years in prison guilty of conspiracy fraud and tax evasion mr abrams thank you very much for coming since your release from jail you've been very vocal about corruption in washington i read your book and i got a sense of your frustration about the fact that while you were sent to jail people involved in the same corrupt practices are sitting pretty in their offices on capitol help well i'm i'm not as frustrated that their people didn't go to jail or prison and prison is not fun and i wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy but i guess what i'm frustrated about is that when they had my hearings and trials and when i was sent off there was a big exclamation and celebration here that they cleaned up washington but in fact they didn't clean up washington and so when i came out here after rethinking my life and what i was involved in i decided that if they want to clean up washington that i would help them figure out exactly how to do during that senate hearing when

you were publicly bashed by the senate is what were you thinking what were your thoughts as you faced the distinguished panel well i probably was thinking they were a little less distinguished than others were thinking i was reminded can simulate by every word out of there mel that they were among the many who participated in some of the corruption that they were accusing me of when one of the senators a senator campbell was accusing me of corruption in wrecking the democratic system i was thinking back to the breakfast i had with him a couple years before where i handed him checks from my clients as contributions and he said that they would never have a problem with his committee so i was thinking that basically about each of them i didn't know a lot of them personally because i had people working for me i had a staff of about forty lobbyists and some of them knew the people who work for me but. i found the whole thing to be hypocritical it was a kangaroo court and it was a show. people say you were

a tory it seems your ability to buy members of congress how did you do that i don't think i was necessarily except on the margins much different than most of what goes on here but what happens here and what's on porch name which what i did in terms of pushing over the lines even of this activity is lobbyists and people want something from congress raise money for congressmen give money to congressmen in terms of political contributions by meals for them take them golfing take them on trips take them to sporting events and i probably did more of it than most did and i pushed over certain lines that are in the sand and broke the law but it is something that goes on far too often in washington you want to set and i found it very very interesting that that once you just the moment you offered a job to a congressional staffer you own them right there was no greater control that people could have over congressional offices than to have the head of that office know that they're going to come in a few months to come work for

a lobbying firm from that minute on those people are focused on that lobbying from their clients and it's not just me i saw all over tell me it's not something i bet it it's something i noticed and something that i propose now to get rid of by banning people who work on capitol hill or are members of congress from ever joining the lobbying industry of the influence industry in america what did your clients want by investing in politics by investing in you well mostly my clients one of the federal government not to. get all over the back and tax them and their businesses most the lobbying is defense keeping the government from doing things to industries and to companies and likely going to help them avoid to the things actually they are but when i got presented in a bunch of indian tribes and the way i got into it the first representation i had with the tribes was to stop the federal government from putting a thirty percent tax over the gross revenues of their gambling industry and what interesting was. think about your case it was not just politicians who cheated but

also you cheated your clients namely those indian tribes with gambling interests who paid you mainly and so what i thought was what i did was where we're at what i pled guilty to was some of the efforts that we did for the clients in their states worst to stop their competition from taking away their markets they would crash their competition yes we would attack their competition and we would do everything we could to keep them from invading the market of our client and that's normal in america fortunately for better or for worse that's not something we we made up we're going to have any regrets about doing that well at the end of the day i regret using the political process as a weapon against competitors because at the end of the day i don't think the government should be used like that i didn't have a problem with that then and i shouldn't even if we're talking about millions of dollars in contributions it's still peanuts for any big corporation it's a tiny fraction of what they make do you get a sense of how powerless average americans are when the interest so big

guys like that are at stake on capitol hill well americans have a very tough time competing with these special interests special interests come in with a lot of money and you're right it's miniscule amounts of money compared to what they could do and some of them do a lot of money but it's still a small amount the problem is the average citizen here is not engaged politically and when they're able to bring in money and influence members of congress to vote on things that are not good for the country and not good for the general interest because somebody with a special interest is pushing on it that's where the problem starts so what i propose in my book and the effort that i've been engaged in since prison is a way to separate money out of politics here and basically to say that if you're a lobbyist or you're somebody who's trying to get something from the government here you may not give a dollar politically of any kind and that's one of the four things that i've proposed to clean up the system i think it's very important because the end of the day political contribution. if i give you something if you're

