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00:00there's a reason other than historical topography why Washington DC is called the swamp our tax
00:13dollars come in laws and policies that govern our lives come out often covered in more than
00:18a little muck lobbying like here in the halls of Congress exploded between Watergate and the
00:25Bush years from a 100 million dollar industry to 2.5 billion and in the midst of that era no one
00:32embodied the big bad lobbyist more than Jack Abramoff buying off congressmen fleecing Native
00:38American tribes all while lining his own pockets that was Jack and while Jack Abramoff may have
00:44been the ultimate swamp creature the question remains why is our system so vulnerable to people
00:51like Jack to the average American the notion of lobbying conjures images of money special interests
01:10such as big tobacco or defense contractors using vast sums of money to influence our representatives
01:17who then write laws or block laws to benefit them and screw us but there's much more to it than that
01:24the good lobbyist is really supplying information and expertise to the Congress so that they can write
01:31legislation that makes sense the part of the first amendment that people don't talk about much is the
01:38part that says you shall have the right to petition the government and this goes all the way back to the
01:43declaration of independence but the potential abuse of this was contemplated in the federalist papers
01:49when James Madison warned of factions especially wealthy ones acting on self-interest adverse to the
01:57rights of others it is however hard to imagine James Madison even conceiving of the power of influence
02:04peddlers such as Republican uber lobbyist Jack Abramoff I have met many folks over the time I've been here
02:12I've met many great people and obviously I've met some Democrats as well beginning in the 1990s he
02:18influenced legislation on behalf of a large roster of clients including several Native American tribes
02:24and their lucrative gambling interests Jack Abramoff is a chameleon sometimes he's very religious
02:31and caring sometimes he's an absolute crook Jack was able to alter or block bills for his clients by
02:38plying lawmakers with free meals Super Bowl tickets exotic vacations and of course massive campaign
02:47contributions by the early 2000s Jack Abramoff was Washington DC's most powerful man that you had
02:53never heard of Jack Abramoff Jack Abramoff Jack Abramoff unfortunately we'd all have to learn how to
03:00pronounce Jack Abramoff's name in 2004 because that's when his exploits became front page news journalist
03:07Susan Schmidt would win a Pulitzer exposing Abramoff scheme to defraud his Native American clients of more than 85
03:15million dollars and that was just the beginning there were more and more and more schemes this became a bigger story
03:22even than Enron federal investigation is underway into the activities of super lobbyist Jack Abramoff and PR
03:29man Mike Scanlon these are predators and they got a thrill out of exploiting their Native American clients
03:37according to your emails you and Mr Scanlon referred to tribes as morons stupid idiots monkeys effing
03:44troglodytes as the walls closed in Abramoff and his partner in crime Michael Scanlon between them
03:52pleaded guilty to charges including fraud conspiracy and yes bribing members of Congress Jack Abramoff's
04:00guilty plea could spell trouble for some of Washington's top power brokers including more
04:06than a dozen members of Congress that giant sucking sound heard throughout Washington DC were DC
04:12Republicans holding their breath hoping they weren't next in the crosshairs the Department of
04:18Justice swoops in and convenes a grand jury and it put everyone on alert the late-night hosts loved watching
04:26DC squirm I know a few members of Congress did take money from Abramoff but let that go for a second and
04:36everybody who once cozied up to Jack could not run away fast enough and you say sir whether you were lobbied by
04:44Jack Abramoff I uh I I you know I frankly don't even remember having my picture taken with the guy
04:50within months more than 20 officials from K Street to Congress to the White House toppled in the largest
04:59influence peddling scandal in American history but these crimes pointed to a more jarring truth
05:05what's important about Abramoff is actually the legal stuff that he was doing
05:10because even if you lopped off all of those crimes the stuff he did that was completely legal
05:16destroys democracy it destroys democracy by making money the sole conduit of influence blocking people
05:24like you and me from petitioning our representatives Jack himself would not sit down with me to talk
