I just spoke to Kim Eisler about the Abramoff e-mails. He says when he was called by Amanda Terkel of the Center for American Progress, “she identified herself, she said she was doing some research, and she represented a think tank.” Eisler adds, “Actually, the truth of the matter is, in my head, I thought she was a reporter for The American Prospect….I thought she was a print reporter doing a story for a magazine that was going to appear down the road.”

Eisler says he discussed Abramoff with Terkel, and “I sent her what I considered background information to buttress the conversation.” Later, Eisler says, he went out, and when he returned he had an e-mail from Terkel asking whether the material he had sent her was from Abramoff’s e-mail and was in Abramoff’s words. But Eisler says the Center had already posted the material on its ThinkProgress website. “They didn’t wait for my answers,” Eisler says. “They just went ahead and put it out there.”

Eisler says he had no intention of making the Abramoff e-mails public. He says he got Abramoff’s comments when he, Eisler, was scheduled to appear on television and sent Abramoff an e-mail. “I said I didn’t want to go on TV and say that George Bush knew you without knowing the facts,” Eisler says he told Abramoff. Eisler says Abramoff then sent the e-mail confirming his meetings with the president.