Jack Abramoff and the Bush Administration

You remember Jack Abramoff, don’t you? Who could forget his oh-so-appropriate black hat?
The lobbyist is serving six years on a criminal case out of Florida, but hasn’t been sentenced yet on a number of other charges to do with influence-peddling in Washington: mail fraud, conspiracy, tax evasion.
Among a dozen so far convicted after the Justice Department probe of Abramoff: former Rep. Bob Ney, Ohio Republican, and David Safavian, former chief of staff of the General Services Administration.
There’s a new — very new — wrinkle in the Bush Administration’s efforts to keep from revealing any additional details on the White House visits of Abramoff.
Last year, the administration agreed to produce records sought by by the conservative watchdog group, Judicial Watch and another group called Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics.
But last week, the administration filed a new argument that said identifying the visits of Abramoff could reveal the methods “used by the Secret Service to carry out its protective function.”
The Secret Service says records created while conducting extensive background checks on certain visitors to the White House could make it possible for some to figure out Secret Service activities.
You couldn’t make this up.
So far, the White House has released information about seven Abramoff visits.
This new defense makes it clear there were more.
“I don’t know him,” President Bush has said of Abramoff. “I’ve never sat down with him and had a discussion with the guy.”
Abramoff has said they’ve met “almost a dozen” times and “joked...about a bunch of things.”
This whole thing is a joke. And the laugh’s on us.