'NY Times' Publishes First Abramoff-Bush Photo

'NY Times' Publishes First Abramoff-Bush Photo

NEW YORK The first of the rumored photographs of President George W. Bush with indicted Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff was published by The New York Times on its Web site Saturday afternoon. Time magazine also published, and commented on, it.

For weeks, the White House has declined to release pictures of Bush with Abramoff. The president has said he does not know Abramoff and the White House has claimed that the only photos shows the two men at official White House parties and social functions.

The photo in the Times shows a partly obscured image of Abramoff in the background as Bush greets an Indian chief in May 2001. The chief turned the photo over to the Times, it said. Talking about the photo, Abramoff has told friends, "I was standing right next to the window and after the picture was taken, the President came over and shook hands with me, and we chatted and joked," according to the Time magazine report.

The Times describes the photo as less than startling but adds that it "leaves unanswered questions about how Mr. Abramoff and the tribal leader, whom he was trying to sign as a client, gained access to a meeting with the president on the White House grounds that was ostensibly for a group of state legislators who were supporting Mr. Bush's 2001 tax cut plan.

"The White House confirmed the authenticity of the photograph. It was provided to the newspaper by Raul Garza of the Kickapoo tribe of Texas. Garza, who is under indictment on federal charges of embezzling money from his tribe, told the paper he was eager to demonstrate that he had "nothing to hide" in his dealings with the White House and the lobbyist.

"A lawyer for Mr. Garza said Mr. Abramoff arranged for the chief to attend the meeting, in a conference room in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building adjacent to the White House," the Times revealed.

"The meeting took place at a time when the lobbyist was seeking a contract to represent the 800-member tribe and its casino, which was producing hundreds of thousands of dollars a month in revenue. Mr. Abramoff never got the contract.

"It is not clear what contact, if any, Mr. Abramoff had with Mr. Bush during the 20 minutes or so that the session lasted."Mr. Garza said he had been offered money from news organizations to reproduce the photograph, which also shows in partial profile Karl Rove, the president's top political adviser, at the May 9, 2001, meeting. The chief did not seek payment from The Times for the photo — and two others in which he appears with Mr. Bush — but insisted without explanation that they be published only in black and white."

The picture was taken by a White House photographer. It shows up on the Time site in color. The magazine said Garza had supplied it. Benigno Fitial, the governor of the Northern Mariana Islands, told Time he attended the 2001 meeting as well, as an Abramoff client. He recalled that the president was "very gracious" at the session.

"He knew quite a few of the people in the room; I know that because he called them by their first name. The responses showed that the President was no stranger to these people," he said.