Lobbyist Jack Abramoff, now at the center of a federal corruption scandal, visited the White House at least twice, in 2001 and 2004, according to logs released by the U.S. Secret Service.
The records contain no details other than entry and exit times for visits of less than an hour each on March 6, 2001, and Jan. 20, 2004. The logs don’t include at least two Hanukkah receptions that the White House has confirmed Abramoff attended.
Such parties generally have different entry procedures.
Abramoff, 47, was a major fundraiser for the Republican Party and brought in at least $100,000 for President Bush’s re-election campaign in 2004. Abramoff pleaded guilty in January to fraud and conspiring to corrupt public officials.
“At first glance, these documents seem incomplete when compared to other White House visitor logs,” said Tom Fitton, president of the watchdog group Judicial Watch, which sued to get the documents. “We therefore have reason to believe that there are additional details about Jack Abramoff’s visits to the White House that have not been disclosed.”
Judicial Watch said visitor logs it obtained during the administration of former President Bill Clinton contained details such as the name of the person being visited.
White House officials didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.
The Secret Service agreed last week to release the records after Judicial Watch sued to get them under the Freedom of Information Act. The Secret Service also faxed the logs Wednesday to Bloomberg News, which had filed a request for them.
Little has been known about how often Abramoff went to the White House. White House spokesman Scott McClellan said in January that Abramoff attended Hanukkah receptions in 2001 and 2002 and “a few staff-level meetings.” He refused to say who met with Abramoff.
Abramoff is cooperating with prosecutors investigating the actions of lawmakers.
Abramoff claimed in an e-mail this year that he met Bush almost 12 times, according to a February report in The Washington Post. Bush has said he doesn’t recall meeting Abramoff or posing for pictures with him, though Time magazine in February published a photo of them together.
“I, frankly, don’t even remember having my picture taken with the guy,” Bush said at a Jan. 26 news conference, when asked about a report that at least five such photographs existed. “I don’t know him.”
