WASHINGTON - President Bush says he doesn't know Jack.
That was his defense yesterday as reporters grilled him on why he won't release at least five photos of himself with crooked lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
"I, frankly, don't even remember having my picture taken with the guy," Bush told reporters at the White House. "I don't know him."
Abramoff, who raised more than $100,000 for Bush in 2004, has pleaded guilty to corruption charges and agreed to help with a Justice Department probe into the growing influence-peddling scandal.
"Obviously, we went to fund-raisers, but I've never sat down with him and had a discussion with the guy," Bush said, suggesting the photos came from the many "grip-and-grin" sessions he does.
He said releasing the shots of him and Abramoff would only give enemies an unfair weapon.
"We live in a world in which those pictures will be used for pure political purposes," he said.
But some senior Bush advisers believe his pics nix is a political blunder.
The better damage-control strategy, these sources argue, is to release the photographs all at once and be done with it. Otherwise, they may surface at an inopportune moment for Bush - like a few days after Tuesday's State of the Union speech, stepping on his message.
"You know they're coming out," said a GOP consultant with close ties to the White House. "The longer we wait, the longer it looks like there's something we don't want anyone to know."
But as Bush made clear, that view hasn't prevailed. "We're not going to throw gas on a politically charged story," one official said.
Democrats yesterday did their part to feed the flames, with New York Sen. Chuck Schumer and Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar writing to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales asking the Justice Department to turn over the investigation to a special counsel.
"Mr. Abramoff's significant ties to Republican leadership in Congress, and allegations of improper activity involving administration officials, reaching, possibly, into the White House itself, pose a possible conflict of interest," the letter says.
"With public trust in government at very low levels, it is crucial that we remove any appearance of impropriety," Schumer said.
