What an amazing week!

Jan. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Jack Abramoff, the once-powerful Republican lobbyist at the center of a federal corruption investigation, pleaded guilty to three criminal charges and will cooperate with a Justice Department probe that threatens to ensnare lawmakers.

[Do you suppose there are some "law"makers who will need a little something to help them sleep tonight?]

[Bloomberg continues] Criminal allegations the government filed today also mention an unnamed former chief of staff to Ney, accused of lobbying the lawmaker and his staff without waiting the required one-year period after leaving Capitol Hill. Neil Volz is the only former Ney chief of staff who went to work for Abramoff.

DeLay, the Texas Republican who until September was House majority leader, took a golf trip to the U.K. in 2000 with Abramoff. DeLay also has benefited from Abramoff-related campaign donations, taking in more money directly from the lobbyist -- $17,000 from 2001 to 2004 -- than any other member of Congress, according to Federal Election Commission records.

[We now switch to the Houston Chronicle for this report, already in progress.] WASHINGTON -- The prosecutor in the Texas money laundering case against Rep. Tom DeLay issued subpoenas today looking for links between lobbyist Jack Abramoff and fundraising by the former majority leader.

District Attorney Ronnie Earle issued the subpoenas in Austin the same day that Abramoff pleaded guilty in Washington to federal charges of conspiracy, tax evasion and mail fraud.

[Oh, by the way, sleazinator Tom DeLay called Jack Abramoff "one of my closest and dearest friends." Maybe they can do a little jail time in the same cell and really become "friends".]