more repug lies re: Abramoff

Safavian denies concealing Abramoff ties
WASHINGTON - Former Bush administration official David Safavian acknowledged Monday that he gave advice and some "nonpublic information" about federal properties to Republican influence-peddler Jack Abramoff but denied trying to conceal that from government investigators.

In a second day of cross-examination in U.S. District Court, the former General Services Administration chief of staff made some concessions about his judgment and memory to the detailed and skeptical questions of prosecutor Peter Zeidenberg, but he insisted he hadn't intentionally misled GSA and Senate officials.

Safavian also acknowledged that he told an FBI agent that he had advised Abramoff on two GSA properties in the fall of 2002, rather than — as it actually happened — in the weeks before he took a luxury-filled golf trip to Scotland that Abramoff arranged in August 2002.

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