Original Post: Abramoff White House Logs Mystery Solved!

Abramoff White House Logs Mystery Solved!
By Paul Kiel - May 17, 2006, 4:10 PM
Aha! Consider this a lesson in the fine art of the FOIA request.

Last week, the Secret Service turned over its records of Jack Abramoff's White House visits to Judicial Watch. The records indicated a paltry two visits - an unbelievably low tally.

Everybody knew that Judicial Watch had gotten the shaft. It just wasn't clear how.

Well, here's how: the Secret Service doesn't have the records - the White House does. That's because the Secret Service transfers their more comprehensive visitor logs, called WAVES (Workers Appointments and Visitors Entry System) records, to the White House every 60 days. If Judicial Watch, or anyone else, wants to find out how often Jack Abramoff visited the White House, they'll have to FOIA (and then probably sue) the Executive Office of the President. All they'll get from the Secret Service are Access Control Records, which, as we found out last Wednesday, don't tell you very much.

MORE