05:30about how cash strapped politicians make easy marks but former Ohio Congressman Bob Ney agreed to do it
05:37had he not accepted favors from Abramoff Ney might have been remembered best for changing the house
05:43cafeteria menu to stick it to France for not supporting our invasion of Iraq today to protect
05:49our way of life throughout the capital it'll be freedom fries and freedom toast instead Ney pleaded guilty to
05:57felony corruption charges in 2006 and served two and a half years in a federal penitentiary thanks so
06:04much for doing this appreciate it I imagine most people come to Washington wanting to do good wanting
06:10to help their constituents do you think the system is inherently corrupt or if not corrupt corrupting
06:15in a way well when I was first elected to Congress this vision I had I'm going to go to Congress and
06:21we're going to start on the things I want to do for the district that soon became a whole different
06:26flavor where I had my chief of staff and campaign people saying if you didn't raise a hundred and fifty
06:32thousand dollars within the first six months you were going to be on the political death list and that starts
06:39the whole catch-22 you want to do all these great things for your district you got to raise the money to keep
06:44yourself there so you can do those things and Jack Abramoff could supply campaign contributions for you oh yes
06:50describe for our viewers if you could how powerful Jack Abramoff was he had I think more power than the average lobbyist
06:58he was close to delay he was close to Carl Rove the White House the president anybody you you wanted
07:10to be close to Jack was it sounds like you're describing a lobbyist who is more powerful than
07:15the average member of Congress more powerful than even maybe a cabinet official Jake if I had to choose
07:21between getting to know a cabinet member and getting to know Jack Abramoff I want to take getting to know
07:27Jack but how did Jack get so many powerful friends Jack's morning in America began as he joined the
07:34burgeoning conservative movement in college rising to national prominence when he became chairman of
07:39the College Republican National Committee he would even be a guest at Ronald Reagan's birthday party
07:45Mr. President happy birthday in six more years and lay down some verse at the 84 Republican National
07:51Convention if we're the party of tax cuts not the party of ifs and buts then we're riding our way so what does a passionate young
08:02Republican do after getting his law degree from Georgetown he goes to Hollywood and produces Red Scorpion starring Rocky 4
08:09villain Dolph Lundgren who single-handedly protects the African continent from communism
08:14the film flopped but Jack learned how to grab people's hearts and open their wallets
08:23Jack returned to Washington as a lobbyist for law firm Preston Gates
08:27just in time to ride the wave of Republican revolution that was rocking DC
08:32in 1994 for the first time in 40 years the Republicans took control of the house
08:39and Gingrich became the speaker revolution was in the air we were going to change things I was a
08:44total true believer so I started working for the congressman Bob Ney I mean I felt like you know I was
08:51on the adventure of a lifetime from the perspective of Speaker Gingrich the Republicans were righteous
08:57rebels and in order to deliver for the American people they needed to get re-elected Newt Gingrich
09:03realized that the only way he was going to keep control of the house was to bring as much money
09:08into the Republican Party as possible he told members they'd only be working three days a week
09:14the rest of the time they'd be raising money so now the congressperson depends heavily on the
09:20lobbyist to channel money to them to fund their campaigns the fundraising pressure imposed by
09:27Gingrich shifted the power dynamic in Washington from the representatives who held the power to the
09:32lobbyists who held the money Jack was in the perfect position to lead the political elite
09:38wherever he wanted Jack had this reputation of having power and influence myself the congressman
09:45our team like we wanted to move up the ladder in Washington and so all roads led to Jack Abramoff
09:52with the Republicans seizing control of Congress in 1994 Jack Abramoff expanded his power on K Street
10:05the center of DC's lobbying industry and on the hill no political partnership was tighter than that of
10:10Jack and House Majority Whip Tom DeLay of Texas Tom DeLay is who all of us want to be when we grow up
10:18as DeLay moved up ranks in the house he was aided by Abramoff's access to money so this created a real
10:29grid of power for Tom DeLay and Jack Abramoff and in his search for more money and power Jack boldly
