sitting down with jack abraham off once the most powerful lobbyist in washington referred to as the man who bought 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 aber mouth 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 hill well i'm a mom is frustrated that 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 after rethinking my life and what i was involved in decided that they want to clean up washington that 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 there mel 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 you. 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 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 in 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 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 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 want to 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 in. two companies and likely going to help them avoid to go

back today 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 is 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 you mainly and what i thought 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 worse 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 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 in the effort that i've been engaged in since the. ism 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 that in bribery like that well i mean ultimately every member of congress who's taking a check 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 a 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 corporate. ations the lady you 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 big i've been fairly consistent i mean not to expect anything in return one on one and 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's 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 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 so 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 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 mean people don't like street protests in america first of all the destructive there's vandalizing there's unsanitary things that go on and most americans the 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 and they really don't have a money to hire a lot of. well but might that 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. 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 unfortunately 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 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 realization that a 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 nature and discover is abusing. me and communicate with the why only. test yourself and become free. to. see what nature can give you. it's. sick.

the headlines on r t the arab league officials say their observer mission in syria that expired this week will be extended for an extra month and the number of monitors will also be increased despite criticism from the syrian opposition which wants to see the u.n. step in. croatia is voting on whether the country should join the e.u. the issue already spalpeen protests and violent clashes that's as the blog continues to be shaken by anti austerity rallies the people now in romania rising up against their government as well. and other stories that shape this week

tensions around to iran's nuclear program stirred further by e.u. plans to impose an embargo on iranian oil and the u.s. are building up its warship presence in the region. on the power of the internet in action a massive online backlash over u.s. plans to expand a web of censorship it will lead to the suspension of pending anti-piracy bills. are taken with the latest action from the world of sport. hello welcome to the sports 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 carlyle's nancy

defies a second set fight back to reach the last eight. and showtime east meets west once again in the annual k h l all-star extravaganza in front of a sellout arena in the latvian capital overeager. but first to tennis and second seed rafael the doll has beaten fellow spaniard phillip the arlo pair in straight sets to book a place in the quarterfinals of the australian open the two thousand and nine champion was broken only once as he eased to a six four six four six two victory against his misfiring davis cup team mate thank you for the fifty two unforced errors while in the dark little remorse after knocking out his off court. for a number of the very is one of my best friends i'm. not going to spoil it and you understand that's all they are so i gave. everybody wants to win their way by one storm to have. the ones with the most with the was

a better result that the motions are similar you know it's happens very often nothing. and up next when a dollar is big serving come it's being produced twenty eight aces in his ruling and ill tempered for securing the space nicolas almagro of the czech was booed after the match as the seventy's refused to shake hands with his opponent that it apparently took offense after our marker returned a ball entities hedged during the full set and wouldn't accept and you apologize. who are afraid to tell you. and all of the record is pretty big and you always have a some space to put the ball in even if you if you stand each other like to your four meters close to the guy just try to headed straight straight to your face you know i was just able to do something so i'm all for down just hit me in the arm and i'm there to do you know i actually did you know the way i would do any. well

elsewhere there was a bit of heartbreak for the local crowd as home favorites in our playmakers formerly be. able to go to a trademark back out and win a clinch the second set for the swiss drew the applause of white america. sounds better than swiftly served out the third as the world number three reached his thirty first consecutive quarter final to slam events. and waiting for federer in the last eight years when martin del potro after the argentinian rolled past it called schreiber of germany. while women's defending champion kim clijsters played to an ankle injury and saved four match points to stun the french open champion li na the belgian contemplated retiring after landing quickly at three or. six to be in the second is that tie break a cuban crisis quarterback to take the thirty six ball. cross my mind. you know i knew if i could just try to do kind of lead to medical students. begin

or you know if i could get through those that first twenty minutes to half an hour . i think the pain would go away a little bit and then you would your journal and i could just through it and. have peace they're going to give up. and the belgian will next face top seed caroline wozniacki who held up a second set fight back by serbia this year later yankovic's the former world number one committing her fiftieth unforced error to hand bosnia. the six love seven five victory the dane went out in the semifinals last year to step away from depending on how one can point and plug the one spot. informed by the russian victoria azarenka a forehand winner brushed aside yvetot ensure that the czech republic sixty six two three see you enjoy some of that blistering victory. and waiting in the quarter finals is number eight seed agnieszka the pole needed less than an hour to

