A second member of embattled Republican Rep. Bob Ney’s staff has been subpoenaed to testify in the Justice Department’s investigation of influence-peddling in Congress.
John Bennett, who works in Ney’s eastern Ohio district office, notified House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., of the subpoena with a letter read Monday into the Congressional Record.
Ney has not been accused of any wrongdoing, but federal prosecutors have described him in court documents as having received gifts, trips and other things of value from disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff and Abramoff’s associates.
Bennett was subpoenaed less than two weeks after another employee in Ney’s Ohio office, District Director Matthew Parker, was ordered to testify. Ney himself was subpoenaed in November.
Ney spokesman Brian Walsh declined to comment Monday on Bennett’s subpoena. Walsh, however, had said recently that Ney and his staff are still cooperating with federal investigators.
© 2006 The Associated Press