10:38went where many had gone before Abramoff began representing a number of different Native American
10:44tribes many of these tribes had come into significant amounts of money because of the Indian gaming laws
10:50that were passed in Congress in the 1980s in the late 1980s an effort by the Congress to allow the
10:56tribes to for the first time really raise money for their own development and considering their
11:03historical mistreatment at the hands of the U.S. government it made perfect sense for the tribes
11:07to seek power and a stronger voice Jack convinced the tribes that he was the guy to turn their money
11:13into influence and he had some early legal success representing the Mississippi Choctaw where he
11:19blocked a new congressional tax proposal that targeted the tribes as his reputation and business
11:25grew Jack needed to expand his team at Preston Gates so he leaned on an age-old Washington tradition
11:31the revolving door between lawmaking and lobbying the Republican leadership and Tom DeLay used to
11:39organize to send conservative staff people down to K Street as lobbyists and vice versa it was called
11:45the revolving door it was very easy for congressional staff and former members to leave their job and go
11:53to work the next day for the very industries that they had been having oversight over because of the way
12:00that lobbying works and the connections that people have it can easily move into the land of influence
12:09peddling you pay me not just for my expertise but also to convince my former contacts that they should
12:18change their policy because we say so a direct quid pro quo is illegal but lobbyists and lawmakers are
12:27usually too sophisticated to be so explicit and Jack plucked staffers straight from the top of the hill who
12:33understood this including Tom DeLay's brazen operative Mike Scanlon and Bob Nays starry-eyed chief of staff
12:41Neil Volz I started as a press secretary making fourteen thousand five hundred dollars a year and when I started
12:50working for Jack I was making what three four hundred thousand dollars a year with expense accounts and
12:56access to campaign contributions and living the life what was your reaction when Neil told you he was going to go work
13:02for Jack Abramoff I felt a little bit bad about it because of the fact that Neil had been with me a long
13:08time but for the most part it was good he was going to be in the inner workings of Jack Abramoff's
13:13organization he could he could help us I could help him but on the other hand that created a link for
13:20Neil and I that wasn't healthy we sold ourselves to the tribes as people who could get things done
13:25and we were able to point to success stories to new tribes to say if you work with us we can help
13:32you become like the other tribes we're a pack of wolves but for these hungry young capitalists there
13:38was one problem there were no real big issues facing the Indian tribes there were no real threats to
13:46their sovereignty to their casinos but Jack Abramoff was an excellent salesman the Cushota tribe and its
13:55casino in Kendra Louisiana have grown to become one of the state's largest private employers and much of
14:02its success is fueled by money from Texas visitors Jack Abramoff was engaged by the Cushota tribe right
14:09around 2001 and he would come up with just outright lies about threats to the gaming market in southwest
14:18Louisiana he stoked this fear you know oh rival tribes are gonna open a casino and we're gonna cut into
14:26your profits and said you have to hire me and then charge them outrageous amounts of money helping
14:35the Native American community obtain real power would be very difficult to do so Abramoff opted
14:41instead to just make shit up playing on his clients fear the potential of rival casinos in Texas was dirty
14:49for sure but totally legal and to wring more money out of the Cushota Jack pushed the tribe to hire a
14:56friend Abramoff would go in and would say you really have to hire Mike Scanlon he's the best in the
15:04business at running a grassroots PR operation Abramoff's new boy wonder Michael Scanlon now
15:11had a public relations firm that could help the Cushota rally public opinion to their cause Abramoff
15:18and Scanlon wanted to eliminate competing casinos in Texas and they enlisted Christian coalition firebrand
15:24Ralph Reed and his evangelical base to help we are in grave danger from what we believe is one of the
15:32greatest cancers growing on the American body politic and that is the scourge of legalized gambling the
15:40plan worked evangelical noise got the state of Texas to ban tribal gaming Jack had protected the
15:47Louisiana Cushota's casino from the potential threat of competition but there was one more level to his
