"Fore!

The way things are going at the David Safavian trial this week, don't be surprised if, in the coming days, a golf cart bursts into Courtroom 29A of the federal courthouse and a pair of Scotsmen ask if they can play through.

"A lot of discussion in this case is about golf," defense lawyer Barbara Van Gelder observed as she cross-examined an FBI agent in the case, the first trial in the sprawling Jack Abramoff bribery scandal.

"That is correct," replied the agent, Jeffrey Reising.

That is also a whopping understatement. Officially, Safavian, a former senior Bush administration official, is on trial for accepting favors from Abramoff while helping the lobbyist penetrate the General Services Administration -- and then lying about it to investigators. But the case is as much about well-tended greens as ill-gotten green: the twosome's obsessive golfing friendship, particularly a lavish golfing trip to Scotland's St. Andrews in 2002 on Abramoff's tab."

Get the Story:
At Safavian Trial, You Can't Tell the Players Without a Scorecard (The Washington Post 6/1)
pwpwd

Recent Court Decisions US v. Safavian:
May 23, 2005 | April 28, 2006 | April 25, 2006

Court Documents US v Volz:
Charge of Information | Guilty Plea | Factual Proffer

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