The Unknown Candidate: First Photo of Bush and Abramoff

Sunday, February 12, 2006

First Photo of Bush and Abramoff

A picture is worth a thousand words indeed.

Despite a White House assertion that there was no record of Abramoff at a 2001 meeting in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building adjacent to the White House, it's evident by these photos that he was.

Matthew Cooper and Adam Zagorin of Time Magazine write,

"It shows a bearded Abramoff in the background as Bush greets an Abramoff client, Raul Garza, who was then chairman of the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas; Bush senior advisor Karl Rove looks on. The photograph was provided to TIME by Mr. Garza. ... Told about the photograph in January, the White House said it had no record that Abramoff was present at the meeting. Shown the photograph today, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said the White House had still found no record of Abramoff's presence but confirmed that it is Abramoff in the picture."

Read more and see more photos of the 2001 meeting here.