Reid Aided Abramoff Clients, Records Show - Yahoo! News

Reid Aided Abramoff Clients, Records Show - Yahoo! News: "By JOHN SOLOMON and SHARON THEIMER, Associated Press Writers Thu Feb 9, 5:39 PM ET

WASHINGTON - Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid wrote at least four letters helpful to Indian tribes represented by Jack Abramoff, and the senator's staff regularly had contact with the disgraced lobbyist's team about legislation affecting other clients.

The activities — detailed in billing records and correspondence obtained by The Associated Press — are far more extensive than previously disclosed. They occurred over three years as Reid collected nearly $68,000 in donations from Abramoff's firm, lobbying partners and clients.

Reid's office acknowledged Thursday having 'routine contacts' with Abramoff's lobbying partners and intervening on some government matters — such as blocking some tribal casinos — in ways Abramoff's clients might have deemed helpful. But it said none of his actions were affected by donations or done for Abramoff.

'All the actions that Senator Reid took were consistent with his long-held beliefs, such as not letting tribal casinos expand beyond reservations, and were taken to defend the interests of Nevada constituents,' spokesman Jim Manley said.

Reid, D-Nev., has led the Democratic Party's attacks portraying Abramoff's lobbying and fundraising as a Republican scandal.

But Abramoff's records show his lobbying partners billed for nearly two dozen phone contacts or meetings with Reid's office in 2001 alone."

Agreement Reached on Patriot Act Changes - Yahoo! News

Agreement Reached on Patriot Act Changes - Yahoo! News: "By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent Thu Feb 9, 6:57 PM ET

WASHINGTON - A band of Senate Republican holdouts reached agreement Thursday with the White House on changes in the Patriot Act designed to clear the way for passage of anti-terror legislation stalled in a dispute over civil liberties.

Sen. John Sununu (news, bio, voting record), R-N.H. said the changes, quickly endorsed by at least one leading Democrat, would better 'protect civil liberties even as we give law enforcement important tools to conduct terrorism investigation.'

The White House embraced the deal even before Sununu and several other senators outlined it.

Presidential spokesman Scott McClellan said the agreement would 'continue to build upon the civil liberties protections that are in place but do so in a way that doesn't compromise our national security priorities.'

'We're pleased that this important legislation is moving forward,' he said.

The compromise focused on three areas:

_giving recipients of subpoenas for information in terrorist investigations the right to challenge a requirement that they refrain from telling anyone.

_eliminating a requirement that an individual provide the
FBI with the name of a lawyer consulted about a National Security Letter, which is a secret request for records.

_clarifying that most libraries are not subject to demands in those letters for information about suspected terrorists.

While there was no immediate reaction from House Republicans, Sen. Larry Craig (news, bio, voting record), R-Idaho, one of the Senate negotiators, said he had been in close touch with the chairman of the
House Judiciary Committee. Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis.

Reaction from the Democrats was divided.

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, second-ranking in the Democratic leadership, appeared at the GOP news conference. He said the compromise included 'significant progress' toward protecting basic liberties and that he planned to support the compromise.

The party's leader, Sen. Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record) of Nevada, said in a statement that the agreement among Republicans 'appears to be a step in the right direction.'

But Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., threatened a filibuster.

The senior Democrat on the Senate Judiciary committee, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, criticized the White House. At the same time, his office left open the possibility he would support the measure."

Ex-FEMA Chief Shifts Katrina Blame to DHS - Yahoo! News

Ex-FEMA Chief Shifts Katrina Blame to DHS - Yahoo! News: "By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer Fri Feb 10, 6:34 PM ET

WASHINGTON - Former federal disaster chief Michael Brown, the face of the government's listless response to Hurricane Katrina, said Friday he told top Bush officials the day the storm howled ashore of massive flooding in New Orleans and warned 'we were realizing our worst nightmare.'

More defiant than defensive, Brown told senators he dealt directly with White House officials the day of the Aug. 29 storm, including chief of staff Andrew Card and deputy chief of staff Joe Hagin.

He also said officials from the Department of
Homeland Security were getting regular briefings that day. Administration officials have said they did not realize the severe damage Katrina had caused until after the storm had passed.

Under oath, Brown told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that he could not explain why his appeals failed to produce a faster response.

'I expected them to cut every piece of red tape, do everything they could ... that I didn't want to hear anybody say that we couldn't do everything they humanly could to respond to this,' Brown said about a video conference with administration officials — in which
President Bush briefly participated — the day before Katrina hit. 'Because I knew in my gut this was the bad one.'"

Abramoff says he met Bush "almost a dozen" times - Yahoo! News

Abramoff says he met Bush "almost a dozen" times - Yahoo! News: "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Jack Abramoff said in correspondence made public on Thursday that
President Bush met him 'almost a dozen' times, disputing White House claims Bush did not know the former lobbyist at the center of a corruption scandal.

'The guy saw me in almost a dozen settings, and joked with me about a bunch of things, including details of my kids. Perhaps he has forgotten everything, who knows,' Abramoff wrote in an e-mail to Kim Eisler, national editor for the Washingtonian magazine.

Abramoff added that Bush also once invited him to his Texas ranch."

Cheney authorized aide to leak in CIA case: report - Yahoo! News

Cheney authorized aide to leak in CIA case: report - Yahoo! News: "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President
Dick Cheney directed his aide Lewis 'Scooter' Libby to use classified material to discredit a critic of the Bush administration's
Iraq war effort, the National Journal reported on Thursday.

Court papers released last week show that Libby was authorized to disclose classified information to news reporters by 'his superiors,' in an effort to counteract diplomat Joe Wilson's charge that the Bush administration twisted intelligence on Iraq's nuclear weapons to justify the 2003 invasion.

The National Journal, a U.S. weekly magazine, citing attorneys familiar with the matter, reported that Cheney was among those superiors referred to in a letter from prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald to Libby's lawyers.

A lawyer for Cheney had no immediate comment."