Safavian defense rests without calling witnesses
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WASHINGTON: A former Bush administration official decided Tuesday to let his second corruption trial in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal go to a jury without calling a single defense witness or taking the stand to explain his side of the story.
Lawyers instead told the jury in closing arguments that the Justice Department had not proven its charges that Safavian lied to government officials about his relationship with disgraced lobbyist Abramoff, who was interested in government-owned properties, and about his participation in Abramoff's now-notorious 2002 golf junket to Scotland.
"The government has failed to carry its burden of proof," defense lawyer Lawrence Robbins said.
Safavian, the former chief of staff for the General Services Administration, testified in his first trial but was convicted. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ordered earlier this year that he be given a new trial, which began Dec. 9.
Safavian told the judge on Tuesday he and his lawyers decided it was the "right course of action" for him not to testify or call any witnesses. "I've given it more than its fair share of thought," Safavian told U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman, who asked him if he had carefully considered the decision not to testify.
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Justice Department prosecutors told the jury that Safavian should be convicted a second time based on the evidence. "The evidence shows us the defendant's statements were flat-out lies," prosecutor Justin Shur said.
The jury will begin deliberations on Wednesday.
The Justice Department has accused Safavian of trying to hide his relationship with Abramoff, a former business partner, during the corruption investigation of Abramoff.
Prosecutors said Safavian gave Abramoff advice and inside information about two government properties including the Old Post Office in downtown Washington and the government's White Oak property in the Maryland suburbs. Abramoff wanted the White Oak property for a Jewish school he established and wanted to give an Indian tribe client a leg up on obtaining the contract to redevelop the Old Post Office in as a luxury hotel, they said.
Prosecutors showed that Safavian's advice began right after he went to work at GSA and was intensely pursued in the weeks before Safavian went on the weeklong golfing expedition to Scotland in August 2002. But when asked about his relationship with Abramoff, Safavian told investigators that the now-disgraced lobbyist had no business with the GSA.
"Something stank, and Mr. Safavian tried to cover it up," prosecutor Nathaniel Edmonds said.
Safavian, however, maintained he simply gave generally available information to an old friend who was inquiring about government property that the GSA had not even decided what to do with yet. And he said thought he paid all his costs for the weeklong Scotland trip with a $3,100 check to Abramoff on takeoff.
Prosecutors said the trip could have cost as much as $17,453 with the chartered jet fare, $400 and $500-a-night hotel rooms, $400 rounds of golf at the famed St. Andrews golf course and $100 rounds of drinks.
But Robbins said the government was guessing at how much the airfare cost, and how much of it Safavian should have reported as his responsibility under sometimes contradictory government rules. "As we sit here, I don't have any idea and I don't see how you could either," he said.
Before he was charged, Safavian had been promoted to chief federal procurement officer in the Bush White House.
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