government officials say in order to gain political support for his clients in two thousand and six he was convicted of ripping off its clients jack abramoff served three and a half years in prison guilty of conspiracy fraud and tax evasion mr 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 some of his 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 if 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 continually 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 by. 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's 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 owned 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 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 their 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 likely going to help them avoid to the things actually a good idea when i've got presented in a bunch of indian tribes and the way i got into. 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 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 isn't 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 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 did 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 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 it. politically of any kind and that's one of the poor things

that i propose to clean up the system i think it's 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 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 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 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 fund. well 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 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 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 owe 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're going to be 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 illegal 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 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 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 miss elections and i've spoken to the occupy people quite a lot and told them that until they get themselves organized politically they're not going to be meaningful because in america. protest oh really meaning 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 americas 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 saying we don't have a money to hire a lot of. time about 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 into 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 cheat 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 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. allen sitting on the edge of. the present. reality nothingness. but if you enter this time. the mystery of supernatural creatures. shaman of siberia on. the sea of nature and discovery.

communicate with the want to. test yourself and become free. nature can give you the. arab league officials say their observer mission in syria would not expire this week will be extended for another month and the number of monitors will also be stepped up this despite criticism from the syrian opposition wants to see the un step in. croatia voting on whether the country should join the issue already sparking protests and some wild clashes as the bloc continues to be shaken by. sturdy rallies with people in world mania and they are rising up against their government. other stories shaping the week tensions are around to wrongs a nuclear program stirred further advice. to oppose any bardot on iranian oil and

the us building its warship presence in the region. was the power of the internet in action a massive online backlash over u.s. plans to expand web censorship news to the suspension of pending anti-piracy laws. sports news next with kate stay with us here on our team. and i welcome to the sports and here's what's coming up. easy does it rafael nadal and roger federer coast into the quarter finals. while different strokes kim clijsters comes back from the brink while carline defies a second set fightback to reach the last eight. and it shows time east meets west once again in the annual. extravaganza. capital.

to test a tennis and second seed rough on the doll has beaten fellow spaniard philip the our live in straight sets to book a place in the quarterfinals of the australian open the two thousand and nine champion was broken on the ones east to a six four six four six two victory against his misfiring davis cup team mates like the fifty two unforced errors while murdoch felt a little remorse after nothing and he was off. for a number of days one of my best friends on. the game but the sport of. agape in the. everybody wants to win their way by one stone to have. once again is the most with. was the better result that the martians simulate you know it's happens very often nothing new and up next when adele is big said income produced twenty eight aces in his brewing in ill tempered or settling for the spice

necklace on my right check was booed off to the match at the seventy refused to shake hands with his opponent at a party took offense after mark overturned a ball ended his head during the fourth set and wouldn't accept and we apologise. who is afraid to turn is no the 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 headed straight straight to your face you know i was just able to do something or 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 time it was fairly beaten by mortified around a trademark backhand winner clinched the second set of the swiss and drew the applause of white america. 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 eighty one martina del potro after the argentinian rolled in it's called schreiber of germany. while women's defending champion kim clijsters played to an ankle injury and slaved for much points to stun the french open champion li na the belgian contemplated retiring after landing more quickly at three that was to take six to eight in the second set tie break but a jubilant prices for back to take the thirty six ball. last moment something you can use like you just try to do another to mitigate shouldn't. sink in or you know if i could get through those first twenty minutes of our. you know i think the pain would go away

a little bit and then maybe would you do another 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 a second set fight back by serbia's year later 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 second life and defending her ranking points along the one spot. informed by the russian victoria azarenka hit a forehand when i brushed aside yvetot ash about the czech republic sixty six to three seed into it so now that the string victory. and waiting in the quarter finals is number eight. seed agnieszka around the pole needed less than an hour to overpower germany's you six one six one twenty two year old going incompetence after injury is three set battle in her opening match. basketball now despite