a congressman and i give you a contribution and i want something from you that contribution may not be cold a bribe but it is a broad at the end of the day how many members of congress are involved in corruption like i think bribery like that well i mean ultimately every member of congress who's taking a check for a contribution from a lobbyist or from a company or from a union or anyone who needs or get something from washington whether it's conscious or not they're involved in it alternately you can't accept something from somebody without unless you're at it all do well yes absolutely they all do and what i'm saying is you can't as a human being if somebody gives you something you're going to feel gratitude and even if you don't do with that person once right there you say look you can't buy my vote for two thousand dollars and most of them say that of course but the issue is if you do something nice for me in my heart i'm going to have to feel little bit better about you and what i'm saying is that is the moment of the problem if you're

a public servant with all the crimes that you committed there's still a sense that you were used as a poster boy a kind of a scapegoat for the corrupt system that is very much alive and kicking i want to ask you about the supreme court decision from almost two years ago that allows on limited campaign contributions lobbyist must be really happy about that decision aren't they some are some are and i think the decision was for the most part very good the decision basically said that people shouldn't have the right to get money constricted i don't have a problem with that what i have a problem with his people who want something back giving money even a dollar that's the difference with with me now corporations the problem with corporations the reason why are contradicting yourself you were just talking about how any contribution can be seen as bribery and now you're saying no being able to funnel as much money as you want these perfectly fine in today's politics no i don't think so i think people should have the right to get think i've been fairly has this night i mean not to expect anything return in. one on one on why should

you expect something in return there are a lot of people who give money in this country by the way because they like the ideology of the candidate they like the candidate themselves they're not going in there and asking for a grant or a tax break or a contract most people don't do that but it still contradicts what you were saying a few moments ago and that is with any form of contribution especially a big contribution an elected official finds themselves in a situation when they told their benefactors if somebody is worth a trillion dollars they live in some form in kansas and they never have any contact with any congressman ever and they see some congressman they love they want to give him a million dollars because they think they're fantastic and they never ask for a thing from that person i personally think that's all right thank you very hard to track down why you ask possibly i've talked i've talked to law enforcement about this about my ideas and once the laws are set in place i think that they are capable of figuring it out that decision only created a further complication in my view in the sense that it brought corporations them as

a possible donor to political efforts and again don't you think it effectively legalize this corruption and watched why i think corruption is legal in washington right now thousands of people took to the streets across america to say no to jack paper mouth's to say no to politics same washington do you think there is a chance that action like that that awareness like that can change anything i think the occupy wall street movement had behind it some good in saying so the problem is that they didn't organize themselves like the tea party movement did which was politically tea party movement had a dramatic impact on the last election and probably will still in this election and i spoke to the occupy people quite a lot and i told them that until they get themselves organized politically they're not going to be meaningful because in america street protests don't really meaning that people don't like street protests in america first of all the destructive there's banda lising there's unsanitary things that go on in most americans in a rip. hell by that what most americans will respect is political activism an

organization on the left or on the right now i think that there is anger out there and you don't have a money to hire a lot of. well that might not be a bad thing but. you know american people don't need lobby is they need to organize themselves i think that in america getting it to first of all class and b. i think is very dangerous we've seen that every great. totalitarians movement in certainly in the twentieth century started with class and instead of class and be able to focus themselves not on those who succeed but those who choose to succeed in the sense of using the government and using the state to make their lives easier to make more money and there are plenty of those that get it like like i did like i help my clients do and like every lobbyist helps their clients do importunately had it not being for the jail time which you have been just as we're painting as you are now if i hadn't had the fall if i hadn't had been destroyed i would love to sit

here and tell you i would have all my own come to how bad this was and you know i should have been doing what i should have been involved in that kind of lobbying but i'm not going to lie to you i would never thought that i thought i was doing the right thing that's the sad part of it all for me so as i look back i would have stopped i would have still been doing it instead of sitting here with you i'd be sitting on capitol hill negotiating something for one of my clients. took my getting killed for me to come to the realisation that i should have been there what do you plan to do. in the process of. possibly one amp with a t.v. show thank you. this is claude. it's all i'm seeing on the move past

and present. mixing reality that's nothingness. but if you enter this time. the mystery of supernatural creatures. shaman of siberia. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize that everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture. download the official anti up location to go on the phone called touch from the choose ops to. watch on t.v.

