Wampum

For justice-seeking Americans....Very, very bad for Abramoff-enablers, including the redacter-in-chief, John McCain. Exclusive from Indianz.com:

A federal judge said on Tuesday he would review countless e-mail exchanges between Jack Abramoff and a former Bush administration official, messages that include an attempt to exploit tribal clients.

Rather than wait until trial, Judge Paul L. Friedman said he would read the electronic traffic to determine whether the jury will see them. In a short order, he denied a motion to block the government prosecutors from submitting even more e-mails into the record.

The messages detail conversations between Abramoff and David H. Safavian, a former lobbyist who represented tribal gaming interests. They were written when Safavian was chief of staff at the General Services Administration.

The Department of Justice is hoping the e-mails will lead to the conviction of Safavian, who had left the GSA and was working at the White House Office of Management and Budget right before he was indicted on charges that he lied to federal investigators and the Senate Indian Affairs Committee about his dealings with Abramoff. [snip]

Some of the e-mail content has been reported in news outlets. The first batch, filed back in February, provided fresh details about Abramoff's attempt to "use" one of his tribal clients to develop a lucrative piece of property in downtown Washington.

The second and third batches, filed in the last two weeks, shed even more insight into the campaign. They show how Abramoff, with Safavian's help, convinced key members of Congress -- including Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) -- to support the project. Young was specifically targeted because he advocates for more tribal and Alaska Native contracting.

"Guys, this is the letter we need to have issued and signed by Don Young and Steve Latourette [Republican from Ohio]," Abramoff told his associates. "The text below enables a tribe to do the project, so Young should be enthusiastic."

As a reminder, only 945 exhibits, including the emails, were released in the Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearings, from September 2004 until November 2005. Almost all of those had the names of Congressional members, their staffs and Administration officials redacted. The emails Friedman is reading are untainted by McCain's black marker.

So who is Judge Paul Friedman?

Judge Friedman was appointed United States District Judge in August 1994. He graduated from Cornell University in 1965 and received a J.D. from the School of Law of the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1968. Following law school, Judge Friedman clerked for Judge Aubrey E. Robinson, Jr., of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and for Judge Roger Robb of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia from 1970 to 1974, and as an Assistant to the Solicitor General of the United States from 1974 to 1976. Judge Friedman practiced law as an associate and partner with White & Case from 1976 until 1994. He served as President of the District of Columbia Bar from 1986 to 1987, and as Associate Independent Counsel for the Iran-Contra Investigation from 1987 to 1988. He is a member of the Council of the American Law Institute.

A Clinton appointee and former counsel in Iran-Contra. [Historical note: The Iran-Contra investigation was foiled by Congressional Republicans who gave Poindexter and North immunity in exchange for worthless Congressional tesimony. The Counsel's Office was not pleased.]

Pass the popcorn.