J. Steven Might Have Some 'Splainin' To Do

Better lawyer up over at the Justice Department. Might be pretty busy prosecuting in the coming year. Washington Post (11.05.05):

"The former deputy secretary of the Interior Department had numerous meetings, telephone calls and other contacts with Jack Abramoff concerning the lobbyist's tribal clients, e-mails released by congressional investigators show. J. Steven Griles, who held the No. 2 job at Interior from 2001 to 2004, testified Wednesday before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee that he never tried to intercede on behalf of Abramoff's clients and that he had no special relationship with him. He said he had rejected a job offer from Abramoff in 2003." E-Mails Show Ex-Interior Official's Links to Lobbyist

"The e-mails suggest a much closer relationship than Griles acknowledged in his testimony. They reflect more than a half-dozen contacts Griles had with Abramoff or with a woman working as the lobbyist's go-between. The contacts concerned gambling-related issues affecting four tribal clients who were paying Abramoff tens of millions of dollars to represent them." "According to the e-mails, Griles advised Abramoff how to get members of Congress to pressure the department and provided him information about Interior decision-making. In one instance, Abramoff wrote to his lobbying colleagues that Griles would be providing a draft of an Interior letter to Congress to give them 'a head start.'" Uhhh, yeah. There's nothing here. Move along, please.