15:54plan what nobody knew is that Scanlon was getting a huge amount of money from the tribe two or three
16:02times what Abramoff was getting and then they were splitting it they were splitting it which Jack never
16:09disclosed to the Cushota and that is very illegal and it's also where this tale crosses over from slimy
16:17lobbying to outright fraud to the tune of 32 million dollars and while one tribe in Louisiana was able to
16:25protect their market share the repercussions were absolutely devastating for another tribe in Texas the
16:32speaking rock casino is a modest-looking building that once generated extravagant profits for the Tegua Indians in El Paso
16:39Texas 24 hours a day the parking lots were full the revenue was coming in but in February 2002 the state
16:47of Texas won a court battle to shut down the casino with the Texas Tigua tribe in ruins Abramoff and
16:54Scanlon went behind the Cushota's backs and straight to the Tigua to sell themselves to the tribe they just
17:00screwed over as their only salvation I remember trying to get the Tigua their casino reopened and
17:10that's what I worked with Bob Nave the congressman on in terms of getting you know a fix for the Tegua
17:16tribe put into legislation so Jack Abramoff would tell the tribe you need to hire me there's this group
17:22out there that wants to block you from getting at the casino meanwhile he was in cahoots with them it was
17:27all just a way to get the tribe to cough up as much money as possible correct it was kind of all plotted
17:34Jack was able to say to the Tigua you've got this group out there opposing you and that was Scanlon and
17:40they were all intertwined intertwined like roots running through the DC swamp just below the surface
17:48soon Bob would find himself ensnared more than any other politician in Jack Abramoff's schemes
17:57by 2002 Jack Abramoff had made millions pitting Native American tribes against each other and
18:06making conflict of interest his business model Abramoff and Scanlon would tell tribal governments
18:13keep paying us and we'll make sure that you have access to certain people whether it be in highest
18:17levels of government or to different pack organizations that will protect their interests
18:22so the tribes made contributions pay for trips and he convinced the tribes that this will help you
18:31establish yourself as a player in Washington and while the tribes never reached player status in
18:38Washington Jack certainly did with their money he spent a million dollars a year just on skyboxes
18:44Abramoff had four skyboxes 22 seats in each box every night they were being filled by congressmen who
18:53were holding fundraisers and he even opened a restaurant called signatures which attracted a
18:59very specific clientele you'd have a couple of elected officials you'd have policy makers you'd have
19:06other lobbyists there I mean it became a who's who of Capitol Hill on any given night that really gave
19:12us the ability to create leverage and build relationships tell me about signatures bad food
19:20I'm gonna tell you right now really oh yeah oh yeah why do you think he bought a restaurant because he
19:25likes restaurant business he's getting power was it basically just open bar and free food I'm I'm
19:31assuming most most of the White House didn't didn't pay a tab you can see Karl Rove see people walking
19:37through members of Congress John Boehner's gonna go down there he launches Merlot yep oh yeah
19:43between 2002 and 2003 Abramoff gave out more than 180,000 in food and drink at signatures but so much
19:53of Washington DC lobbying resides in that ethically hazy fog of deniability even if lawmakers were willing
20:00to pay for food and drink lobbyists were eager to do so for access to the it crowd and while this
20:06violates congressional ethics rules it's only illegal if the law enforcement authorities can
20:11prove a direct quid pro quo and that is no easy task tell us about accepting bribes I didn't accept a
20:20bribe it's not bribery under the sense that here here's a Rolex watch go vote for that okay so the
20:29financial contributions that were coming your way as part of a world where you looked out for Abramoff
20:36and his clients and they looked out for you that was a culture of corruption but it wasn't bribery per
20:42se favors were done at Jack's restaurant it was generic we had meals and we had free drinks
20:48things like that and campaign contribution campaign contribution sure but it's not a bribe but
20:54it's obviously trading favors but you did do things for Jack that I'm not saying were crimes but you
21:04had a good relationship with him you did things for him he did things for you tickets to concerts and
