E-mail messages took center stage in a federal courtroom in Washington, D.C., earlier this year when a former Bush administration official was accused of lying about his involvement with high-powered lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
During opening statements in May, prosecutors told jurors that the government would prove David Safavian's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt by "relying largely on the defendant's own words" in electronic form. Safavian, a top General Services Administration official, oversaw federal procurement policy until September 2005, when he was arrested by the FBI.
In e-mail to a GSA ethics officer, Safavian wrote that Abramoff, who invited him on a lavish golf trip, "is a lobbyist and lawyer, but one who has no business before the GSA (he does all his work on Capitol Hill)." One issue in the case was whether Safavian legally could have accepted the free golf trip to St. Andrews, Scotland, with Abramoff, House Republicans Bob Ney and Tom DeLay, and former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed.
The prosecutors' gambit apparently worked. In June, a jury found Safavian guilty of lying and obstructing justice. Sentencing is scheduled for Thursday.
Photo by U.S. government
