Outgoing White House Political Director Karl Rove figures in several major criminal investigations involving large payoffs to GOP figures by Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Greece, along with a variety of domestic scandals.

Here is just a short list of Rove's dealings with convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, and the White House tie-in with the Duke Cunningham bribery and CIA contractor cases:



Rove and Abramoff's $1.2 million shakedown of Malaysia President to arrange a 2002 meeting with Bush. Payment was given to Abramoff's law firm, Greenberg Traurig, to improve Malaysia's image after 9/11 (Houston Chronicle, Chicago Tribune): http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/2/21/21...





While Rove and Abramoff’s worked hard to repair Malaysia’s tainted image as a terrorist haven, Abramoff performed similar services for a U.S.-based Islamic banking group through another close friend of Karl, Grover Norquist, GOP patron of several financial and charitable organizations the FBI had been investigating for funding al-Qaeda before 9/11. See, http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/10/17/1...



In a recent disclosure, the White House has been linked via Duke Cunningham to a murky deal involving Saudi-backed arms dealings and an $80 billion slush fund known as Yamamah (“The Dove”), which has been financing Saudi foreign intelligence operations for two decades. Cunningham arranged for two meetings with Bush by Thomas Kontogiannis, an New York organized crime figure acting as a middleman for an attempted back-room arms deal between the Greek military and General Dynamics, which manufactures the F-16. Cunningham and Kontogiannis had previously flown to Saudi Arabia aboard a private to meet with Saudi King Abdullah. (WSJ). See, http://journals.democraticunderground.com/...

The Cunningham scandal also ties in with the MZM scandal, in which Mitchell Wade and Brent Wilkes parlayed their access to GOP Congressmen, the White House, and former CIA Director Porter Goss' #2, Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, to obtain intelligence contracts. One of these projects involved the production of false intelligence reports about alleged Iraq WMD programs that were used to justify the invasion. That MZM contract was commissioned after the CIA's Counter-Proliferation Division resisted White House pressure to falsify it's Iraq WMD findings. The unit that resisted the White House included Valerie Plame, who was outed by a cabal run by Vice President Cheney and his Chief of Staff, "Scooter" Libby. Rove had a central role in the Plame outing, and is an co-conspirator in an effort to wreck CIA nuclear proliferation programs that had uncovered Saudi financial networks that were funding terrorists, global nuclear programs, and the GOP. See, http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...


Abramoff continued to shake down various foreign figures using his friends in the White House. In 2004, Abramoff drew up a contract for his client, Gabon President Bongo, to pay $9 million for a meeting with President Bush. That meeting actually took place several months later, an Administration spokesman claims, arranged through “normal diplomatic channels” (NYT): http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/11...

In addition, Rove worked with Abramoff on a desired tax break for fraud-wracked Tyco Int'l, which soon went bankrupt after being looted by its owners and top management, leading to the Administration to withdraw its nomination of Tyco’s former General Counsel as Number 2 spot in the Justice Department: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...



In 2003, Rove put Abramoff's long-time confidential Assistant, Susan Ralston, on the White House payroll. Ralston later resigned, admitting she continued to receive gifts from Jack: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...



Ralston wasn’t the only go-between in Abramoff’s dealings with Rove. Abramoff used Christian Coalition Prez Ralph Reed as a go-between with Rove in a successful effort to block appointment of an Interior Dept Official. Reed was also intimately involved with dirty dealings out of Tom Delay’s office and another corrupt Republican lobbyist, Mike Scanlon, and convicted Republican Congressman Bob Ney (Roll Call): http://www.liquidtodd.com/news/newsandview...



All in all, between 2001 and 2004, there were 485 lobbying-related contacts between the Rove’s and Abramoff's staffs, and 13 direct meetings at the White House with Jack: http://thinkprogress.org/2006/09/29/abramo... /

Yes, Mr. Rove expects to be very busy in the period before the 2008 elections. But, probably will be spending far too much time meeting with grand juries and his attorneys to be particularly effective in GOP campaigns.