DeLay's report to Congress re: Scotland Golf junket was fiction

Tom DeLay has persisted in telling people that his golf junket to Scotland was paid for by and advoccy group, not Jack Abramoff. The Associate Press has obtained e-mails DeLay's staff showing that they had to get the costs of the trip from Abramoff since they feared the Advocacy Group knew nothing about the trip.

From Saturday's Houston Chronicle:

House ethics rules bar lawmakers from accepting free trips from lobbyists. DeLay, R-Texas, reported to Congress that a Republican advocacy group had paid for the spring 2000 trip that DeLay, his wife and top aides took to Scotland and England.

The e-mails obtained by The Associated Press show DeLay's staff asked Abramoff — not the advocacy group — to account for the costs that had to be legally disclosed on congressional travel forms. DeLay's office was worried the group being cited as paying the costs might not even know about them, the e-mails state.

Abramoff's team sought to low-ball the cost estimates and DeLay's office ultimately reported to Congress a total that was a few thousand dollars lower than the one the lobbyist provided, the documents show.

"We should give them the most minimal numbers for cost of the hotel (do not include golf), food and plays," Abramoff wrote two assistants at his Preston Gates lobbying firm in an e-mail from June 29, 2000. One of those assistants, Susan Ralston, now works for top White House adviser Karl Rove.[Snip]

The documents show Abramoff initially put the airfare for the DeLay trip on his American Express credit card and arranged for two clients — the Mississippi Choctaw tribe and eLottery — to route money to Ridenour's GOP policy group to cover the cost.

This clearly shows that the report DeLay submitted to the House Ethics Commission was fiction in the amounts paid for the trip and who paid them. Perhaps Tom is showing signs that he could make a career of fiction-writing since his Congressional career is now over.

[via TPM]