David Savafian's retrial ended with the same result as his first trial -- Guilty:

A former top White House official was convicted this afternoon of obstructing justice and lying to investigators about a lavish golf trip to Scotland and trying to cover-up his efforts to assist disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff acquire government property.

It was the second time that David H. Safavian, the former chief of staff at the General Services Administration, has been convicted on the federal charges stemming from the government's wide-ranging probe of Abramoff. His 2006 conviction was overturned by a federal appeals court in June.

The jury convicted Safavian of obstructing a GSA investigation into the 2002 golf trip, which was largely financed by Abramoff, and of lying on a financial disclosure form about its costs. He also was convicted of making false statements to an FBI agent and a GSA ethics officer. He was acquitted of giving a false statement to a Senate committee.

Via the The Hill, we learn of yet another guilty plea in a case related to the notorious Jack Abramoff:

James Hirni, a former congressional aide-turned-lobbyist with ties to Jack Abramoff, pleaded guilty Friday to one count of honest services fraud in D.C. district court.

The plea came just three weeks after Hirni was fired by Wal-Mart Stores Inc., where he worked as a director of Republican outreach. The charge stems from his time at Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal and is unrelated to Hirni’s work for the chain.

Hirni, a former aide to ex-Sens. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and Tim Hutchinson (R-Ark.), admitted that he provided illegal gifts, including a trip to Game One of the 2003 World Series, in return for legislative favors. Trevor Blackann, who at the time was a staffer to Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.), as well another aide identified only as “Staffer D,” were the recipients of the illegal gifts, according to court documents.

While working on behalf of an equipment rental client, Hirni admitted that he sought an amendment encouraging state public works agencies to rent rather than purchase construction equipment only from companies that had “large dollar amounts of liability insurance coverage.” Hirni and “Lobbyist D,” who has been identified as Todd Boulanger, wanted to have the amendment inserted into the federal highway-funding bill.

Is Boulanger next?

Another Abramoff-related trial is underway.  This one is actually a retrial for David Safavian:

Jury selection began today in the retrial of a former White House aide on corruption charges linked to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

David H. Safavian, the former top contracting official in the White House, was convicted in 2006 of obstructing justice and lying to investigators about Abramoff's inquiries about surplus federal property, including the historic Old Post Office in downtown Washington. He was also convicted of concealing facts about a charter jet flight and lavish golf junket to St. Andrews, Scotland, and London in the summer of 2002.

An appeals court tossed out Safavian's conviction in June and ordered a new trial. A grand jury indicted Safavian again in October, accusing the 41-year-old of obstructing justice, lying on a financial disclosure form and providing false statements to an ethics officer, a Senate committee and the FBI.

The Abramoff corruption scandal seems to be picking up steam again.  Last week, we saw another guilty plea.  The focus now appears to be on two other Abramoff associates identified in court documents as "Lobbyist D" and "Lobbyist E."  Roll Call (sub. req.) thinks it knows who they are:

A former associate of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff is expected to soon be charged with wire fraud in federal court, while a person who had worked with Abramoff left his post Friday with the firm Cassidy & Associates.

The actions come on the heels of a guilty plea Thursday by former Republican aide Trevor Blackann, who admitted to filing a false tax return for not reporting more than $4,100 in gifts from lobbyists.

Although not identified by name in court documents filed in Blackann’s plea, details provided about “Lobbyist D” and “Lobbyist E” matched those of Todd Boulanger and James Hirni, respectively. Boulanger, a former aide to then-Sen. Bob Smith (R-N.H.), worked for Preston Gates & Ellis and then Greenberg Traurig before joining Cassidy & Associates as a senior vice president.

Hirni is also a former Senate aide who at one time worked for Greenberg Traurig with Boulanger and Abramoff.

The Abramoff scandal isn't over.  Today's guilty plea was from a former Capitol Hill staffer who worked for two Missouri Republicans, Senator Kit Bond and Rep. Roy Blunt:

Another Capitol Hill figure has pleaded guilty in connection with the Jack Abramoff public corruption scandal, the 15th person who has peaded (sic) guilty or is awaiting trial in the case.

Trevor L. Blackann, 34, formerly of the District, entered his plea today to making a false statement on his 2003 tax returns by failing to report as income about $4,100 in illegal gifts that he received from lobbyists.

Blackann was a legislative assistant in the House and Senate for Missouri Sen. Christopher S. "Kit" Bond and Rep. Roy Blunt, both Republicans. He left Bond's office to work for Abramoff.

