WASHINGTON - May 9 - Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has sued the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) today for its failure to respond to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request on documents detailing Abramoff-related visits to the White House, the executive office buildings and the Vice President's house.

On Feb. 2, CREW sent a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Secret Service, a component of the Department of Homeland Security, asking for records relating to any visit that Jack Abramoff, Michael Scanlon, Neil Volz, Tony Rudy, Shawn Vassell, Kevin Ring, Edwin Buckham and Patrick Pizzella made between Jan. 1, 2001 and Feb. 2, 2006.

CREW has not received any documents from DHS regarding the FOIA request.

"We are trying to discover the extent of the ties between Abramoff and his colleagues and the Bush administration. Unfortunately -- as has become commonplace -- the administration is stonewalling," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW. "The American people deserve to know the truth about Abramoff's influence with the Bush administration, something the administration is clearly trying to hide."

The CREW FOIA and suit against DHS are available at http://www.citizensforethics.org.

---

EDITOR'S NOTE: To view the release/complaint on the CREW Web site, go to: http://www.citizensforethics.org/press/newsrelease.php?view=128

-----

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is a non-profit, legal watchdog group dedicated to holding public officials accountable for their actions. For more information, please visit http://www.citizensforethics.org or contact Naomi Seligman Steiner at 202-408-5565 or press@citizensforethics.org.

###