VF: Ex-Lobbyist Abramoff Dishes on Ex-FriendsOpening with a double-page bleed-to-the-edge photo of a smiling Jack Abramoff golfing with Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX), the April issue of Vanity Fair (hitting next week) devotes nine pages to the disgraced lobbyist and his attempts to set the record straight. Paticularly on all those who have forsaken him:
President Bush, who claims not to remember meeting Abramoff – the lobbyist says Bush once joked with him, “What are you benching, buff guy?”
RNC Chair Ken Mehlman, who said he didn’t really know Abramoff – it turns out he had Sabbath dinner at Abramoff’s house, did him political favors, and even offered to pay Abramoff’s tab at Signatures, the lobbyist’s restaurant.
Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT), who says Abramoff never influenced him – “Every appropriation we wanted [from Burns’ committee] we got. Our staffs were as close as they could be. They practically used Signatures as their cafeteria.”
Former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich, whose spokesman says Newt wouldn’t have known Abramoff “if he fell across him” – “I have more pictures of [Newt] than I have of my wife.”
