Former deputy Interior secretary pleads guilty

updated 12:43 p.m. ET March 23, 2007

WASHINGTON - 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.

Griles pleaded guilty to a felony charge for testifying falsely before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee on Nov. 2, 2005, and during an earlier deposition with the panel’s investigators on October 20, 2005.

“I am sorry for my wrongdoing. I fully accept the responsibility for my conduct and the consequences it may have,” Griles said in a statement. “When a Senate committee asks questions, they must be answered fully and completely and it is not my place to decide whether those questions are relevant or too personal. I apologize to my family, my friends, the committee and its staff.”

In court, he was asked: “Do you acknowledge that these were materially false statements about your relationship with Mr. Abramoff?”

“Yes, your honor,” Griles replied to U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huville.

June 26 sentencing
Under the plea agreement, federal prosecutors agreed to propose no more than a 10-month prison sentence for Griles — the minimum they could ask for under sentencing guidelines — that would allow him to serve have that time in prison and half either in a halfway house or under house arrest. Sentencing is set for June 26.

Griles, an oil and gas lobbyist who became an architect of President Bush’s energy policies, acknowledged concealing that his relationship with Abramoff had been unique — because of their introduction through Griles’ then-girlfriend, Italia Federici.

Prosecutors dropped earlier allegations that Griles did anything improper to help Abramoff or gained anything of value from the former Republican lobbyist. The agreement does not require Griles to help investigators with their grand jury probe.

Griles and Abramoff met on March 1, 2001, through Federici, a Republican environmental activist. One week later, Griles, who had been serving on Bush’s transition team for Interior, was nominated by the president as deputy to Interior Secretary Gale Norton.

Second in rank only to Norton, Griles effectively was Interior’s chief operating officer while at the agency between July 2001 and January 2005, and its top representative on Vice President Dick Cheney’s energy task force.

Griles lives in Virginia with Sue Ellen Wooldridge, who until January was an assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department’s environmental division.

The AP reported in February that Wooldridge, as the nation’s environmental prosecutor, bought a $980,000 vacation home last year with Griles and Donald R. Duncan, the top Washington lobbyist for ConocoPhillips. Nine months later, she signed an agreement giving the company more time to clean up air pollution at some of its refineries.

His Abramoff connection
In government papers, Griles acknowledges he obstructed the Senate committee’s investigation into Abramoff and his associates’ dealings with Indian casino clients. Griles admits he testified falsely four times to the committee and once to the panel’s investigators.

Abramoff persuaded his Indian clients to pay him tens of millions of dollars to influence decisions coming out of Congress and the Interior Department. Part of his pitch to clients was that he had serious pull at the department, especially with Griles.

Awaiting sentencing in the bribery scandal, Abramoff already is serving six years in prison for a bogus Florida casino deal. Others convicted so far in the wide-ranging, influence peddling include former Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, and former White House official David Safavian.

Abramoff’s ties to at least three other current or former Republican lawmakers have come under scrutiny in the probe: Rep. John Doolittle of California, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas and former Sen. Conrad Burns of Montana.

The extent of Abramoff’s reach at Interior is still somewhat unclear. The court papers echo the Senate committee’s account of events.

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