CREW STATEMENT ON TODAY'S RELEASED WHITE HOUSE - ABRAMOFF RECORDS

10 May 2006 // Washington, DC – According to several sources, the Secret Service has released records today documenting only two visits from Jack Abramoff to the White House, in 2001 and 2004. The records were released in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request sent by Judicial Watch.

Abramoff has told Washingtonian magazine he had nearly a dozen meetings with President Bush.

Melanie Sloan, CREW’s executive director stated, “Clearly the White House is covering up the truth about the administration’s relationship with Jack Abramoff and his cohorts. Sloan continued, “The administration has blown yet another opportunity to come clean with the American public.”

Earlier this week, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) sued the Department of Homeland Security, of which the Secret Service is a component, yesterday for its failure to respond to CREWs FOIA request on documents detailing Abramoff-related visits not only to the White House, but also to the executive office buildings and the Vice President’s house.

On February 2, 2006 CREW sent a FOIA request to the Secret Service asking for records relating to any visit that Jack Abramoff, Michael Scanlon, Neil Volz, Tony Rudy, Shawn Vassell, Kevin Ring, Edwin Buckham and Patrick Pizzella made between January 1, 2001 and February 2, 2006.

CREW has not received any documents from DHS regarding the FOIA request.

The CREW FOIA and suit against DHS are available at www.citizensforethics.org.