Highest Ranking Bush Official Pleads Guilty To Abramoff Involvement

Highest Ranking Bush Official Pleads Guilty To Abramoff Involvement

AP JOHN HEILPRIN March 23, 2007 12:27 PM

Former Deputy Interior Secretary J. Steven Griles pleaded guilty Friday to obstruction of justice in a Senate committee's investigation, becoming the highest-ranking Bush administration official convicted in the Jack Abramoff corruption scandal.

The former No. 2 official in the Interior Department admitted in federal court that he lied to the Senate about his relationship with convicted lobbyist Abramoff, who repeatedly sought Griles' intervention at the agency on behalf of Abramoff's Indian tribal clients.

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