Waxman demands White House Abramoff documents

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) is charging the White House with keeping from his sight documents that could aid his inquiry into White House ties to imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

{mosads}Waxman on Wednesday said the White House is withholding more than 600 pages of documents related to Abramoff’s activities and demanded they be released by next Tuesday. The lawmaker noted that the White House has failed to turn them over because they involve internal deliberations, but added that President Bush has not claimed executive privilege over them.

Since the Abramoff scandal broke, Bush and White House officials have tried to distance themselves from the fallen power-broker. The president said he did not know the lobbyist, and the White House has stated that Abramoff only attended a couple of holiday receptions and “a few staff-level meetings on top of that.” Former top Bush adviser Karl Rove acknowledged through a spokesman that the two had met in the early 1990s, but described Abramoff only as a “casual acquaintance.”

In a letter to White House counsel Fred Fielding, Waxman said his committee’s review of thousands of documents obtained from Abramoff’s former firm, Greenberg Traurig, raises questions about these assertions.

“According to the Greenberg Traurig documents … Mr. Abramoff and his associates had hundreds of lobbying contacts with the White House officials, billed clients more than $24,000 for meals and drinks with White House officials, and provided White House officials with high-priced tickets to sporting and entertainment events,” Waxman wrote.

He also noted that the documents described “a series of actions by White House officials that benefited Abramoff and his clients.”

During a briefing with reporters, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino chided Waxman for distributing his letter to the press before sending it to Fielding or simply picking up the phone and calling. She also expressed doubt as to Waxman’s demands relating to internal documents and deliberations that, she said, “we are probably not going to turn over.”

Perino would not say that the White House would assert executive privilege to protect the documents even though she maintained that “internal deliberations are protected under the law.”

Later on Wednesday, White House spokesman Scott Stanzel indicated that officials had not ruled out asserting executive privilege but were still reviewing Waxman’s letter.

“We understand that reporters received the letter before we did and we are taking time to review Mr. Waxman’s request and will continue to work with the committee,” Stanzel said.

He repeated Bush’s criticism earlier this week that Democrats in Congress were spending too much time investigating the administration while failing to perform their most basic legislative duties.

“[Waxman] spends his time on these fishing expeditions while Congress has failed to get its basic work done,” Stanzel said. “We have produced 615,000 documents in response to their over 400 investigations and inquiries, and administration staffers have spent 138,000 hours responding to these requests.”

Waxman wants to conclude the investigation but stills needs depositions from White House officials and former Abramoff lobbyists, as well as the 600 pages of White House documents.

“The investigation has encountered obstacles because four witnesses, including individuals who worked in the White House, have raised Fifth Amendment concerns,” the lawmaker stated.

Waxman pointed out that the committee had talked to former White House political director Matt Schlapp, who provided voluntary testimony in a deposition that some senior White House aides had regular contact with Abramoff.

“Mr. Schlapp estimated that he had ‘monthly’ contact with Jack Abramoff on subjects that often involved official government business,” Waxman wrote. “He also told the Committee that Mr. Abramoff and his associates ‘had many friends in the administration’; that Mr. Abramoff was regarded as a ‘point of information’ because of ‘his knowledge and his experience and his judgment on issues surrounding politics and policy and how the town works’; and that Mr. Abramoff’s lobbying team was ‘viewed by many as a very respected lobbying team.’ ”

The White House has handed over approximately 3,700 pages of documents involving communications between White House officials and Abramoff or members of his lobbying team. The White House refused, however, to produce more than 600 pages of documents relating to Abramoff, and many of the pages it did provide include a number of redactions.