It sounds like the deal between Jack Abramoff and prosecutors has been struck
and the paperwork could be done over this holiday weekend with the official
announcement on Tuesday:

Federal prosecutors and lawyers for Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff
consulted briefly Friday with a federal judge in Miami as they put the
finishing touches on a plea deal that could be announced as early as
Tuesday, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.

The plea agreement would secure the lobbyist’s testimony against several
members of Congress who received favors from him or his clients.

View complete article

here.

This news comes out the same day that the

Washington Post publishes a big front page article giving more ties between
Abramoff and Delay:

The U.S. Family Network, a public advocacy group that operated in the
1990s with close ties to Rep. Tom DeLay and claimed to be a nationwide
grass-roots organization, was funded almost entirely by corporations linked
to embattled lobbyist Jack Abramoff, according to tax records and former
associates of the group.

During its five-year existence, the U.S. Family Network raised $2.5
million but kept its donor list secret. The list, obtained by The Washington
Post, shows that $1 million of its revenue came in a single 1998 check from
a now-defunct London law firm whose former partners would not identify the
money’s origins.

Two former associates of Edwin A. Buckham, the congressman’s former chief
of staff and the organizer of the U.S. Family Network, said Buckham told
them the funds came from Russian oil and gas executives. Abramoff had been
working closely with two such Russian energy executives on their Washington
agenda, and the lobbyist and Buckham had helped organize a 1997 Moscow visit
by DeLay (R-Tex.).

The former president of the U.S. Family Network said Buckham told him
that Russians contributed $1 million to the group in 1998 specifically to
influence DeLay’s vote on legislation the International Monetary Fund needed
to finance a bailout of the collapsing Russian economy.

A spokesman for DeLay, who is fighting in a Texas state court unrelated
charges of illegal fundraising, denied that the contributions influenced the
former House majority leader’s political activities. The Russian energy
executives who worked with Abramoff denied yesterday knowing anything about
the million-dollar London transaction described in tax documents.

Article Continues

here.

Delay is not the only one on Capital Hill that has to be nervous over this
deal. Currently there are at least 20 in Congress linked to Abramoff and of
those 20 high players, only one is a Democrat. Abramoff’s hand also reaches into
the White House and numerous other agencies within the government as well as
around the world.

Looks like tonight many of these people will be singing “may old acquaintance
be forgot” and wishing it to come true. That old acquaintance is Jack Abramoff,
but he will not be forgotten. This is after all turning into one of the largest
scandals in our nation’s history.