Roger Tamraz wanted to build a pipeline from the Caspian Sea to Turkey, but he needed to build one to the White House first. He tunneled under the U.S. intelligence community, dodged the doorkeepers who were trying to keep him out, shoveled at least $150,000 into Democratic Party coffers and finally broke through into the West Wing, where he joined the President for coffee and a screening of Independence Day.
The pattern has become familiar: every week now, it seems, we meet another businessman who wanted a favor from the White House and was willing to pay for it. And every...
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