Yesterday, I relayed that Abramoff visited the White House the same day that an Abramoff aide, Patrick Pizzella, was nominated to a post within the Labor Dept.
Further speculation in the comments section doubted the original report of a possible meeting between Bush and Abramoff that day. Land of Enchantment said a meeting with Rove was more likely. Some suggested policy as the reason, others staff decisions as the topic of discussion.
Land of Enchantment's diary today explores that angle a little further, along with other appointments made around the early March, 2001 Abramoff visit (most notably industry-lackey Steven Griles). Griles was nominated to the #2 post at Interior two days after Abramoff's visit with Rove.
Now, the New York Times has confirmed that Abramoff's early March, 2001 visit was with Rove and did involve discussions about personnel at the Interior Department.
Newly disclosed White House visitor logs involving the lobbyist Jack Abramoff refer to a 2001 visit in which Mr. Abramoff talked with Karl Rove, President Bush's top political adviser, about hiring two people for jobs at the Interior Department, a Bush administration official said Wednesday night.
The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the Justice Department's continuing investigation of Mr. Abramoff's illegal lobbying, said that neither person got a job at the Interior Department, an agency of special interest to Mr. Abramoff because of his multimillion lobbying work on behalf of Indian tribe gambling operations.
The second visit, the same day as the 2004 State of the Union, was also explained:
The official said the visitor logs also referred to a 2004 meeting in which Mr. Abramoff talked with an official at the Office of Management and Budget to discuss his hopes of buying the Old Post Office building in Washington from the federal government.
The proposed purchase, which never occurred, is a focus of criminal charges brought against another former White House budget official, David F. Safavian. Mr. Safavian faces trial this month on charges of lying about his relationship to Mr. Abramoff, who pleaded guilty in January to charges of seeking to corrupt public officials.
Safavian's trial is set to start later this month on the 22nd.