( - promoted by Matt Glazer)
Throughout Tom Delay's trial, it was assumed that prosecutors would bring up Delay's past as a way to show a pattern of unethical and illegal behavior, but visiting Judge Pat Priest told prosecutors this week that he only wanted to hear prior bad acts that could be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. Queue the discussion about Delay's trip to Britain. The Houston Chronicle reported this morning: "DeGuerin said he expects one of those to be a trip to England and Scotland in 2000 that DeLay took with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Allegations have been made that Abramoff paid for DeLay's airfare on the trip in violation of U.S. House rules, but DeGuerin said Amy Ridenouer of the National Center for Public policy will testify that her organization paid for the trip."
Delay's current attorney Dick DeGuerin is telling reporters, and conceivably the judge, that Amy Ridenour's "National Center for Public Policy Research" paid for Delay's trip. This statement contradicts what Delay's attorney, Bobby R. Burchfield, told reporters back in 2005. Ridenour merely had her organization reimburse Jack Abramoff for paying for Delay's travel. Abramoff put Delay's charges on his credit card... From the Washington Post:
Burchfield did not dispute that Abramoff used his credit card to pay for DeLay's plane fare, but said in a statement that "the majority leader has always believed and continues to believe that all appropriate expenses for the U.K. trip were paid by the National Center for Public Policy Research." He said that "to the extent that Mr. Abramoff put the charges on his personal credit card, Mr. DeLay has no knowledge of this. But that would be consistent with Mr. Abramoff obtaining full reimbursement from the National Center."
The facts are clear: Tom Delay had his travel to Britian paid for by Jack Abramoff. Abramoff was later reimbursed by Amy Ridenour's National Center for Public Policy Research. In fact, The Washington Post analyzed receipts which proved this:
The airfare to London and Scotland in 2000 for then-House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) was charged to an American Express card issued to Jack Abramoff, a Washington lobbyist at the center of a federal criminal and tax probe, according to two sources who know Abramoff's credit card account number and to a copy of a travel invoice displaying that number.
DeLay's expenses during the same trip for food, phone calls and other items at a golf course hotel in Scotland were billed to a different credit card also used on the trip by a second registered Washington lobbyist, Edwin A. Buckham, according to receipts documenting that portion of the trip.
Perhaps after Deguerin puts Ridenour on the stand to have her claim she paid for Delay's tickets he can also explain the difference between paying for them, and reimbursing Abramoff for them. It would be great if he can also explain the difference between Delay funneling this Abramoff reimbursement through a political operative and non-profit, and the illegal corporate money Delay funneled into Texas. |
