Ex-Bush official hid ties to Abramoff, US says - Yahoo! News

Ex-Bush official hid ties to Abramoff, US says - Yahoo! News: "Wed May 24, 5:55 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal prosecutors said on Wednesday that a former Bush administration official lied to investigators and hid his ties to Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist at the center of an influence-peddling scandal.
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In opening statements at the first trial in connection with the Abramoff scandal, prosecutors tried to paint David Safavian as a liar while his lawyer denied the charges and accused the government of basing its case on 'guilt by association.'
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Safavian, the former chief of staff at the General Services Administration (GSA) -- the property managing agency for the federal government -- has been charged with lying and obstructing investigations into his relationship with Abramoff and their 2002 golf outing to Scotland funded by the lobbyist.

A political appointee at the GSA from May 2002 to January 2004 who later worked at the White House budget office, Safavian is the first government official to be indicted in a case related to the Abramoff scandal.

During the trial, which is set to last about one week, prosecutors will present evidence from hundreds of e-mails between Abramoff and Safavian to prove that Safavian lied to investigators about his involvement in and knowledge of Abramoff's efforts to do business with the GSA.

"We're going to prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt, relying mainly on the defendant's own words," said Zeidenberg.

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