21:08sporting events using Abramoff's box suites at venues in DC and Baltimore tens of thousands of
21:14dollars of campaign contributions in kind campaign contributions in the form of free fundraisers
21:19international and domestic trips including a trip to play golf in Scotland in August 2002 with total
21:26trip costs exceeding $160,000 paid for by Abramoff and his clients the Scotland trip it wasn't what it
21:33was supposed to be that was a trip supposed to be the trip was supposed to be where we would go to
21:39Scotland eventually go to London and meet with some members of the parliament but the meeting got
21:45canceled so it ended up more of a golfing trip than it did what it was originally supposed to be
21:51oh man I loved going to Scotland however this trip happened outside the confines of the legislative
22:00process and that's what made it so problematic ah problematic the nice way of saying illegal
22:08it's true that if Bob had so much as shaken the hand of a member of parliament the trip would have
22:13been perfectly above board but the real problem is these perks of the job fancy vacations funded by
22:20Jack's clients lay the perfect foundation for a quid pro quo one that Bob will go to his grave denying
22:27Jack was trying to get the Tigua tribe their casino license back and he came to me for an amendment
22:35in in a bill that I had which was the help America vote act but he wanted you to put in the help
22:41America vote act this provision that had nothing to do with voting that would allow these two tribes
22:47in Texas to open casino yes Jack didn't get the amendment because I never presented the amendment
22:52I never laid the amendment on the table and so when it collapsed Jack asked me and I did
22:59do a conference call with the tribes to tell him what a great guy Jack was and how he could you know
23:04probably help them because Jack was a little bit in trouble with them since he didn't get the amendment
23:09for them so says Bob but it's worth noting the Tigua tribe testified they met with Abramoff and Ney
23:17and after Ney said he'd insert the amendment Jack asked the Tigua's to contribute $32,000 to Ney
23:23and his PACs this is literally legislation for dollars the definition of a quid pro quo and one of the
23:31acts that put Bob Ney in prison in the end the Tigua paid Jack $4.2 million but they never got their
23:40casino reopened meanwhile in Louisiana David Sickey and other Kushada tribal leaders had a sense that
23:47something was not quite right the tribal government had started questioning the actual numbers that
23:55Abramoff was building the tribe so I connected with Tom Rogers who had apparently worked with
24:01another tribe that had been affected by Abramoff's exploitation Tom Rogers was one of those honest
24:08lobbyists we told you at the top of the show actually exists when he heard the Kushada's complaints he
24:13was not at all surprised he knew Jack Abramoff so how did you start working with native tribes how did
24:20that happen well I'm Blackfeet Indian from my mother's side growing up in Montana I was confronted
24:25daily with the extreme inequities of wealth being a lobbyist is basically about telling stories and
24:32Native Americans didn't get to tell their stories and so somewhere in there you met Abramoff yes and
24:37you met him what was your impression of him Jack would work with different tribes who were in great need
24:42who were desperate and he would prey upon their feelings of we could lose what we have now and we
24:48could never attain anything more what stories were the tribal leaders telling you he did provide them
24:53access but they all had one consistent story all of them were being charged millions of dollars these
24:59incredible outrageous fees by piecing together stories from several tribes Tom was able to pull
25:07together a grander picture of widespread manipulation intimidation and corruption his work would kick off a
25:15confrontation with one of the most powerful men in the nation's capital by 2003 the Kushada was not the
25:26only tribe suspicious of Jack Abramoff tribal lobbyist Tom Rogers was hearing stories from around the
25:32country of Jack's legendary lobbying fees but it wasn't until he took a call from Michigan that he
25:39discovered the smoking gun Monica Quigley reached out to me she worked for the Saginaw Chippewas in
25:45Michigan and she says Tom I need your help we've got this lobbyist who's charging us millions of dollars
25:51about 1.5 million for the past three months before you even started work so where are you mailing these
25:58checks she said well it's 611 Pennsylvania Avenue Southeast I said Southeast there's nothing up there but a
26:06Amico gas station I'm gonna drive up there that's when Tom Rogers discovered the smoking gun was
