Secret Service Logs: Abramoff Visited the White House Twice

10 May 2006 // Disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff visited the White House twice -- once in 2001 and again in 2004 -- each time staying for less than an hour, according to U.S. Secret Service logs made public today.

The logs were released under a court-sanctioned settlement between the Secret Service and the activist group Judicial Watch, which had sought the records under the Freedom of Information Act.

The White House said last week that the Secret Service's logs documenting Abramoff's entries into the executive mansion complex might not reveal all meetings. "I don't know exactly what they'll be providing, but they only have certain records and so I just wouldn't view it as a complete historical record," spokesman Scott McClellan said.

Earlier this year, McClellan said that Abramoff attended Hanukkah receptions in 2001 and 2002, but details of those visits were not in the logs released today. McClellan described "a few staff-level meetings" but did not say who met with Abramoff.

The Secret Service entry-exit logs show Abramoff was at the White House on March 6, 2001, from 4:24 p.m. until 4:50 p.m., and on Jan. 20, 2004, from 10:42 a.m. until about 11:30 a.m. The Secret Service provided the records to The Washington Post, which had requested them in January.

Abramoff and four of his associates have pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in connection with their efforts to influence Congress and the executive branch. A fifth former associate, David Safavian, a procurement official who worked in the White House complex in the Office of Management and Budget, has been indicted and is awaiting trial this month.

Abramoff's contacts with the administration have become a matter of intense interest, particularly among Democrats seeking to link the wide-ranging lobbying scandal to the White House. The Democratic National Committee this week also sued for release of the Secret Service logs.

Earlier this year, a May 2001 photo surfaced showing Bush shaking hands with an Indian tribal leader, with the lobbyist visible in the background. That visit to the White House complex is not noted in the logs. After the photo was released, Bush said he did not remember Abramoff well.