Former high-powered lobbyist Jack Abramoff will plead guilty Tuesday to corruption, fraud and tax evasion charges in a deal with federal prosecutors, a source close to the negotiations told CNN.Abramoff has reached an agreement that would spare him the maximum 10-year sentence if he cooperates in an ongoing Washington corruption probe, the source said.
Abramoff is a longtime associate of several top GOP leaders, including former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, Americans for Tax Reform director Grover Norquist, and former Christian Coalition chief Ralph Reed.
Abramoff's cooperation deal could have a wide-reaching effect in Washington.
This is just the beginning. This is going to become such a huge mixture of soap opera plots and corruption sprinkled with a couple mini-media scandals, all folded in on itself again and again. In the end, I'm just gonna need someone like Tom Maguire to explain to me just what we've cooked up inside the Beltway. Whatever it is, it will be bitter.