26:12actually a little box with a lock on it I said that's sweet you mail your checks to it's about
26:18eight inches wide and 10 inches long you're mailing it to a P.O. box at mailboxes are us I said not only
26:26is he cheating you but knowing where he's sending it to a P.O. box he's also cheating his law firm so
26:31you probably got him from wire fraud and mail fraud is that when you were first aware that he was
26:35probably breaking the criminal that was when it was criminal Jake forgive me but with all of that
26:40money there's too much shit in that barn for there not to be a horse in there
26:43Tom was going to find that horse so he linked up with tribal leaders to follow the stench
26:49we agreed to work together and exchange any document that we could get our hands on
26:55to begin connecting the dots we began compiling old billing statements and invoices and confirming
27:02what other tribes who were telling us we found out later on that a lot of the money was being
27:09spent on pet projects one specific example that really kind of caught my attention was that Abramoff
27:15and Scanlon were paying for a suite at the Washington Redskins Stadium it was insulting and offensive at the
27:26same time after comparing notes David and Tom concluded that the Kushata had paid Abramoff and Scanlon
27:3232 million dollars he was charging more money to the tribes than Microsoft was paying to avoid being split
27:40up in an antitrust effort he was using that money to fund his own charities he was using that money to
27:48fund his own lifestyle his politicians Abramoff and Scanlon were taking money from the tribes and
27:54lying about how they were using it which is dishonest but more importantly it's fraud and word was getting
28:01out journalist Susan Schmidt was following a lead of her own in September 2003 I got a call from a very
28:11prominent Republican operative about Mike Scanlon he went from basically paying off his student loans to
28:20helicoptering to the Delaware shore on weekends where he purchased a mansion it was so overnight and it
28:28was so strange and people knew he was working with Abramoff and then in early 2004 Tom Rogers told me
28:38about some of the internal documents in the Kushata tribe you know the amounts of money they had
28:44contributed to members of Congress and some of their financials that information helps me put
28:51together the first big story it was a massive massive story on February 21st 2004 Washington DC woke up to the
29:02the first of the first of a series of articles exposing Jack Abramoff's corruption and suddenly happy
29:08hour at signatures dried up more and more and more money was uncovered and more tribes were involved ended up
29:16being 82 million dollars that they got money that Abramoff was taking in some of which was going to members of Congress I
29:26remember being in a team meeting after the Washington Post story broke and asking Jack
29:32can you tell us what else is out there and he looked at me and said I don't know what they've got
29:38Susan's articles raised the alarm and John McCain Senate Indian Affairs Committee began investigating all of
29:45it the lies the secret partnerships the illegal kickbacks all told six tribes paid more than 66 million dollars to Mr. Scanlon
29:55and Mr. Abramoff received more than 21 million for Mr. Scanlon for his share of the scheme the McCain
30:01hearings became must-see TV for everyone in Washington why did Mr. Scanlon pay Mr. Abramoff half of his
30:10profit the answer is surprisingly simple Mr. Abramoff and Mr. Scanlon were partners but the world might
30:17never have realized how truly ugly Jack's operation was had he not put it down in writing emails obtained
30:25by the committee show that they regularly referred to their clients using contemptuous even racist
30:30language when you've shocked Washington with your corruption and cynicism you know it's bad Jack was
30:37about to find out just how bad it would get it appears from their own words Mr. Abramoff and Mr. Scanlon held
30:47their tribal clients in absolute contempt in September 2004 the Senate Indian Affairs Committee held the
30:54first of several hearings into the Abramoff affair according to your emails you and Mr. Scanlon referred
30:59to tribes as morons stupid idiots monkeys effing troglodytes why would you want to work for people
31:07that you have that much contempt for I have no choice but to assert my various constitutional privileges
31:11against having to testify I've got some more questions that I'd like to put to the witness did
31:17you send an email to mr. Reed in which you said and I quote I wish those moronic tigwas were smarter in
31:23their political contributions I'd love us to get our mitts on that moolah oh well stupid folks get wiped