overpower germany's here go to six one six one to two old growing confidence after injuring its three set battle in her opening match. last april now and despite resting from men under a killer lanka and men i've kissed each discussed trounced a massive underdogs minsk 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 duane hawkins poured into travels all the bands to get the balance sheet visitors and only eight four lead the american already eventually top score with nineteen points let's put themselves in to try to seat by the end of the opening for to and never look back sasha can lead to their charge with a team high eighteen points and some spectacular slam dunks six more players finished in triple digits who eventually won it one hundred ten to sixty moscow club chalking up their ninth win intend games since the start of the regular season

with a trim it is more a training session that this is not a. world it will warrant you well our opponents aren't quite at the same level as the other teams in the lead what about let's do it i mean another team at any given time but if you don't give your all up or somehow if you look at the way i played. and over in the n.b.a. the grizzlies won their sixth great game with a one hundred twenty eight to ninety five home way of the struggling kings late in the first quarter my comment. thank you seven's basket from seven shots at memphis thirty four twenty one ouch but sacramento climbed back to within eight points in the second. just seconds to go but then the home side pulled away after the break marc gasol and rudy gay for a stylish dunk pass through piece of the seat a perfect hour you with seventy eight sixty ahead the final quarter was quarterback

gasol as the purses won by thirty eight points at their players collecting twenty points. finally to ice hockey and thousands 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. it was their turn to meet the biggest jones 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 that because the eastern conference and the pride of legend hockey send this. captioning the best from the west that is why for the first time in the history of the event the arena that with thousands work passionately behind one side the west. and also mention cool 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 girlfriends were still on. although their opponents from the east managed still to show and win. with drugstores aleksandr results of producing a record breaking one hundred eighty three q was there no heat in paris. shot contest and city gate further up edge an old son is also ranged in the captain's deal which saw some extra hockey skills on display from the two legends i think will like it. i think. sun just like that i like that it was it was sort of very technical aerials it was different it was new our words were like it and it was it was good innovation meanwhile the moved by getting qantas shoot outs left

many if it's really possible in this world what's bugging the press into the carrier sankoh is the reason i don't know how those they look like the park was going our way and then all the sudden it came back this way so i don't know if he 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. almost my father told me the street to be a video on no three previous occasions take a chill star game so the team from least claimed victory over the peak of the west so this time around crisco we were about to witness something more than just a friendly showcase love but the real deal hockey the action started with no goals in the first ten minutes of the match proving that 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 do one of the sides they get when one of the belts. it was the west open the school and the lord would begin to pull the teams to turn schooling taking the lead for the third period underway on level terms although also the further team sports are in a row to make it will make the old come was inevitable the team from the east remains unbidden educational will sell games to. dean eleven the final school i think it begins as a friendly. friendly game canonizing these and then as soon as the somebody gets ahead a little bit more the other steam starts to run out and we go again we can't let it get away like that then they just scatter gradually becomes a little bit. more more competitive than it was in the beginning but still a long game nobody wants to get hurt of course that. was have a good time and enjoy themselves this time around was different from any i appear i

think it was. when teams are seeing combinations i think guys basically try to play off and so it cleary and. as you know we're just a. for any and all star games. like i said we had a streak of awful balls one line did a really really good job. we got lucky and we got. quite advantage there next year the all stars to make it to the front of the euro monsoons of the eastern us and city of chile evans. a bit further known for our team lucky. and also. by hand so.

arab league officials say that their observer mission in syria will be extended for an extra month despite criticism from the syrian opposition which wants to see the u.n. step in. croatia is voting on whether the country should join the e.u. the issue already sparking protests and violent clashes that's the book that continues to be shaken by and see austerity rallies with people now in romania rising up against their government. in other stories that shaped the week here on our tensions around to ron's nuclear program stood firm. plans to impose an

embargo on iranian oil on the us building its a warship presence in the region. on the power of the internet in action a massive online backlash over u.s. plans to expand a web censorship leads to the suspension of pending anti-piracy bills. with the top headlines of the week and today this is the weekly with me rule re sushi let's start first now with syria it's a way arab league officials have decided that seam of monitors will continue to help settle the crisis there the observers mission has been extended now for another month flaring violence in the country we will be joined live by our correspondent in damascus sara further in just a few moments to stay with us for that.