washington he brought government officials in order to gain political support for his clients in two thousand and six he was convicted of raping office clients jack abramoff served three and a half 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 them is 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 you have to rethinking my

life and what i was involved in i decided that they want to clean up washington and i would help them figure out exactly how to do it 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 their mental 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 the 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. people working for me 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 accept on the margins much different than most of what goes on here but what happens here most unfortunate in 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 say that and i found it very very interesting that that once you just a 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 firm their clients and it's not just me i saw it 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 or 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 deep that's keeping the government from doing things to industries and to companies and to little to help them avoid to debase activated when i've 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 so what was interesting 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 them aliens and what i did was what i did was where we're about to 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 it 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 problems the average citizen 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 i got out of 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 propose to clean up the system i think is very important because the end of the day political contributions 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 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 a bit i'll 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 a 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 and they will 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 give 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 i. 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 consistent and not to expect anything in return 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 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 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 get 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 they have been very hard to track down 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 amounts to saying no to corrupt politics in 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 the problem is that they didn't organize themselves like the tea party movement did which was political tea party movement had a dramatic impact on the last election and probably will still in this election and i've spoken to the occupy people quite a lot and told them that until they get themselves organized politically the. not

going to be meaningful because in america street protests don't really mean people don't like street protests in america first of all the destructive there's vandalising there's unsanitary things that go on and most americans in repelled 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 saying we don't have a money to hire a lot of. well that it might not be a bad thing but you know american people don't need lobbyists 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. tele tarion 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 helped my clients do and like every lobbyist helps their clients do importunately

had it not being for the jail time would 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 been 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.

we do not want any more of. our core system because. all. this unfortunately because we don't know. there's no labeling. experiment is getting. more questions. like.

the arab league is deciding the future. of a mission in syria. to help. syrian opposition and u.n. involvement. voting on whether the country should join the. protests and. to be shaken by. with people now in romania rising up against the government. there are other stories that shape this week tensions around toronto nuclear program stirred by e.u.

plans to impose a impose an embargo on iranian oil and other us building its warship presence in the region. from the power of the internet in action a massive online backlash over u.s. plans to expand the web censorship it all leads to the suspension of pending anti piracy you know. all of us dive headfirst into it here now with the latest action from the world of sport. hello welcome to the sport and here's what's coming up. easy does it rafael nadal and roger federer coast into the quarter finals of the australian open. while different strokes kim clijsters comes back from the brink while carline defies a second set fight back to reach the last eight. and showtime east meets west

once again in the annual all star extravaganza in front of a sellout arena in the latvian capital of riga. to test a tennis and second seed rough on the doll has beaten fellow spaniard felicity on our life in straight sets to book a place in the quarterfinals of the australian open the two thousand and nine champion was broken only ones east to a six four six four six two victory against his misfiring davis cup team mates like their fifty two unforced error is almost all little lost all for nothing and he's off the hook. for a number of days one of my best friends and. that's the game that's a sport and you understand that's. a game in the. everybody wants to win their way by once going to have. once again the most with. was the better result that the martians simulate you know it's happens very often nothing new

and up next when a doll is big serving come out that it produced twenty eight aces in his ruling an ill tempered horse that when it was painstaking oh my boy the check was booed off to the match the seventh he refused to shake hands with his opponent that it took offense after marco returned a ball and did his head during the whole set and wouldn't accept and we apologise. who is afraid to tenney's know that record is pretty big and you always have a some space to put the ball in and it's not even new for you if you stand each other like you're four metres close to the guy just try to hit it straight straight to your face you know i was just able to do something someone down just hit me in the arm and. you know i actually did you know the way i would any easier. well elsewhere there was a bit of heartbreak for the local crowd as home favorite in our climate was fairly beaten by north dakota

a trademark backhand winner clinched the second set for the swiss drew the applause of white america thanks sounds better than swiftly served out the third as the wild number three reached his thirty first consecutive quarter final to slam events. and waiting for federal in the last eight years one latino potro after the argentinian rolled in it call shriver the germany. while women's defending champion kim clijsters played to an ankle injury and saved for match points to stun the french open champion li not the belgian contemplated retiring after landing or quickly it's that they want to take six to meet in the second is that tiebreaker but a jubilant prizes for back to take the thirty six ball. last moment some point you know new so i could just try to do another to mitigation. sink in or you know if i could get through those first twenty minutes you know if our. you