31:31out did you send that email to mr. Reed senator I respectfully invoke the privilege privilege as
31:38previously stated this is one of the first email scandals one of the first times that like somebody's
31:47prolific emails came out and shocked people yeah when you heard all these racist attacks on Native
31:53Americans were you surprised or is this something you had discerned and felt living in Washington or the
32:00United States already even in this stage of my life I have still have been surprised at the level
32:07of racism but I was struck to actually read that about your own people that people would call you
32:14troglodyte and to to know that he's cashing the checks of the people who are paying him to enable their
32:22dreams their futures and in order for him to go where he needs to go he needs to dehumanize us they were
32:29getting a huge thrill out of exploiting Native Americans and their resources they thought of
32:35their tribal clients as almost subhuman I believe that Abramoff and Scanlon suffered from a moral virus
32:44Jack Abramoff is at the very heart of what could explode into the worst political scandal in Washington
32:51in a generation Jack Abramoff's fall may be causing a lot of squirming on Capitol Hill but the ripple effect may be wider than that
32:59as the media speculated about just how far Jack's corruption spread the gears of justice began their long slow
33:09grind
33:10the Department of Justice were getting their leads from the press
33:16Jack Abramoff is trying to place people in federal agencies he's essentially trying to bribe top-level executive branch officials
33:24oh there are so many nervous people I think there are a lot of people who didn't have a very fun holiday knowing that this could come
33:30come on some people had a fun holiday pastures deeply disturbed Rita's never felt so distressed
33:36oh lord bribery oh lord no what did you think when you saw so many Republicans from President George W Bush
33:49on down the line acting as if they had no idea who Jack Abramoff was or maybe they had seen him once or twice
33:56but not a big deal what was your response to that it seriously became comical people say I don't think I
34:01I don't think I know new Jack
34:03of course my name's thrown out there and I remember one of my staff guys said they're coming after us
34:11Michael Scanlon pled guilty today to conspiracy
34:14the ex-partner of lobbyist Jack Abramoff admitted to bribing public officials in connection with Indian tribe casinos
34:22after Scanlon's guilty plea it became clear that it was every man for himself
34:27I ended up cooperating with the government I'm hesitant to say it but I mean it was my yuppie
34:33Nuremberg defense right I was like man I gotta pay the mortgage I gotta keep this thing going so I'm
34:37gonna do whatever I need to do to survive like any crime boss whose lieutenants have all rolled on him
34:43Jack saw the writing on the wall uh Abramoff has pleaded guilty separately to conspiracy fraud
34:50and tax evasion charges here in Washington and he is cooperating with federal prosecutors in that
34:56investigation that probe as we know could touch some members of Congress with Abramoff's guilty
35:02plea for his conduct with the tribes and members of Congress the Republicans culture of corruption
35:07emerged from the shadows congressman Tom delay has not been implicated in this scandal but has been
35:13closely linked to lobbyist Jack Abramoff and that has been enough for other Republicans to urge him to
35:20step aside I think that the Abramoff scandal is the latest signal of just how unhealthy and how
35:27dysfunctional Washington DC has become in the political process has become the lobbying process
35:33as the scandal widened it became clear many in Republican leadership had dirty hands but
35:38ultimately only one congressman Bob Ney took the fall congressman Bob Ney today pleaded guilty to
35:45federal corruption charges in a huge influence peddling scandal for his part in trading official
35:52actions for thousands of dollars in favors from Abramoff and for making false statements about it Bob Ney
35:57was sentenced to 30 months in prison finally at the end we did we did a plea but if they're going to
36:05come after me that I did a favor I signed these letters and legislation for Jack Abramoff they have
36:11to take about 200 other members to federal prison certain things I did do but certain things the
36:17government also I think exaggerated the case I hear two different things from you one of them is I accept
36:23the responsibility for what I did wrong and then the other one is some of these charges are bullshit
36:28in the end it doesn't matter if the entire White House was eating for free its signatures it matters
36:35what happened with me you know I should have kept my plate clean I needed to do the right thing this
