Next In The Vise Is Tony Rudy

On their way to Rep. Tom DeLay, clearly the feds are planning to squeeze his former Chief of Staff Tony Rudy next.

Daily DeLay tags Tony Rudy as Staffer A.

Abramoff's plea agreement specifically alleges that Rudy performed official acts in return for payments to his wife.

This scheme has been previously outlined by the Washington Post. 

Investigators also are gathering information about Abramoff's hiring of several congressional wives, sources said, as well as his referral of clients to Alexander Strategy Group, a lobbying and consulting firm run by former senior aides to DeLay. Financial-disclosure forms show that the firm employed DeLay's wife, Christine, from 1998 to 2002.

Former Abramoff lobbying associates have said Abramoff shared some of his high-paying clients with the group, including Malaysian interests, the Mississippi Choctaw Indian tribe and online gambling firms. Federal investigators have questioned some former Abramoff associates about whether those referrals were related to Christine DeLay's employment, sources said.

Alexander Strategy Group is run by former DeLay senior staffers Edwin Buckham and Tony Rudy. Rudy served as DeLay's deputy chief of staff until 2001, when he took a job with Abramoff, and later moved on to join Buckham.

Investigators are looking into whether Rudy aided Abramoff's lobbying clients while he was working on Capitol Hill, the sources said, and are reviewing payments from Abramoff clients and associates to Liberty Consulting, a political firm founded by Rudy's wife, Lisa.

The Post reported last month that Rudy, while on DeLay's staff, helped scuttle a bill opposed by eLottery, an Abramoff client, and that Abramoff had eLottery pay a foundation to hire Liberty Consulting.