CREW has sued to obtain the records of Jack Abramoff's visits to the White House. The Hill is reporting on this development:

The Secret Service has 18 days to hand over White House visitor logs detailing disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s visits, according to Judicial Watch, a public interest legal group. 

Judicial Watch on Thursday announced that the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia earlier in the week ruled against the Secret Service motion to dismiss the group’s open-records requests. The court’s Tuesday decision ordered the agency to finish processing the requests and provide all non-exempt records within 20 days of the court order.

It seems with every new arrest and new trial, the Abramoff scandal expands.  The upcoming trial of Kevin Ring brings us two top officials in the U.S. Department of Justice.  It never ends:

Two former top Justice Department officials emerged Wednesday as figures in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal as prosecutors disclosed plans to turn over some of the officials' correspondence to defense attorneys preparing for trial in the case.

The officials are former Solicitor General Paul Clement and David Ayres, one-time chief of staff to former Attorney General John Ashcroft.

Clement and Ayres were among Justice Department officials in e-mail correspondence with Kevin Ring, a former team Abramoff lobbyist and Capitol Hill aide who's facing trial on 10 counts of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, bribery and fraud.

Ring is accused of trying to get lawmakers and government officials to help him and his clients by giving them gifts such as sports tickets and meals.

Clement and Ayres were referenced by title but not by name at a federal court hearing in Ring's case Wednesday.

Last week, CREW named Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA) one of the most corrupt members of Congress.   So far, Doolittle hasn't been indicted, but his former chief of staff has been. And, Jack Abramoff is one of the reasons:

Kevin Ring said he knew nothing about efforts to get a job for the wife of California Republican Rep. John Doolittle, but then investigators found his e-mails.

Ring wrote two of them to his boss, a lobbyist named Jack Abramoff. In one, he said that Doolittle's chief of staff had asked him whether a job had yet been found for her. In the second, Ring wrote that he had met personally with Doolittle, who again asked about the job for his wife, Julie.

Ring's 10-count indictment, the latest chapter in the long-running Abramoff influence-peddling scandal, makes one thing clear: His apparent desire to protect the Doolittles is now figuring very prominently in his legal troubles.

While the Doolittles remain under federal investigation, they have not been charged with any crimes and have consistently maintained their innocence.

Two of the felony charges against Ring, an aide to Doolittle before he went to work for Abramoff, directly involve his relationship with Julie Doolittle. Prosecutors allege that he obstructed justice by trying to mislead the FBI when he said he did not recall conversations about getting a job for her. And in 2004, he allegedly used interstate wires to execute a scheme when he deposited a $5,000 check into a credit union account controlled by her.

Jack Abramoff has been in the news a lot lately.  Actually, former associates of Abramoff have been in the news lately, for example, Kevin Ring.   For his "extensive cooperation" with law enforcement authorities, Mr. Abramoff got his sentence cut.

A federal judge agreed yesterday to shave two years from former Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff's prison sentence for a fraudulent Florida casino boat deal because of his extensive cooperation in that case and a wide-ranging political corruption probe that upended Washington politics.

The decision by US District Judge Paul Huck guarantees that Abramoff, 49, will serve no more than an additional four years in prison - the sentence imposed by a Washington, D.C., judge last week in the separate corruption case.

Abramoff's attorneys had sought to have the Florida sentence reduced from nearly six years to about two. Huck called that request "greedy" and said it would not reflect the gravity of the fraud involved in the 2000 purchase of SunCruz Casinos by Abramoff and a partner.

Yesterday, one of the central figures in the corruption scandal that rocked Washington was sentenced.   Jack Abramoff, who is already in prison, got a lighter sentence in the corruption case, because of his cooperation with federal authorities.  Sounds like federal authorities aren't finished with this investigation:

Jack Abramoff, the powerhouse Washington lobbyist who admitted running a wide-ranging corruption scheme that ensnared lawmakers, Capitol Hill aides and government officials, yesterday received a reduced sentence of four years in prison because of his cooperation with federal investigators.

Abramoff, 49, already has served nearly two years for his conviction in a related Florida fraud case. The sentence yesterday by U.S. District Judge Ellen S. Huvelle means that the former Republican lobbyist will likely remain in prison until 2012.

More than a dozen people, including an Ohio congressman and a deputy secretary of the interior, have been convicted in the Abramoff lobbying scandal, and Justice Department officials said the investigation is continuing. Still under scrutiny are former House majority leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) and retiring Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-Calif.).