Abramoff was meeting with J. Steven Griles...
Breaking news? Not.
Being lost in the DraftGore2008 project, I had to be reminded of my blogging duties by reader FYI, who points to a new Indianz.com article on Abramoff and my favorite Dep. Sec., J. Steven Griles:
Abramoff White House visit coincides with Griles meeting
Thursday, May 11, 2006Records released by the Secret Service on Wednesday document two visits to the White House by Jack Abramoff, including a trip only two days before deputy Interior secretary J. Steven Griles was nominated to his position.
Abramoff visited the White House on March 6, 2001, one of the logs shows. On March 8, 2001, President Bush announced Griles, a former lobbyist, as his nominee for the second highest position as the Interior Department.
And just seven days before the announcement, Abramoff met personally with Griles. On March 1, 2001, long before anyone knew about the nomination, Abramoff shared "strategic" advice with Griles about Indian and other issues.
"You definitely made another friend," Abramoff was told in an e-mail right after the meeting.
The fateful encounter led to a relationship that is now the subject of two investigations. The Department of Justice, in a criminal probe, and the Interior Department, in an internal probe, are trying to determine the extent of Abramoff's contacts with Griles, who is accused of intervening in matters affecting Abramoff's wealthy tribal clients.
For more information on Griles, see
Down the wrong rabbit hole, Part I
Forget about the little fish
Transitions...
More on J. Steven Griles
Interior official was to join Abramoff as lobbyist...
More of the puzzle pieces fall into place...
More on CREA
Things heat up for Griles; Cummings doesn't do her homework
The missing link?
More questions than answers
One big happy cesspool...
A documented history of a Republican front group, part 1
Reframing the Abramoff scandal(s)
Answers to "Questions for the Abramoff-obsessed"
Even the Bush Interior Department leaks...
A new batch of pigs at the trough...
(note: my beef isn't with the source for the article above, Indianz.com, which has been far and above the best source on Abramoff on the internet. It's with the rest of the media, traditional and "alternative" alike, which have ignored the red side of this story, unless Abramoff+red=casino green.)
Update: Score another round for the media - not a single news source in Google News has put together the connect that Indianz.com did in the article today.