life on the go. video on demand oxys in mind bold colors an r.s.s. feeds now in the palm of your. questions on the dot com. fareed is set to decide whether to give the go add to another a month of their monitoring mission in syria while the opposition wants the u.n. security council to get involved. pushed to the edge of the internet erupts in a furor over plans to expand a web censorship straw. bad for the internet why blackouts and massive hacking attacks. israel and the us talk tactics over a possible conflict in the gulf as they gather forces that are on the borders while the repairs that spoil in bargo overturn ron's alleged nuclear ambition. than to remain public anger spills over hundreds arrested and dozens injured as police quell violence amid a mass of ongoing anti-government protest. on the back of the top of the hour with

more on those before the add though we'll take a look at what's happening in the world of sports here skate. hello welcome to the sports updates and fear of the top stories easy does it rafael nadal sweeps aside fellows time for the other lopez to rush into the quarter finals of the australian open. while top flight thrill is nora told chelsea bolton star little call on the whole site today in the english premier league talk to them in action later. an advantage goes back know all russian final of the friendly twenty went in dubai as close but he still is a little peons a draw stuff a lot of a meeting with senate. but first a tennis and second seed rafael nadal has beaten fellow spaniard feliciano lopez in

straight sets to book a place in the quarterfinals of the astray and open. the two thousand and nine champion was broken only once as the east to a six four six four six two victory against his misfiring davis cup team mate let it go to a staggering fifty two unforced errors former dog has yet to drop a set for much is open. well the world number two will next play the we're not of the match between tom nash verdict against nicolas almagro argentina's one martina try to take some fifth close flyover of germinate while four time champion roger federer is i guess fast rising local favorites but not in the late lunch. while in the women's draw informed by the russians victoria as our anchor get a nifty four hundred went out to brush aside the issue of the czech republic six two six two three seed george to know that blistering victory down around. comes next up for azhar is eight seed agnieszka the pole needed less than an hour

to overpower germany's. six one six one in advance to keep growing confidence in three sets battle in her opening match. the. meanwhile defending champion kim price is up against french open we now know ali of china the belgian lost the first set and faced four match point in the second set tie break but she rattled off six straight points to take the match to decide where she's for one up in the while later top ranked danish caroline wozniacki faces former world number one delight a young college from serbia. for bolton stunned liverpool three one of the reebok stadium to change their first points over the red since two thousand and six a move out of the bottom three on a pulsating saturday in the english premier league. star performance i can't say it was pleasurable when you're going to watch the results come in give it a read or see. what we get. truth be told but when it doesn't say a we knew the world would too because it. wasn't just a word that was of such

a high standing passing the movement through every table at fort knox please i'm going to the second part of this is well elsewhere blackburn grab a draw at everton but stay in the bottom three clint dempsey became the first american to score a premier league kept records fall and came back to thrash newcastle by two keeping all moved out of the drop zone with a three one win over the state bottom graham dorrans a stoppage time free kick gave west from their first win over states in ten games to one sunderland and it's one of these four game unbeaten run to nil robbie keane scored twice against his former club as aston villa won three to attend an awards while no it further dented chelsea's title hopes with a goalless draw manager and they've. defended strike at fernando torres his goal this track has now expanded to seventeen games. really really think. in the first of movements. and effective. training.

schools that he wants is a major impact also in the offensive. well meanwhile this sunday sees two more crunch time has revealed his match to city hosts third place tottenham second place manchester united travel to arsenal with fists. that every time russian champions in each will face becky stands and then picked team in the final of the friendly match while cup in dubai after the ten man side edged russian premier league outfit one nil well it was a winner takes all match in the emirates after both sides had won the opening matches and there was becks with a faster out of the blocks and yet i had stunning croatia goalkeeper the. thirteen minutes in. twelve a get us just nascar start on t.v. the best chance to level for our stuff just before the break but after some words at least when you hit the post however rostock were given a huge boost soon after the restart

a suspect is done that some yahoo vaclav havel did outside the area sent off but though outnumbered the asian side held back a lackluster out our stuff i wonder if the specs last face is innate in the final. basketball now and despite resting frontman andrei kirilenko and then out kristie each tesco still traversed massive underdogs minsk by an impressive fifty point margin hearing loss go to maintain their group the lead in the international b t v tournament while the home side got off to a rather slow start as duane hawkins poured into troubles on the bands to give the belorussian visitors and early eighty's for leave all the american would eventually top score with nineteen points but so scar put themselves into the driver's seat by the end of itself as such it can lead to that charge with a team high eighteen points and some spectacular slam dunks and six more players double the disco benchley one eight hundred ten to sixty moscow clubs chalking up

