandal. Personally, I’d like to see all three hit him simultaneously, but he’s gonna get pounded, and soon.
Jane wrote:
To[o] bad Griles’ deal, as the highest ranking Bush Administration official to be caught up in the Abramoff net, does not require him to cooperate with investigators and their grand jury probes.
Needless to say, the USA for DC is a loyal Bushie.
Jane!!!!
Badwater @ 8
For once, I suspect the Libby supporters are not happy to have Paris coverage — it just reminds people that the rich/powerful get off and others don’t. Not the issue they want out there right now. More Paris.
Cafferty suggested Wolf do his Situation Room from her cell next week.
OT, but is anyone watching Tweety right now? It’s actually the one time Sharpton is making any sense. Besides having a man crush on Rudy, Tweety seems to want to pander to the spoiled rich. Sharpton had to remind him that the Sheriff was disregarding a court order in letting Paris out on home confinement. He had to remind Tweety that Sheriff Baca should have gone before a judge to get her released. In closing, I hope people write Abrams saying Tweety should be fired. He is an absolute disgrace.
SquareState.net on the Griles-Norton axis of corruption.
Scarecrow @ 15 - the more people relate Scooter and Paris abuse of privilege is good news. Both of them thought their money and connections would keep them from paying any consequences from their actions.
Commerce Department Inspector General resigns.
OK, I’m in Camino 1.5 and bold, italic and strike don’t appear to be working. Oh, well, I can live with this for awhile.
Isn’t this delightful! Thanks Jane.
I recall Ms. Federici’s Congressional testimony - very reminiscent of Abu, Kyle & Monica, etc - Sgt. Schultz defense.
Salon and Michael Scherer had a pretty good snapshot of that day. And as for Ms. Norton, well, she’s mentioned.
twolf1 @ 19
Hmm, looks like Bush’s attempt to play King Richard the Lionheart is crashing big time.
(For those who don’t know: In order to get the funds to go on Crusade, Richard the Lionheart sold EVERY political office in England to the highest bidder.)
twolf1 @ 19
Well, there’s the Friday night trash.
Let’s see:
Department of Commerce = compromised
Department of Interior = scandalized; for sale
Department of State = incompetent; leaderless,not functioning
Department of Justice = criminalized
National Security Advisor = replaced by Czar
CIA = purged
National Security Agency - reduced to daily felonies
EPA = compromised
Department of Defense = Army/Marine Corp broken
Anything left? etc.
spurious @ 5
Not Jane, that’s fer damn sure!
Scarecrow @ 23
Air Force leadership ruptured, uh, raptured…
Scarecrow @ 23
Treasury = sacked
Joe Klein’s conscience @ 16
Again, you should have seen him sucking off Liddy.
FDA = owned by Big Pharma
USDA = Big Mutant Food and Big Ag
Ed*ard Teller @ 20
ET,
Did you see my link at the bottom of last thread to pandagon? A “tutorial” on writing simple html that I’ve found quite helpful…
Well, Ms. Hamsher has some doubts about how deeply this investigation went/did not go. Fair enough. I won’t doubt her instincts on this one. But another thing got my attention:
“Griles also has pleaded guilty to lying to Senate investigators”
Well, well! Are you reading this news item, Monica? Alvin? Towel Boy? Surf’s up!
Ghostman
Scarecrow @ 23
White collar defense bar: fully employed.
Ed*ard Teller @ 25
Proselytized; fundamentalist recruitment center
pwrlght @ 11
LOL Agree. His ratings suck anyway so it’s not like MSNBC lost anything ; )
VA = broken, broke, and mis-managed
Intelligence = overruled by lack of same
newspaperbrat @ 10
correction - not a live interview - was taped earlier and is being shown in segments this last half of Hardball.
TwolfI
Disaster response. Is it FEMA? Is it DHS? Is it FirsRespon LLC, a Halliburton subsidiary?
Scarecrow @ 23
Dept of Education- bankrolls Jeb’s business
Ghostman @ 30
But (via TPM) Alvin may revise his testimony.
Constitution = shredded
cathy @ 37
correction…
raven @ 27
Yeah - I don’t get what is so honorable about lying and obstructing justice. I guess Matthews thinks it is cool not to rat out your fellow criminals.
Scarecrow @23, add to that list:
CDC
Unable to quarantine those found with contagious disease(s), it’s a pandemic looking for a place to happen.
FEMA
Still not prepared for another major disaster, so another Cat5 hurricane, or a massive earthquake…shudder.