36:42just into CNN it is a four-year prison sentence for disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff Jack and Bob
36:48would both go on to do their time but only Bob learned his lesson Jack Abramoff wasn't finished yet
36:55as Jack Abramoff began serving his four-year sentence in 2006 Democrats seized control of Congress on a
37:08platform of fighting the corrupt lobbying that Jack had embodied and I'm sure they were without a doubt
37:14full of high-minded intention with our signatures we will serve notice on the Republicans that we intend
37:22to change the way Washington works the core idea Nancy Pelosi tried to push was the idea of banning the revolving
37:30door Nancy Pelosi said let's say two years between leaving Capitol Hill and becoming a lobbyist because
37:38in two years all your connections would have faded so your value as a lobbyist would go down so fewer people
37:44would go into the business to become a lobbyist but that was never going to happen Congress refused to adopt that
37:50Nancy Pelosi cleared the swamp quote unquote which you like taking a cup of water and throwing it
37:58Lake Erie make the water table rise 42 percent of all members of the house have went into lobbying
38:05uh the Senate's a little higher I think it's around 50 percent this is since the Abramoff scandal but I
38:11think if they want to really you know clean it up there are some things they can do you think public
38:18financing of campaigns is necessary I think a lot of things make that a real non-revolving door for
38:23staffers and members big time make it five years yeah solid stop all of the free trips they still
38:30there's more trips than when Jack and I went you know in Congress today stop them all
38:34when Jack was released from prison in 2010 he too had reform on his mind that is he wanted to reform
38:43his image as an anti-corruption crusader while being immortalized in a feature film I'm a lobbyist
38:50and against the law Jack embarked on a media blitz that included the inevitable book talk shows did you
39:00steal from India no you did not steal from Indians really because that is one of the founding principles
39:05of our nation and news programs I was mad at me Leslie look I did things and I was involved in the
39:16system I should not have been in Jack learned nothing and going to prison and then he gets out
39:21and he hadn't changed he was always looking to circumvent the rules former Washington lobbyist Jack
39:28Abramoff's finding a new life on reality TV Jack's rebranding effort peaked with an attempt to launch
39:34a television show about ethical lobbying and cryptocurrency called Bitcoin Brigade we're
39:41actually going to train this group to have moral lobbying and unfortunately I am the expert on that
39:46because I was the bad boy on the other side about that show it never aired probably because Jack just
39:54could not help himself in 2020 Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty to lying to investors in promoting an
39:59anti-corruption version of the Bitcoin cryptocurrency Abramoff also failed to register his lobbying work
40:06for clients in the cannabis industry and became the first person busted by the lobbying disclosure act
40:12which was strengthened in response to his first scandal so Congress tried once more to teach Jack a lesson
40:19creating the Jack act requiring lobbyists to disclose prior corruption convictions only time will tell if
40:27it worked when you look back at Jack Abramoff's world was it just about greed for him was it about power was it
40:34about attention now do I think he is the worst lobbyist that's ever walked the earth no Jack could take
40:42your wallet and make you think it was okay and I don't mean that in a bad way he was like a chameleon
40:49he could but that you're really not describing a chameleon you're really describing a sociopath though
40:54well yeah I mean that's sure
40:57you can take the creature out of the swamp but then you've still got the swamp and if anything it
41:06seems that in the 20 years since DC supposedly cleaned up its act that swamp has only gotten deeper
41:12and murkier after all gift bans and disclosure rules always have a workaround overall there's too
41:21much money you're talking about raising millions of dollars for house campaigns for a two-year job
41:26well if if you've got to raise millions of dollars every two years you know you're doing that all the
41:32time so while Jack Abramoff is the villain of this story there are an untold number of Jacks still out
41:40there peddling influence and operating just within the lines of legality making sure the swamp will
41:47never be drained and if you don't believe me when it comes to the swamp you don't know Jack