Bush, Abramoff Posed for Photos Five Times, Magazines Report

Bush, Abramoff Posed for Photos Five Times, Magazines Report

Tres amusant.

President George W. Bush posed for photographs with Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff at least five times since taking office, and one included an Indian tribal leader later indicted for embezzlement, Time magazine reported.

Time said its reporters were shown the photographs by a source whom it didn't identify. It said the source declined to make the photos available for publication. Washingtonian magazine also reported on its Web site that it had seen five photos of Bush and Abramoff.

One photograph taken in 2001 shows Bush, Abramoff and Raul Garza Sr., who was then chairman of the Kickapoo Indian tribe, an Abramoff client, Time reported. Garza was indicted in 2004 for allegedly embezzling more than $300,000 from his tribe.

Another photo bears Bush's signature and shows the president shaking hands with Abramoff. Three others are of Bush, Abramoff and one of the lobbyist's three sons, according to Time.

Disclosure of the existence of the photos is likely to fuel demands from Democrats that the Bush administration release records of any contacts it had with Abramoff, who's at the center of a federal corruption probe.

The Democratic National Committee yesterday sent out an e-mail highlighting the Time report about the photographs.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino dismissed the images as a few among the ``tens upon thousands'' of pictures that Bush has taken with White House guests or supporters.

``It would not be surprising if the president met him at some of the widely attended events we know they both attended,'' Perino said yesterday.

Bush doesn't recall meeting Abramoff, she said, repeating past administration statements. She declined to comment further on the photographs. BU*SH*IT

Abramoff Guilty Plea

Abramoff, 46, pleaded guilty Jan. 3 to conspiracy to corrupt public officials and has agreed to cooperate in a federal investigation into political corruption. Democrats are signaling they will use the probe to raise the issue of ethics in the November congressional elections.