Republicans Running for Cover, Attempting to Return Funds in Hopes of Avoiding Upcoming Indictments

WASHINGTON -
President Bush, former House Majority Leader
Tom DeLay and his successor Roy Blunt Wednesday joined the growing list of officials shedding political donations from Jack Abramoff, the once powerful lobbyist who has agreed to testify in a broad-ranging political corruption investigation.

Bush's re-election campaign is giving up $6,000 in campaign contributions connected to Abramoff, who pleaded guilty Tuesday to fraud, corruption and tax evasion charges in Washington. The lobbyist was due in federal court in Miami Wednesday afternoon to plead guilty to fraud charges stemming from his purchases of a Florida gambling boat fleet called SunCruz.

In a plea agreement with government prosecutors, Abramoff agreed to tell the
FBI about alleged bribes to lawmakers and their aides on issues ranging from Internet gambling to wireless phone service in the House.

The full extent of the investigation is not yet known, but Justice Department officials said they intended to make use of the trove of e-mails and other material in Abramoff's possession as part of a probe that is believed to be focusing on as many as 20 members of Congress and aides.

"The corruption scheme with Mr. Abramoff is very extensive and we will continue to follow it wherever it leads," said Assistant Attorney General Alice Fisher, head of the Justice Department's criminal division.

Bush, DeLay, Blunt and Rep. Bob Ney (news, bio, voting record) joined House Speaker
Dennis Hastert in announcing plans to either return campaign contributions from Abramoff or give them to charity. Several others announced in December that they were giving back Abramoff's donations to their campaigns.

Link to complete story from AP News may be found here:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060104/ap_on_go_pr_wh/lobbyist_fraud;_ylt=AuSDPwC1K0mGOLfAQmcRYzQb.3QA;_ylu=X3oDMTA3OXIzMDMzBHNlYwM3MDM-