Trial begins for ex-Bush official tied to lobbyist

[NashVegas]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lawyers on Wednesday make opening statements in the trial of a former Bush administration official who is the first person to be tried in connection with the influence-peddling scandal of lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

David Safavian, the former chief of staff at the General Services Administration and a former White House budget official, has been charged with lying and obstructing investigations in connection with his relationship with Abramoff and their 2002 golf outing to Scotland.

...

Federal prosecutors are expected to rely heavily on hundreds of e-mails between Abramoff and Safavian to prove to jurors that Safavian lied to investigators about his relationship with the lobbyist.

Prosecutors say Safavian concealed the fact that Abramoff had business with the GSA at the time of the golf trip and that he was aiding the lobbyist in his attempts to do business with the GSA.

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-05-24T065300Z_01_N23288519_RTRUKOC_0_US-CRIME-SAFAVIAN.xml

[napi21]

1. I hope he's found guilty and spends the next many years in a cell,

BUT I have to ask, WHEN in the heck are people going to realize that emails are the same as leaving notes & letters laying around, or literally posting this info on a bulletin board?

How many people have gotten caught already...through info in EMAILS?

How stupid can these people be?

[Demit]

2. I'm glad they put "ex-Bush official" right in the headline...

AND used the phrase "first person to be tried". Nice and straightforward, none of the usual downplaying & dancing around the facts.