their night's win in ten days since the start of the regular season thank goodness it was more a training session in a match for his. little blue ball and well our opponents aren't quite at the same level as the other teams in the league but still any team can beat another team at any given time if you don't give your all so i'm happy with the way we played. and finally two ice hockey and thousands of spectators flooded the capital in capital of reader on saturday to watch the east remain unbeaten against the west in the fourth all star extravaganza robert thought anya reports. let in hockey fans friesen out for the stars on surly it was their turn to meet the biggest hero and europe strongest league has to offer at the cato all star game twenty twelve with one of the greatest russian players of all time sergei further of living the peak of the eastern conference and the pride of lebanon hockey send this as

a lynch captaining the best from the west that is why for the first time in the history of the event the arena that with down thousand spectators were passionately behind one side the west. and also mentioned to promptly to believe in the so-called super skills show which is a traditional warm up ahead of the all star games with another local idol number regus miccolis redlegs winning the fastest skater competition. after three more contests the western conference team were still on bitten although their opponents from the east managed to still show and win. with drugstores oleksandr results of producing a record breaking one hundred eighty three kilometer and there were heat in the heart of the shot contest and sergei furler of edging out sundays in the captain's deal which saw some extra hockey skills on display from the two legends.

having. scientists work like that it was it was sort of very technical burials it was different it was a new awards. it was going in a very meanwhile the most i guess contest shoot outs left many in day out if it's really. possible in this world what's bloody murder assented did serious sankoh is the reason i don't know how those they look like the park was going our way and then on the side became back this way so i don't know if you know he's a magician there secret was that i just made a tiny hole in the park and pollution learned through it. my father told me the street. i know three previous occasions take a chill star game so the team from the east claimed victory over the peak of the west so this time around chris help we were about to witness something more than just a friendly showcase above but the real deal how did the action started with no goals

in the first ten minutes of the match proving the teams were not just having fun on ice just as they promised before the game we had a winning streak on so i think. it might be up for grabs today as above the players on both sides i think are going to try a lot harder to to one of the sides they get when another belts. it was the west hope and the scoring and goals below or while a began to roll the teams took turns scoring and taking the lead with the third period underway on level terms although after the further fifteen scored four in their oath to make it twelve eight the outcome was never double the team from the east remains unbidden at the cape all star games fifteen eleven the final score i think it begins as a friendly. friendly game canonize means and then and soon as the somebody gets

ahead of a bit more the other steam starts to. where you again can't let it get away like that just standing gradually becomes a little bit. more more competitive than it was at the beginning but still a long game nobody wants to get hurt of course and. so have a good time and enjoy themselves this time around was different from any i appear i think. there was. twenty interesting combinations i think guys basically try boy off and so a variant. has you know with just a. for any all-star game. like i said we had a streak of four balls one line to prove a really good job. we got lucky and we got. quite a vanish the next year the all stars will make it to the front of the ural mountains of the eastern russian city of chile evans. for a bit but the neon r t v. that's all the sport i think.

first. let us see.

the arab league is set to decide whether to give the go ahead to another month of the year a monitoring mission in syria while the opposition wants to un security council to get involved. pushed to the average the internet or rob's in a furor over plans to expand web censorship striking back with internet while blackouts and massive hacking attacks. israel and the us top tactics over a possible conflict in the gulf as they gather forces out of iran's borders while the e.u. prepares its oil embargo overturns alleged nuclear ambitions. and of romania public anger is spills over hundreds of arrests today and dozens injured as police quell

violence amid a mass of ongoing anti-government protest. in the russian capital you're watching r t here's a look at the top stories of the week as well as the latest news the arab league's fact finding mission in syria is waiting for the green light to continue its monitoring timothy's for another month decision is due to come later on sunday as observers report comes under scrutiny at the gathering in cairo that's a bit harsh criticism from opposition groups which say the observer mission has failed to curb blood ship in the latest flare up at least fourteen people have reportedly been killed in a roadside bomb attack on a van carrying prisoners in the northwest of the country i see sarah for us joining observers as he visited a town near the syrian capital damascus controlled by opposition forces. with the added.