resting front man and i kid olenka and then i've kissed each discussed a trans to 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 dwayne hawkins poured into travels all the bats to get the better machine visitors and early eight four lead the american would eventually top score with nineteen points that's a scrap with themselves to try to speed 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 in troubled region 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 and later admitted it's more a training session than the match to decide. what is a good little word and well our opponents on squad at the same level as the other

teams in the lead what about all it's to do any team can beat another team at any given time but 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 to ninety five home way of the struggling kings late in the first quarter mike conley signed his seventh basket from seven shots at memphis thirty four twenty one out of sacramento climbed back to within eight points in the second after the deaths jumper 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 memphis seventy eight sixty ahead in the final quarter it was all about gasol as the first is won by thirty eight points to score at their players collecting twenty 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 started striving guns or rather to fight on your own reports. led then the whole give burns reason note for the stores. it was their turn to meet the biggest jones europe strongest league has stalled for at the cato all star game twenty two world. with one of the greatest russian players of all time sergei further of living the pick of the eastern conference and the pride of lebanon hockey sand this was a lynch captioning the best from the west that is why for the first time in the history of the event the arena that would jump thousand spectators was 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 wed leagues winning the fastest skater competition. after three more

contests the western conference teams were still on bitten although their opponents from the east managed to still the show and win. with drugstores oleksandr results of producing a record breaking one hundred eighty three kilometer no heat in the current shot contest and sergei further up edging out sunday's oslo and in the captain's deal which saw some extra hockey skills on display from the two legends i think were like i've been. having. so i'm just like that i like that it was it was sort of her technical material so it was different it was knew how the words were like it and it was it was good innovation meanwhile the moves i catch in qantas shootouts left many if it's really possible in this world what's bloody mistress into the tourist sankoh is the reason i don't know how 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. secret was that i just made a tiny hole in the park and pollution one through did you. know most 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 leeds. claimed victory over the peak of the west so this time around priest help we were about to witness something more than just a friendly showcase love but the real deal not a 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 they get when one of their belts. it was the west open schooling and bills galore while again to all the teams to turn

schooling and taking the lead but if there are periods under way on level terms all the off to the further fifteen scored through in a row to make it will eight the outcome was inevitable the team from the east remains unbidden at the cage also games fifteen eleven the final school i think it begins as a friendly. friendly game and in the eyes of these and then and soon as the somebody gets ahead it will but more the others name starts to. wear you again we can't let it get away like that then they just stand gradually becomes a little bit. more more competitive than it was in the beginning but still of long game nobody wants to get hurt of course and. have a good time and enjoy themselves this time around was different from any i appear i think it was. twenty interesting combination so i think guys basically try boy alfonso experience. as here we just. before any all-star games

but like i said we have a streak of for awful goals one line do have really good jobs but. we got lucky and we got. quite advantage there next year the cape all stars who make it to the front of the euro my. toons of the eastern russian city should have been. a bit. lucky. i had.

arab league officials say their observer mission in syria will be extended for another month despite criticism from the syrian opposition which wants the u.n. to step in. croatia voting on whether the country should join the e.u. the issue already sparking protests and some violent clashes this as the bloc continues to be shaken by entire staring rallies with people in romania now rising up against their government. and other stories that shape the week tensions are around tehran's nuclear program stirred further by e.u. plans for an impartial on iranian oil and the us building its warship presence in the region. and the power of the internet in action

a massive online backlash over u.s. plans to expand web censorship leads to the suspension of the anti-piracy legislation. nine pm in moscow why matras are bring you today's top stories and a look. back at the week's news here on r t arab league officials say the group has decided its team of monitors will continue helping settle the crisis in syria the observers mission ended this week but violence is still flaring in the country for more on this we go live to our sorrow for who joins us in damascus hello sorrow so what's the lead hoping to achieve by keeping its observers on the ground well this is really the any. big mission at the moment that meeting phil. they've taken a break.