Disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff takes center stage — in absentia — at a House committee meeting Thursday.

The Oversight and Government Reform panel will walk through all it has learned about Abramoff’s connections with the White House — an exercise that might bring down a final curtain on the Bush administration’s portion of the Abramoff saga.

A report the committee has published concludes that the White House had a welcome mat out for Abramoff and makes clear that over the course of the 109th and 110th Congresses, the committee did not get all the answers it sought. It is thick with footnotes about administration officials or Abramoff staffers who either made relevant information off-limits as part of their interview ground rules or didn’t talk at all, saying if pressed that they would invoke their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Dan Burton , R-Ind., accused the committee’s chairman, Henry A. Waxman , D‑Calif., of trying to cause collateral damage and harm perceptions of both President Bush and presumed GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

“Henry’s on a mission,” said Burton, a former chairman of that committee. “If the White House is bloodied up enough, they think that it will hurt McCain. They want to smack the White House again and again until it starts reflecting on Mr. McCain.”

The report concludes Abramoff “had contacts with White House officials and influenced some administration decisions.”

For instance, after Abramoff’s lobbying team suggested the term of a State Department official not be extended, the report documents a variety of follow-up conversations until Abramoff got his way.

The Justice Department is not yet done with its investigation of Abramoff’s dealings with government officials. Abramoff himself is in prison on an unrelated matter.

The committee will meet at 10 a.m. in 2154 Rayburn.

Want to comment on this? Click Here

Original Link