I am going to keep this uncharacteristically short.
There were two BIG developments in the Abramoff scandal today.
First, Henry Waxman’s Committee is expanding the Abramoff probe:
House Democrats are expanding their investigation into ties between jailed G.O.P. lobbyist Jack Abramoff and the White House and have contacted several Abramoff associates recently about testifying to Congress.
Second, Italia Federici of CREA is pleading guilty and cooperating with the Feds:
The head of a Republican environmental advocacy group is set to plead guilty in the Jack Abramoff scandal and is cooperating with an FBI investigation into corruption involving Congress and the Bush administration, two people close to the case said Wednesday.
These are important developments. No wonder Doolittle voted with Jefferson today.
I’ll have more analysis when I have a moment.
Cheers
Update
For those who want to know why the guilty plea of Italia Federici is so important, I direct you to the amazing work of MBW over at Wampum.
This post is a great summation and this post has links to many other stories MBW has written on CREA, Frederici and the scandal.
I could try, but I'll never cover this aspect of the Abramoff scandal as well as these entries. I highly recommend these posts. It is outstanding work.
I've posted a long comment in the thread about what Waxman may be after in an expanded probe into Abramoff's contacts with the White House.
Cheers