She says the charges against Mr. Safavian are an attempt to pressure him to testify against others. "This case is about the government squeezing David Safavian," Ms. Van Gelder says.

Here's the text of the Government's motion outlining the "other acts" evidence (obtained from the court's Pacer site):

In or about November, 2003, defendant Safavian, then Chief of Staff of the General Services Administration ("GSA"), learned that GSA was about to suspend four TYCO entities ("TYCO") from doing business with the federal government. Defendant Safavian, who knew that TYCO was a lobbying client of Jack Abramoff's, called Abramoff and gave him advance warning that TYCO was about to be suspended from doing business with the government. Defendant Safavian subsequently provided Abramoff with sensitive and confidential information regarding internal GSA deliberations about the circumstances surrounding the TYCO suspension, including information that some GSA officials were concerned about whether TYCO had been treated fairly in relation to other similarly situated companies. After advising Abramoff about these internal deliberations, Defendant Safavian then suggested to Abramoff what arguments TYCO should make when it appealed suspension decision to GSA officials. Abramoff subsequently passed this information onto TYCO officials.

The government submits that this evidence would be relevant to show, interalia, defendant's motive and intent in lying to the GSA ethics adviser, GSA~OIG and the Senate staffers about the true nature of his relationship with Jack Abramoff, and would also help establish that defendant's false statements were not made by mistake or accident.

Also, Tim Flanigan, Bush's former deputy White House Counsel, has provided information about Rove and Abramoff that a Rove spokesperson says he can't remember. The WSJ reports:

Mr. Abramoff bragged of his "contact" with Mr. Rove when Tyco International Ltd. sought action on tax legislation in 2002, according to Senate testimony by Tim Flanigan, a former Tyco official. "At some point after he joined the engagement team, Mr. Abramoff told me that he intended to contact Mr. Rove directly or indirectly to communicate Tyco's position" on the tax issue, said Mr. Flanigan, who also once worked as Mr. Bush's deputy White House counsel.

A White House spokesman says Mr. Rove doesn't remember talking to Mr. Abramoff about Tyco. A spokesman for Mr. Abramoff declined to comment on whether he lobbied Mr. Rove on the issue. A Tyco spokeswoman says the company doesn't know what Mr. Abramoff did on its behalf. A tax provision Tyco opposed eventually was defeated.

Maybe it's time to call Rove to testify in front of another grand jury, if he hasn't already been there. Or maybe he'll be called as a witness at Safavian's trial if Safavian hangs tough and goes to trial.

Then there's Stephen Briles, former Deputy Secretary of the Interior. He's under investigation and trying to cooperate with prosecutors but they aren't interested in dealing with him.

Mr. Griles is waging a vigorous effort to avoid being charged in the Abramoff investigation. He has offered to meet with prosecutors, though so far they have declined. In emails that surfaced in a Senate inquiry, Mr. Abramoff referred to Mr. Griles as his "man" in the department that oversees Native American issues. Another Interior Department official last year told the Indian Affairs Committee that Mr. Griles showed unusual interest in such issues while serving as the department's chief of staff.

Griles' lawyer says the e-mails he's reviewed don't support the allegations against him.

The White House can't run from this one.

[Graphic created exclusively for TalkLeft by CL.]