Convictions tossed in Abramoff case
A federal appeals court overturned the conviction of a former White House official Tuesday in a significant defeat for prosecutors who are overseeing the investigation into the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling scandal.
David Safavian was convicted in 2006 of four charges related to statements he made to officials who were investigating Abramoff, a former lobbyist who pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe lawmakers and bilking his Indian-tribe clients out of millions of dollars.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit threw out two felony-concealment charges against Safavian, saying he had “no legal duty to disclose” details about his relationship with Abramoff to General Services Administration ethics and inspector-general officials.
The court also said that Safavian deserved a new trial on charges related to allegations that he obstructed investigators who’d been looking into a golfing trip he took with Abramoff in Scotland and that he lied to the Senate.
Laura Sweeney, a Justice Department spokeswoman, said prosecutors were reviewing the ruling.
Cheyenne, Wyo.
Rockefellers donate final part of ranch
The Rockefeller family and National Park Service this weekend will quietly mark the single largest expansion of Grand Teton National Park since 1950 – the donation of nearly two square miles of property at the park’s south end.
The 1,106-acre parcel on the shore of Phelps Lake is the last part of the JY Ranch that the Rockefellers haven’t already donated to the park over the years. The family quietly donated the final portion in November but will commemorate the gift – and the opening of a visitor center – with a private event for 170 guests on Saturday.
The land is known as the Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve and has been open to the public since November.
John D. Rockefeller Jr. bought large portions of Jackson Hole in the 1920s and 1930s and donated 35,000 acres as Grand Teton took shape. The park was established in its current form in 1950.
New Orleans, La.
Candidate facing corruption charges
A New Orleans congressman who is facing trial on federal corruption charges says he will seek re-election to a 10th term.
In a Tuesday news release, Democrat William Jefferson touts his experience and portrays himself as someone who still wields power in Congress despite the corruption case.
He won re-election in 2006 in a landslide, despite allegations of corruption before his indictment last year.
Two week ago federal prosecutors indicted some of his family members on unrelated fraud charges.
Jefferson has pleaded not guilty to charges of soliciting more than $500,000 in bribes while using his office to broker business deals in Africa.