know i think the pain would go away a little bit and then maybe would you journal and i could just through it and. have you know to do this and give up. the belgian will next face top seed caroline wozniacki who held up eight seconds that fight back by serbia's yelena yankovic's the former while number one committing her fiftieth unforced error to hand wozniacki six seven five victory the dane went out in the semifinals last year just to step away from defending her ranking points along the one spot. informed by the russian victoria azarenka a four hundred winner brushed aside yvetot and ensure that the czech republic sixteen sixteen remember three seed enjoyed so well that the string victory. and waiting in the quarterfinals is now but i. eight seed agnieszka adams got the pole needed less than an hour to overpower germany's you six one six one twenty two

year old going in confidence after injury is three set battle in her opening match . basketball now despite resting from men on break at a lanka and medically stage discussed tranced massive underdogs minced by an impressive fifty point margin here in moscow to maintain the group the lead in the international d.t.b. tournament while the home side got off to a rather slow start as dwayne hawkins poured into travels all the bats to get the better she visitors and early eight for lead the american would eventually top score with nineteen points that's a scrap with themselves to try to seat by the end of the opening quarter and never look back sasha can lead to that charge with a team high eighteen points and some spectacular slam dunks six more players finished and toppled to egypt who eventually won it one hundred ten to sixty the moscow club chalking up their night's win intend games since the start of the regular season and later admitted it's more a training session than a match for this summit. the world is

a good little world and well our opponents aren't quite at the same level as the other teams in the league what about all it's do it any team can beat another team at any given time if you don't give your all so i'm happy with the way i played. and over in the n.b.a. the grizzlies won their sixth straight game with a one hundred twenty eight ninety five home way of the struggling kings late in the first quarter mike conley signed his seventh basket from seven shots to memphis thirty four twenty one out but sacramento climbed back to within eight points in the second. projects took just seconds to go but then the home side pulled away after the break marc gasol and rudy gay for a stylish dunk packed with repeated the feat a perfect hour you meant with seventy eight sixty ahead and the final quarter was all about gasol as the forces won by thirty eight points at their players collecting twenty four more points. finally to ice hockey and fastens of fans

flooded to the latvian capital of riga on saturday to watch the east remain unbeaten against the west in the fourth k h l all-star extravaganza robert fatton and reports. let in hockey fans first note for the stars on so it was their turn to meet the biggest jones your strongest league has stalled for at the cato all-star game twenty twelve with one of the greatest russian players of all time sergei further of living that because the eastern conference and the pride of lebanon hockey sand is. captioning the best from the west that is why for the first time in the history of the event the arena that we don't thousands because there is work passionately behind one side the west. and also mention cool trumpet 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

reduced nicholas redlegs winning the fastest skater competition. after three more contests the western girlfriends too were still on. although their opponents from the east managed to steal the show. and when. was drugstores oleksandr results of producing a record breaking one hundred eighty three kilometer and no heat in the car is shot contest and sergei filin of edging out sunday's oscillation in the captain's deal which saw some extra hockey skills on display from the two legends i think will like it. having. sunday's like that i like that it was it was sort of very technical material so it was different it was new how the words were like it and it was it was good innovation meanwhile the most i guess qantas shoot outs left many in delta if it's really possible in this world what's blooding at the center

of the journey sankoh is the amazing i don't know how what does that look like the park was going our way in the long side mccain back this way so i don't know if you know he's a magician. a secret was that i just made a tiny hole in the park and pollution one through to you. my father told me the street has to be a video on no 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 greased hope we were about to witness something more than just a friendly showcase but the real deal hockey 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 a book the players on both sides i think are going to try a lot harder to do one of the sides like it when another belts. it was the west

open the scoring and those galore while it began to roll the teams to turn schooling and taking the lead in the third period underway on level terms although off to the further fifteen scored. when they're old to make it will eight the old come was inevitable the team from the east remains unbidden at the cage all star games fifteen eleven the final school i think it begins as a friendly. friendly game and i was in these and then and soon as the somebody gets ahead a little bit more the other steam starts to run out where you again let it get away like that then they just stand it gradually becomes a little bit. more more competitive than it was at the beginning of the still of long game nobody wants to get heard of course and must have a good time and enjoy themselves this time around was different from any i appear and i think it was. one thousand just in combination so i think guys basically try

boy alfonso experience. as hero with just a. couple any all-star games but like i said we have a streak for awful balls online do that through a really good job but. 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 all chilled evans'. a bit but the neon artsy lucky. and. i have to. wealthy british style to seinfeld's sometimes it's because.

of the. markets why not scandals. find out what's really happening to the global economy in these kinds of reports on our.

the arab league is deciding the future. the syrian opposition. is voting on whether the country should join the. protests and clashes. with people. rising up against. other stories that shaped this week.

the us building. it leads to the suspension of. this is the week. featuring the top story. today i will start with syria where the arab league. monitors will continue its work to help. this week but still flaring up in the country in one of the latest. killed when a police transporting prisoners was in the northwest.