Abramoff to plead guilty, sing like a canary

The AP has the preliminary skinny:

Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff has reached an agreement with federal prosecutors to plead guilty to two criminal charges stemming from the 2000 purchase of a fleet of gambling boats, his attorney said Tuesday.

Abramoff will also agree to cooperate in any ongoing federal investigations in Washington, said his Miami attorney Neal Sonnett. Prosecutors there are investigating several members of Congress who allegedly received favors from Abramoff or his clients.

All over Washington and the world, Republicans begin to sweat through their custom-made shirts.

Now begins the spin. Watch closely for phony balance exercises in the news.

This morning, while CNN was reporting that the deal was struck, MSNBC was reporting that a deal was close.

But, once MSNBC got up to speed, the bleached blonde morning anchor interviewed a reporter with US News & World Report on the developing story. She tossed to him with a remark about Abramoff's "broad-reaching" influence among Republicans. The US News writer felt the need to add that, "to be fair," Democrats are caught up with Abramoff, too. After all, Senator Byron Dorgan had to return some campaign contributions!

This will, of course, be driven by the RNC talking points memo which should be hitting newsroom FAX machines right about now.

UPDATE

The WaPo advances the AP story:

The plea deal opens the prospect that Abramoff could provide testimony about members of Congress and congressional staffers in a wide-ranging political corruption investigation focused on his lobbying activities.

Abramoff is scheduled to appear at 12:15 p.m. in U.S. District Court in Washington to plead guilty to three counts charging him with conspiracy, honest services fraud and tax evasion, said Bryan Sierra, a spokesman for the Justice Department.