Yet another person is cooperating in the Abramoff investigation.
This time, it's a former aide to Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT).
A former top aide to U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., who quit to work at the firm of indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff said Monday he is talking to Justice Department investigators as part of the agency's continuing probe of Abramoff's activities.
Reached at his Bozeman office, Will Brooke, Burns' onetime chief of staff, said he has hired a lawyer in the matter.
"I'm not concerned about anything," said Brooke, who is a lawyer. "I just wanted to make sure somebody was there to hear the interview."
Brooke said he is participating in the investigation to provide information. He has not been told that he might be a subject of the investigation, he said.
Burns received almost $150,000 in campaign donations, more than any other lawmaker, from Abramoff clients between 1999 and 2004, a Washington Post tally published Monday shows. Burns' role in securing federal money and help for Abramoff clients has been the subject of controversy.
Not only is he cooperating, he took the time to contact the Justice Department on his own.
Brooke said he contacted the Justice Department; investigators did not seek him.
"This has been voluntary and wide open," he said. "I don't feel there was any wrongdoing here. I'm trying to give them anything and everything that is helpful in their course of investigating Abramoff."
Brooke served as Burns' chief of staff from November 2000 until the end of 2003. Brooke flew on Abramoff's corporate jet to the 2001 Super Bowl to attend the game at Abramoff's invitation. The trip was paid for by Abramoff's lobbying clients.
From 2001 to 2003, Abramoff's tribal clients gave $129,000 to Burns and his political action committees.
Brooke quit his post on Burns' staff in December 2003 to work at Abramoff's lobbying firm, where he was employed in 2004. The hiring occurred shortly after Burns helped secure a controversial $3 million grant for one of Abramoff's tribal clients, the Saginaw Chippewa tribe of Michigan.
The rest of the article is a rehash of what we already know, but yet another domino has fallen the this one just might take out Burns. Stay tuned, kids.