The Associated Press reported Thursday that a series of e-mails shows that the staff of former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas tried to help embattled lobbyist Jack Abramoff get access to Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton.

Abramoff is under indictment for his work with Indian tribes, and his ties to DeLay and other lawmakers are also under scrutiny.

The effort to gain access to Norton succeeded, AP reports, after Abramoff's Indian tribe clients began funneling $250,000 to an environmental group Norton founded.

The e-mails, which have been reviewed by The Associated Press, were obtained by investigators who are trying to determine if officials in Congress or the Bush administration provided government assistance in exchange for donations to Republican causes.

The first exchange on the topic occurred in December of 2000, the day after Norton had been nominated to her post.

Within months, Abramoff clients began donations to the Norton-founded group.

The lobbyist and one of his clients met with the secretary at a dinner in September of 2001.

DeLay's lawyer said this week his client likely didn't know about the assistance his aides gave Abramoff five years ago.

Meanwhile, a tribal chairman told a Senate panel Wednesday that Abramoff and his partner exaggerated the threat of competing casinos opening in Texas and Louisiana.

Coushatta Tribal Chairman Kevin Sickey testified that Abramoff and partner, Michael Scanlon, used the threat to siphon millions from the Louisiana tribe.

Sickey told the Senate Indian Affairs Committee that Abramoff and Scanlon used the money to pad coffers of personal charities and political allies.

Sickey says the men preyed on tribal officials' "political insecurities, economic insecurities and insecurities about each other."

The Senate committee has been investigating Abramoff and Scanlan, who formerly was a spokesman for DeLay.

The committee is also investigating the more than $80 million Abramoff and Scanlon were paid between 2001 and 2004 by six American Indian tribes with gaming casinos.

The Senate committee headed by Arizona Republican John McCain is investigating what Abramoff and Scanlon did to earn the money.

Click Here For U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee

Key Events In Abramoff-DeLay Relationship
(Source: Associated Press)

May 7, 2000: Abramoff lends the use of a Washington arena skybox, underwritten by his lobbying clients, so donors to one of DeLay's fundraising groups can be rewarded with a bird's-eye view of a concert by the Three Tenors opera singers.

May 25-June 3, 2000: DeLay takes $70,000 golfing trip to Scotland and England arranged by Abramoff and partly funded by Abramoff's clients.

Summer 2000: DeLay votes against gambling legislation opposed by some of Abramoff's Indian tribe clients. DeLay says he voted against the measure because of concerns it might lead to Internet gambling, not because Abramoff's clients opposed it.

December 29, 2000: DeLay staffers Tony Rudy and Thomas Pyle exchange emails about helping Abramoff's tribal clients score a meeting with new Bush Interior Secretary Gale Norton. They point Abramoff to Norton's former political fundraiser, Italia Federici, and a group Norton and Federici formed called the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy (CREA).

January 3, 2001: DeLay enters statement into congressional record praising Choctaw Chief Phillip Martin and his tribe for using "the free market as a tool to better the lives of his fellow tribe members and neighbors." DeLay also entered into the record an editorial from Indian
Country Today that described Martin's political activities in Washington: "Hiring quality lobbyists as their new wealth allowed, the Choctaw leader persuaded a good sector of Republicans to the righteousness of the Native nations' sovereignty from taxation." The editorial praised the Choctaws' work to form an alliance on the issue with Americans for Tax Reform, a group run by conservative activist Grover Norquist, who has close ties to the Bush administration, Abramoff and congressional Republicans and helped Norton start CREA.

March 2001: The Coushatta Indian tribe, one of the Abramoff clients with significant business pending at Interior, donates $50,000 to CREA, the first of more than a quarter-million dollars in donations to the group from Abramoff tribal clients.

April 2001: Federici, the president of CREA and Norton's former fundraiser, sends a note to Norton seeking a meeting for Abramoff and the Coushatta with the interior secretary. The request is rejected.

Sept. 24, 2001: Abramoff and leaders of the Coushattas score a face-to-face meeting with Norton and her top Interior deputy, Steven Griles, getting seats at their tables during a fundraising dinner for CREA.

March 6, 2002: Coushattas make donation, this time for $100,000, to CREA. Tribe also writes a $20,000 to one of DeLay's groups.

December 2002: Interior rejects proposed gambling compact for Jena Indian tribe, a rival of the Coushattas in Louisiana.

June 10, 2003: DeLay signs a letter with House Speaker Dennis Hastert and then-Majority Whip Roy Blunt to Norton at Interior urging the rejection of any tribal gaming pacts for off-reservation casinos, something Abramoff's clients also oppose.