Safavian, who until Friday was the head of Bush's Office of Federal Procurement Policy, has been arrested on three charges of making false statements and obstructing an investigation. Here's some key info from an AP wire report:
At the time, FBI agent Jeffrey A. Reising said in the affidavit, a lobbyist -- identified separately as Abramoff -- had enlisted Safavian's help in trying to gain control of 40 acres of land at the Federal Research Center at White Oak in Silver Spring, Md., for a private high school that Abramoff helped establish and supported.
For his part, Safavian edited a letter the lobbyist was preparing to send to GSA, and arranged and attended a meeting involving a GSA official, the lobbyist's wife and others to discuss leasing the property, the affidavit said.
Josh's theory, which seems right on to me, is that Safavian was arrested with the intent of getting him to testify against Abramoff. The DOJ obviously thinks they've got a decent shot if they're targeting him specifically. Safavian's something of a GOP lobbyist Zelig, having ties to not only Jack Abramoff, but also Grover Norquist, Ralph Reed, Joe Allbaugh, Rep. Chris Cannon, and Rep. Bob Ney. His wife Jennifer Safavian is "chief counsel for oversight and investigations" for Rep. Tom Davis's House Government Reform Committee.
As hard as it may seem to believe, I have a strange feeling that this investigation may uncover a vastly more widespread culture of corruption than we can even imagine.
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