MSNBC Breaking: Ex-Bush official Safavian convicted in corruption case.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/

Ex-Bush official Safavian convicted in corruption case.

* top of page

Nice to see justice getting done for a change!

Next! :thumbsup:

'news' channel for the next 3 days, the man (and those like him) is much more the bigger threat to democracy and we should have the M$M celebrating our victory in the War on Corruption.

I will have to find one of the other, more informative threads ...

"Safavian was charged with lying about his relationship with Abramoff and his knowledge of the lobbyist's interest in acquiring properties from GSA, the property managing agency for the federal government. He was also charged with obstructing investigators looking into a golf trip he took with Abramoff in 2002.

The trial consumed eight days of testimony about Safavian's assistance to Abramoff regarding government-owned real estate and a weeklong golfing excursion the lobbyist organized to the famed St. Andrews golf course in Scotland and London.

Safavian went on the trans-Atlantic trip while he was chief of staff at the GSA, and other participants included Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, two Ney aides and Christian Coalition founder Ralph Reed."

The title is still there, 10:40 AM EST: Ex-Bush aide convicted in D.C. corruption case...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13436161

in that shot there? Some republi-CON, no doubt. I should recognize that piss-ant infant, but I don't.

Yes, BushCo, you CAN and WILL go to jail AND I hope when you're sentenced the courts will seize your assets to give back to the US Treasury. :thumbsup: :bounce:

:evilgrin:

vs The Government of the United States.


That's the case I want to see.

We need some Due Process around here!!

between him and this mal-administration. I guess it is technically correct since he abruptly resigned the week before he was cuffed. :eyes:

Before KKKarl calls them and gets them to change it?

I am betting the title will be changed by mid-afternoon...

:shrug:

Reading my mind :) :hi:

I was going to post "1 down and how many more to go?"

That's what the GOPranos are all about.

truth

Breaking now on MSNBC More to follow

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=493138&category=&BCCode=&newsdate=6/20/2006

Jury in Safavian case reaches verdict

By PETE YOST, Associated Press
Last updated: 9:46 a.m., Tuesday, June 20, 2006

WASHINGTON -- The jury has reached a verdict in the trial of David Safavian, a former Bush administration official accused of covering up assistance he provided to Republican influence-peddler Jack Abramoff.

The verdict was to be delivered to U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman within the hour.

I don't doubt he

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/L/LOBBYIST_PROBE?SITE=PASTR&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&SECTION=HOME

Jun 20, 9:59 AM EDT

Safavian Found Guilty in Lobbyist Trial

By PETE YOST
Associated Press Writer


WASHINGTON (AP) -- A jury found former Bush administration official David Safavian guilty Tuesday of covering up his dealings with Republican influence-peddler Jack Abramoff.

Safavian was convicted on four of five felony counts of lying and obstruction. He resigned from his White House post last year as the federal government's chief procurement officer. No date was immediately set for sentencing.

The trial consumed eight days of testimony about Safavian's assistance to Abramoff regarding government-owned real estate and a weeklong golfing excursion the lobbyist organized to the famed St. Andrews golf course in Scotland and London. Safavian went on the trans-Atlantic trip while he was chief of staff at the General Services Administration, and other participants were Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, two Ney aides and Christian Coalition founder Ralph Reed.

The verdict came on the fifth day of jury deliberations.

Better than Starbucks!

What is missing (and outside of the Washington papers few understand) is the difference between political appointees and civil service. The former serve at the pleasure of the President, the latter are career people. The tone says Bush appointee, but there are not very many of them out there, esp in GSA.

If he came from civil service, it really is a different and for me more disappointing matter.

Who's next up on the chopping block?

I'm surprised Stephanie had nothing about this on her show when it broke.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060620/pl_nm/crime_safavian_dc;_ylt=AsTWEAETskENyvXwUnc9PnOs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b2NibDltBHNlYwM3MTY-

Ex-Bush official guilty in lobbying scandal

By Deborah Charles 1 hour, 46 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. jury on Tuesday convicted a former Bush administration official of four counts of lying and obstructing justice in the first trial to be held in connection with the influence peddling scandal of lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

On the fifth day of deliberations, the jury found David Safavian -- a former chief of staff at the General Services Administration -- guilty of four of five counts of lying and obstructing justice. He was not convicted of one count of obstructing investigators.

Safavian, who showed little emotion as the verdict was read, was found guilty of lying about his relationship with Abramoff and his knowledge of the lobbyist's interest in acquiring properties from GSA, the property managing agency for the federal government.

The jury also found that he lied to a GSA ethics officer and concealed his assistance to Abramoff and obstructed justice in an agency investigation.

Ney and Ralph Reed, woohoo!

:toast:

Now execute this mother fucker at Terre Haute!

In the Safavian case, prosecutors highlighted the name of Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio. They introduced a photograph of the congressman and Abramoff standing in front of a private jet that whisked them and other members of a golfing party for a five-day trip to the storied St Andrews Old Course in Scotland, and a second leg of the journey to London.
***
Safavian went on the trans-Atlantic trip while he was chief of staff at the General Services Administration, and other participants besides Ney included two of the congressman's aides and Christian Coalition founder Ralph Reed.
***
The jury found Safavian guilty of obstructing the work of the GSA inspector general and of lying to a GSA ethics official. It also convicted him of lying to the GSA's Office of Inspector General and of making a false statement to the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. He was acquitted of a charge of obstructing the committee's investigation.
***
A key witness in the case was Neil Volz, a convicted partner of Abramoff's and ex-chief of staff to Ney. Prosecutors introduced hundreds of e-mails exchanged among Safavian, Abramoff, Volz and others in 2002.
***
Volz testified the Abramoff team referred to Safavian as one of their "champions" inside government, who could give them insider information they couldn't get elsewhere. He said Safavian was the mastermind of some of the strategy for developing congressional pressure or action to sway GSA.
***
more: http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/06/20/lobbyist.probe.ap/index.html

Trying to post the juiciest morsels with the five-para. limit. There's still some good tidbits in the article.

It's only a matter of time before Chucklenuts lets him off the hook!