Dept. of Energy
Has done nothing to force the Electrical energy companies to improve the grid. Upshot — at best, rolling blackouts; at worse, multi-day blackouts region-wide.
Who’s next?
National reputation = beggared
I take back everything I’ve said about the Bush Administration. Condi says history will like him.
Dakine01-
Thanks for the correction. But I bet the money all goes into a pool for the family anyway.
Chimpanzees = insulted
dakine01 @ 40
How could you possibly have confused Neil with Jeb?
Neil cooked the books at an S&L.
Jeb cooked the books at a presidential election.
Italia Federici, former head of a Republican environmental advocacy group
That should have been the first clue that Ms. Federici, and her group, where not what they claimed to be. Republican environmental advocacy means things like the Healthy Forests Initiative, Clear Skies Amendment, and the rest of the Bush Administrations environmental rape projects. And yea, where is Gail Norton? Not where she ought to be, in jail, or on her way there!
Looks like Griles married the wrong sweetie. This woman scorned may have a lot to say about him, Gale and JackOff.
Scarecrow @ 44
That roundheeled hussy? I hardly think she has the qualifications to make that judgment. (Meow)
dakine01 @ 29
ET bows in the direction of dark01, or at least attempts to bow in the right direction. THANKS!
twolf1 @ 46
I don’t think that one’s on Hugh’s list. Probably should be.
Brisingamen @ 50
she seems asexual to me
pwrlght @ 41
oh-merde-tah: their shitty little code of silence
Essentially, all federal cases carry with it an implicit deal that the defendant snitches. This is because the sentences under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines are draconian, and (though they are no longer mandatory) the only way to get an exception is to get a U.S. Attorney to say that the defendant provided valuable information.
The wheels of justice grind slowly,but they grind exceedingly fine. These rats will all snitch on each other. Just give it time.
Waxman needs to subpoena Alice Fisher to tell all about the Griles plea bargain. Whoever heard of a plea deal that didn’t involved some measure of cooperation with further investigations? That’s not a plea deal, that’s a Stay Outta Jail card.
We’ve got Hugh’s list - now we have Scarecrow’s Cabinet.
punaise @ 54
*G* Are you saying there IS honor among theives?
Republic = Destroyed
Fraudulent elections
Political prosecutions
Secret prisons
Politicized, partisan Federal Judges (not yet all of them)
Polticized, corrupt, theocratic General Staff officers.
Private paramilitary armies.
Republic = Destroyed
Pelosi blasting republicans as anti-science — Matthews asks whether they’re Neanderthals. I expect a Geico commercial on this.
38
allan_in_upstate According to Bloomberg news Alvin has decided that he was directed to bring the charges but instead he consulted and received guidance from the Public Integrity Section.
Scarecrow @ 60
During the PBS next-day coverage of the Republican debate,
they actually referred to evolution as a “hot button issue”.
“Republican environmental advocacy group” says it all..
Does anyone know what are the prospects of the Abramoff investigations being extended to Duncan Hunter (CA-52)? …as far as I can tell, there’s a lot of smoke coming from East County but no fire yet.
cathy @ 45
Yeah I’m still trying to figure out how Bargoyle’s “Katrina charity donation” that specified it had to be spent at Neil’s company helped the Katrina victims…
Blub @ 63
they put the moxie in oxymoron.
Ed*ard Teller @ 51
de nada. As I am one who needed it simplified, I try to spread the word when I can. ;})
Matthews just did a good interview of Speaker Pelosi, and now he’s groveling in Hillary’s personal life again and we’re hearing about Bill’s “sexual compulsions” from Berstein. Jekyll and Hyde. The man aspires to National Journal and then descends to National Enquirer.
Is the DOJ the only ones investigating the Abramoff scandal? Because I don’t trust them to do anything, and I don’t think Congress is much interested either. Even if the Dems didn’t have much to do with it, it still makes them all a little stinkier.
Scarecrow @ 44
And just who does this Condi phraud think will write history, her?, who hasn’t the intellectual strength to free herself from a wet bogpaper (Irish for toiletpaper) wrap. Obviously her whole life has been a lie, a phraud, or a deception and that is to be the measure of history?
Of all dispicable acts there are, burning books is right down there. Condi’s opus will be the exception.
Cozumel @ 33
Well, Tucker is back on - at least the country was saved an hour of his insipid blather.
Honestly, I would rather watch that idiot KNBC reporter knocked over this morning by the sheriff’s car and then interview the lady who saw it on a loop than Tucker.
Note to Tucker: you know you suck when people would rather watch a Paris Hilton stalker than you.
Scarecrow @ 67
This from Bernstein?
