Jack Abramoff, a toxic Washington lobbyist who went off to prison, continues to amuse and mystify this city. Some groups are trying to dig a little deeper to untangle his web in the nation’s capital.
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — A federal judge has rejected the Bush administration’s attempt to shield records that may shed light on the White House visits of now imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
In several orders this week, U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth sided with watchdog groups Judicial Watch and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, which are suing the Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security for access to the logs.
The administration in 2006 agreed to produce all responsive records about the visits “without redactions or claims of exemption.” But it soon argued that the contents of certain “Sensitive Security Records,” which are created in the course of conducting more extensive background checks on particular White House visitors, cannot be publicly revealed even though they could show some of Abramoff’s visits.
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