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Tag Archive: Jack Abramoff

Rape by any other name

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Updated 3:32 p.m.

The political firestorm that Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo., ignited with his now-recanted claim that  women rarely getting pregnant from “legitimate rape" has focused attention on an unusual fact about the crime: When speaking of it, politicians often use a qualifier.

A search of the Congressional Record using the Sunlight Foundation's Capitol Words tool shows no instances of other lawmakers using the phrase or advancing the odd biological theory that has led Republican leaders from Mitt Romney to Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to urge Akin -- a member of the House Science Committee ...

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Abramoff: ‘You’ve got to trust me.’

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Over the weekend, Jack Abramoff disputed one of our blog posts.. Since the convicted former lobbyist neither responded to our call for comment before publication nor called us afterwards to point out what he said was our error, we decided to catch up with him Monday night at the National Press Club to ask a few questions.

It was an intriguing evening that featured the disgraced ex-lobbyist trying to out-reform the reformers as well as a potentially explosive allegation that Abramoff had a potential business partner in the Washington press corps.

The setting was a panel on campaign finance reform ...

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Abramoff’s ‘bribes’ exaggerated?

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In addition to painting himself as a reformer of Washington, convicted felon and former lobbyist Jack Abramoff last week took up the mantle of unsolicited, sage dispenser of advice on how to be an effective lobbyist. In a blog post for United Republic, a money-in-politics watchdog nonprofit where he is a senior fellow, Abramoff criticized a lobbyist for telegraphing his plans.

To show us how it’s really done, the former Capitol Hill influence peddler told us how he and his team stopped Congress from imposing a retroactive tax on companies that shifted headquarters overseas to avoid paying U.S ...

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Who visited Jack Abramoff in Cumberland prison? We’ve FOIAed to find out

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In his book Capitol Punishment: The Hard Truth about Washington Corruption from America's Most Notorious Lobbyist, Jack Abramoff notes that while serving his sentence for mail fraud and conspiracy in a federal prison in Cumberland, Md., he was fortunate that "some intrepid public officials [made] the trek to Cumberland, including Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, his wife Rhonda, and their adorable triplets..."

In an interview with The Hill, Abramoff was cagey on the subject of whether other members of Congress made similar treks: "I'm not saying they have or they haven't," he told the publication, adding that Rohrabacher is ...

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European Central Bank borrowing from Federal Reserve on the rise

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The European Central Bank (ECB) today announced more than $2 billion in borrowing from the Federal Reserve's currency swap line, the highest amount since the U.S. central bank reopened this facility in May 2010.

The increased borrowing comes amidst reports that the private foreign currency market is chilling, with the cost of European banks obtaining dollars on the rise. While the conditions are not nearly as bad as they became during the 2008 financial crisis, when foreign exchange markets froze and Fed currency swaps with foreign central banks rose to $586 billion, the increasing amounts are another indicator ...

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