Burns no longer part of Abramoff probe

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department has informed former Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., that it has closed its investigation of his dealings with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and will not bring criminal charges.

Burns, who works for a lobbying firm, narrowly lost his seat in 2006 because of political fallout over his dealings with Abramoff. A Justice Department spokesman said Thursday that prosecutors had notified Burns’ attorney, Ralph Caccia, that “the department has concluded its investigation of former Sen. Burns.”

Burns was a major beneficiary of campaign contributions from Abramoff’s lobbying team and the casino-rich Indian tribes it represented, taking in more than $140,000, which he returned during the heat of his campaign. Several of Burns’ Senate staff members accepted trips and gifts from Abramoff’s lobbying team, and two went to work for him.

Federal prosecutors were investigating the pressure that Burns brought on the Interior Department to give a $3 million school-construction grant intended for poor Indian tribes to the wealthy Saginaw Chippewa tribe of Michigan, an Abramoff client. The Washington Post reported in 2005 that Burns pushed Interior to reverse its decision that the tribe did not qualify for the funds and that when the effort failed, he earmarked the money in a 2004 appropriations bill.

Unlike his staffers and some other Congress members caught up in the Abramoff probe, Burns was never accused of accepting personal gifts or favors from the lobbyist, a key element in many of the prosecutions growing out of the Abramoff investigation.

The Justice Department’s wide Abramoff investigation has resulted in a dozen convictions or guilty pleas from lobbyists, congressional staffers, Interior officials and one Congress member, former Rep. Robert Ney, R-Ohio.

But a recent D.C. appeals court decision could impede remaining aspects of the investigation, Justice lawyers said in a petition two weeks ago. In a case growing from an FBI search of the congressional office of Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., Justice is seeking Supreme Court review of how far the “speech or debate” clause of the Constitution goes in insulating Congress members from legal action.

Because of the appeals court ruling, the department told the high court, “investigations of corruption in the nation’s capital and elsewhere will be seriously and perhaps fatally stymied.”

Department lawyers were unavailable for comment Thursday on the impact of the appeals court decision on the Burns investigation.

Among the other inquiries affected by the appeals court decision are Abramoff-related investigations of Reps. John Doolittle, R-Calif., and Tom Feeney, R-Fla., and former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas.

Some members of Congress have asserted that because of the appeals court ruling, law enforcement officers cannot interview Capitol Hill staffers without the consent of their bosses, according to the Justice Department. Many current and former staffers have been interviewed, investigated and, in several instances, prosecuted as part of ongoing probes of members of Congress.

Burns is associated with Gage, a D.C. lobbying firm founded by some of his former staffers. He acts as an adviser there rather than a lobbyist because he was subject to a one-year ban on lobbying after leaving the Senate. Neither he nor his lawyer returned calls seeking comment Thursday.