Nearly three months ago the Secret Service, through its Department of Justice lawyers, told the court in two pending cases that it had “recently discovered information” relevant to CREW’s Freedom of Information Act request for records of visits by Jack Abramoff to the White House that it intended to file with the court.

Just yesterday CREW learned from another source that additional Secret Service records of at least two meetings President Bush had with Jack Abramoff have yet to be produced. So just where are these promised Secret Service records -- records, by the way, that would contradict the White House’s repeated claims that but for large social gatherings, President Bush never met with Mr. Abramoff? When pressed for an answer, a Department of Justice lawyer refused to say anything, apparently forgetting the very representations he had made months earlier to the court.

Last night, CREW filed a motion to compel the Secret Service to come forward with these long overdue missing records. Stay tuned for exactly what arguments the Secret Service offers in response, including the convenient defense, manufactured in another case CREW has against the Secret Service, that White House visitor records are no longer Secret Service agency records, but belong exclusively to the White House and are therefore beyond public reach.

And, lest we forget, Bush and Abramoff have met: