A US lobbyist who offered foreign politicians access to the most senior officials in George W Bush's administration in exchange for a $250,000 donation to the president's commemorative library paid a total of 53 visits to the White House, newly disclosed records reveal.
Visitors' logs revealed under freedom of information legislation show that between 2001 and 2007 Stephen Payne paid four personal visits to Bush in Washington as well as having dozens of meetings with other officials including Karl Rove, who was at the time the senior advisor to Bush and later also deputy chief of staff at the White House. Separate records show that Payne also attended parties at the residence of Dick Cheney, then vice president.
Payne, a leading Republican fundraiser and government adviser, was caught on secret camera last year by The Sunday Times offering to secure meetings with Cheney and Condoleezza Rice, then secretary of state, in return for a six-figure donation to the presidential legacy library Bush is building in his home state of Texas.
The lobbyist's remarks fuelled longstanding suspicions over the potential for foreigners to secure political favours by making donations, which are typically not publicly disclosed, to the libraries of outgoing presidents.
The Sunday Times probe was prompted by claims that Payne had accepted $2m from the government of Kazakhstan in order to arrange a visit by Cheney in 2006. Some of the money was said to have found its way to entities connected to the Bush administration.
Advertisement
The resulting "cash for access" scandal forced Payne to resign from his position on the US Homeland Security advisory council and prompted a Congressional inquiry.
The White House attempted to distance itself from Payne by playing down his access to and influence on the top echelons of power, but initially refused to release its visitors' logs.
Following a legal challenge by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a non-profit group, President Obama announced on Friday that he would release the records.
He said that all White House visits would be published in future, a decision hailed as a victory for open government.
Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW, said: "The Obama administration has proven that its pledge to usher in a new era of government transparency was more than just a campaign promise.
Advertisement
"The Bush administration fought tooth and nail to keep secret the identities of those who visited the White House."