Newt Gingrich, whose spokesman Rick Tyler tells Margolick that "Before
[Abramoff's] picture appeared on TV and in the newspapers, Newt wouldn't have
known him if he fell across him. He hadn't seen him in 10 years." A rankled
Abramoff says "I have more pictures of [Newt] than I have of my wife." Abramoff
shows Margolick numerous photographs: "Here's Newt. Newt. Newt. Newt. More Newt.
Newt with Grover [Norquist, the Washington conservative Republican
Über-strategist and longtime Abramoff friend] this time. But Newt never met me.
Ollie North. Newt. Can't be Newt ... he never met me. Oh, Newt! What's he doing
there? Must be a Newt look-alike.... Newt again! It's sick! I thought he never
met me!"
Up for second:
"Mr. Abramoff flatters himself," Mark Salter, McCain's administrative assistant,
tells Margolick. "Senator McCain was unaware of his existence until he read
initial press accounts of Abramoff's abuses, and had never laid eyes on him
until he appeared before the committee."
Abramoff says, "As best I can
remember, when I met with him, he didn't have his eyes shut. I'm surprised that
Senator McCain has joined the chorus of amnesiacs."
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