I’d say that’s rather rich.
Ghostman @ 30
Nor I.
Hmm.
DOJ intervened to save the tobacco co’s $120 Billion.
Small change.
DOJ’s sign-off on Griles “no-cooperate” felony plea deal will save Big Oil, Gas, and Minerals hundreds of billions.
Wampum has focused on Griles for years. Here they focus on how DOJ approved the plea bargain.
Spin I’m In upstairs…
Totally Off Topic.
Haven’t read all the the posts, because, well I’ve been out (buying groceries and doing normal things) and am now about to turn the sprinklers for just turned five granddaughter to play in. Life is wonderful.
What I would like the powers that be to know at this site is this site is sooooo much faster for me that it is almost, but not quite as good as watching my granddaughter playing outside.
Federici put on a memorable display of arrogance and contempt in the televised hearings, and it was pretty evident she thought she could get away with lying. Even McCain was appalled, but I thought at the time I saw a vengeful gleam in his eye (or maybe it was envy). Anyway, she had a good time with our tax money, and I hope she pays for it.
Like Miss Paris, she needs to find out that grown-ups really are mean sons of bitches sometimes.
More on Griles in a comment (from Jane’s March 23 post cited above)
_ _ _ _
Hey pups -
This “motive-line” goes right to the center of the big winner in DOJ’s Get Out Of Jail gift to Griles - Big Oil, Big Gas, Big Mining. Cheney’s pals.
Outline
I) Energy/mining used Native American lands held in “trust” by the Department of Interior, and extracted oil/gas/coal/minerals.
II) The extractors using Indian lands were obligated to pay royalties to the individuals and/or tribes they took the goodies from.
III) The extractors and Bureau of Indian Affairs/DOI all fucked over the Indians, didn’t keep records of what they took from tribal lands, made token payments, and kept the vast majority of the royalties for the oil/gas/mining co’s.
IV) Native Americans sued DOI/extractors about the royalties, and the result is mammoth. A huge litigation (”Cobell” case) was consolidated under a Federal Judge who threatened the DOI secrectaries with prison for contempt of court - they kept “losing” the data required to figure royalties.
Even Gonzales admits the bill could be $200 billion. That’s why a real bill of a trillion - all payable by Cheney’s pals inbig Energy/Mining - is possible, once interest and penalties are assessed.
That - and the conspiracy to conceal it - is what the Griles plea deal will hide.
V) Kyle Sampson - that’s right, the Same Kyle who purged the USA’s - was White House Counsel in 2002. He, Griles, and Dale Norton tried to compel the Special Trustee for Indian Affairs to give false testimony to the Senat Indian Affairs Committee.
When the Trustee testified in person and honestly, Griles and Sampson had him fired:
VI) The beneficiaries of Griles’ initial crimes will further benefit from plea bargains failing to compel Griles’ co-operation with future criminal invetigations.
The beneficiaries - oil, gas, and mining megacorps - work through the Office of the Vice President and Office of the President to direct the DOJ’s active participation in obstruction of justice.
The beneficiaries of Griles’ intial crimes appear to be engaged in an active conspiracy to deceive the court regarding their own complicity, and the DOJ’s plea agreement with Griles is an instument in that conspiracy.
The DOJ’s plea bargain for Griles only requires a Federal Judge’s approval to allow the DOJ to further conceal a pattern obstruction of justice and witness tampering in which Griles was an active participant along with the DOJ.
[snip]
allan_in_upstate @ 62
[Sob!]
Blub @ 63
Well, a metaphorical match could be thrown in, since it’s fire season.
(Actual arson is not being advocated here, nor is tossing of cigarettes from car windows.)
The WaPo story about the Commerce IG resignation starts like this:
The story was not on page A1, but A6.
I mention this not to slam the WaPo, but to indicate just how run-of-the-mill corruption is in George Bush’s DC. I can imagine the WaPo editors’ meeting: “Ah, another ‘leaving office under a huge cloud’ story. Where do we have some space? How about A6 . . .”
Excitement:
My Murray Waas book just arrived! Now all I have to do is read it before Book Salon Sunday at 5. Heh.
twolf1 @ 46
Spew out of my nose! Beer burns!
egregious @ 80
Well, now you know what you’re doing this weekend!
Me, I got lucky.
My brother scored tickets, hospitality passes and pit passes for the Indy car race in Portland on Sunday
I love the smell of Methanol in the morning!
Totally off topic here, I apologise. (Iguess that’s “OT’ - not too familiar). Scooter, Paris,
Conrad - When will the apologists stop taking people for idiots?
The other thing; The G8. Anyone got anything to say about that? I watched my TV today and saw Mr. Stephen Harpur being interviewed for 10 minutes. The background wes a well manicured lawn, and beyond that the sea. He had been positioned so as to(from the camera’s perspective)hide the battleship two miles out at sea. He nodded occaisionally - that’s how I caught it. A small inflatable buzzed by periodically. As did guys (who obviously had access). They all seemed to be carrying large bags.
All this “Democracy” and “Freedom” they speak of, well, should we wake up yet? After all,
it’s an animal that is many years old.
I’d love to see a conversation about what comes next. Watched ‘Colbert’ last night re US Vs.
Roman Empire - You get my drift.
Sorry if I have interrupted/wasted space or time.
NASA = Cobbed
Scarecrow @ 23
This isn’t exactly fair, National Security Agency - reduced to daily felonies
After all, they are busy these days - seeing who can
make upwrite the bestest mostest goodest “transformation success story.”http://weblogs.baltimoresun.co......html#more
You see, they’ve figured out that the main threat from “inconsistent and fragmented messages” has to do, not with terrorists, but with PR.
And if you can translate everyting into a “transformational success story” and get all of the employees to “buy in” then it doesn’t really matter how many felonies you commit or how many transmissions get faulty - or no- translation.
Hayden’s been purging at CIA, Alexander is going for:
I see a new motto in the offing.
The NSA: If you can buy-in, you can work here!
Welcome CNuck!
General
PetraeusBetrayus is served notice by Senator Whitehouse … have I mentioned how much I love Sheldon Whitehouse !!!Ok, gotta go make dinner for the kids … catch y’all on Late Nite tonight !!!
Scarecrow @ 44
Are any of these statements true?
“Six years ago … it wasn’t a very nice world. Al-Qaida was preparing to attack the twin towers, Pakistan was allied with the Taliban, Afghanistan was the base from where al-Qaida was going to operate, the Israelis and Palestinians had given up,” she said.
“The Palestinians had walked away from a chance for a Palestinian state, launched the second intifada; (Israel) elected Ariel Sharon who basically said there will never be a Palestinian state and there will be a greater Israel; the North Koreans were cheating on a deal that they had just signed; China and others were indifferent; Iran was cheating on the IAEA out of sight and Saddam Hussein was shooting at our pilots in the no-fly zone and making a mockery of the oil-for-food program and corruption was running rampant in that program.”
“That was the world. A worse world? I think so.”
THE COMPUTER SAYS NO…
A little late - but thanks Kirk @ 86
Regarding G8 -
Today’s overview:
(great pic)
More on G8 protests and issues (frequently updated)
Breaking protest news (english, but other feeds available)
SPEAK TRUTH TO POWER
Denver = Seattle
Confront The Rulers.
hmm- can’t edit.
intended text:
SPEAK TRUTH TO POWER - AND COWARDS
If comment #44 next thread up is any indication, there are going to be very interesting times ahead. Hope there are backbones about because mischief and irrationality are rampant in the Whitehouse, OVP. Somebody needs curb the executive fast.
Live coverage of shuttle takeoff countdown now on cspan 1
completely OT, and deep in epu land… but i just had to share this:
click on the link to read the list!
kirk murphy @ 90 -
beautiful picture, thank you for the update.
Let’s face it.
BushCo and all the “culture of corruption” Republican (and one Democrat, Lieberman) co-conspirators have corrupted our entire democratic form of government.
And when I say “democratic form of government” I am referring to top-to-bottom, from the federal level, through any state level controlled entirely by Republicans (like Texas) and even down to local politics and institutions.
The “culture of corruption” Republican Party of today is like a cancer that has metastasized and literally is killing the host, i.e. our democracy.
And the Republicans responsible for this metastasization aren’t even aware that they are destroying the very future of their own children, especially the cancerous evangelical Republicans.
One could almost say that a whole lot of Republicans are suffering from an acute form of collective insanity.
punaise @ 54
Not condoning Liddy, but he shut up and went to jail. He’s still a dick.
If you want to see the video of Italia “Juice at Interior” Federici testifying before the Senate back in 2005, here’s the RealPlayer video:
http://indian.senate.gov/2005h.....111705.ram
Jack Abramoff Investigation:
http://www.c-span.org/special/Abramoff.asp
- Tom
Let me just add that the video of Italia testifying is hilarious, especially when she and McCain argue like a father and his teenage daughter (about 25 minutes into it). Italia comes across like her activities are no big deal and why is everyone blowing things out of proportion?
- Tom