"He's talking so much he doesn't have time to eat," attorney source says of Abramoff.

Abramoff may have provided the impetus for the flurry of public activity by cooperating extensively with investigators in return for promises of leniency as he tries to wriggle out of a prison sentence that theoretically could jail him for up to 30 years.

"He's talking so much he doesn't have time to eat," one lawyer involved in the matter quipped, insisting upon anonymity because the investigation is ongoing. "Everybody who had business dealings with the guy should be nervous."

A guilty plea entered Tuesday by former congressional aide Mark Zachares revealed new details about the extravagant four-day trip that illustrated the influential reign of Abramoff, now in prison for defrauding clients.

Zachares pleaded guilty to conspiracy and admitted in documents, among other things, that the travel report he filed upon returning from Scotland was filled with lies that were coordinated by Abramoff.

Zachares had said the trip was paid for by a conservative think tank, the National Center for Public Policy Research, that it had cost $5,643 and that the purpose was fact finding. All three were lies, according to the documents.

Feeney, 48, an Orlando-area Republican who has been contacted by the FBI as part of the Abramoff investigation, reported precisely the same details in his travel report on the Scotland trip.

"My office has never done anything for Jack Abramoff. He's never been in my office, he's never asked us for anything. We didn't have any relationship with him other than the fact that he gave us a contribution, and we've given that to charity," Feeney said.

Feeney's then-chief of staff Jason Roe said in January that, unlike other congressmen implicated in the Abramoff scandal, Feeney had few dealings with the lobbyist.

''There's no such accusation as it relates to Tom,'' Roe said in January. ``Jack Abramoff never stepped in the office. He never lobbied us on anything.''

Feeney said in September that he would give to charity $1,000 that had been contributed to his campaign from Ney's political action committee.

But those assertions haven't satisfied the FBI, which is examining Feeney's connection with the influence-peddler who's in prison for defrauding clients.

Specifically, agents want to review records from FLORIDA TODAY, the Orlando Sentinel and the St. Petersburg Times that contain statements Feeney or members of his staff made about his relationship with Abramoff.

Still, Roe believes this is all much ado about nothing. "All this is, is media hysteria," he said. "The media think people care about this. They don't."

The hysteria involves more than just Feeney. In fact, the biggest headline-grabber is House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who has been the subject of so many accusations of impropriety that his Republican peers talked about changing rules to allow him to stay in his leadership role -- even if he's indicted.

Roe worked on DeLay's last campaign, too.

WASHINGTON - The 2003 trip U.S. Rep. Tom Feeney took to Scotland with ex-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who is now in prison, cost nearly four times more than the $5,643 the lawmaker paid to cover expenses related to the junket.

New court documents filed this week reveal that more than $160,000 was spent to accommodate Feeney, Abramoff and six others for "private jet service between Maryland and Scotland, luxury hotel accommodations in Scotland, twice-daily golf at St. Andrews and other famous courses, meals, drinks and local transportation."

That averages out to about $20,000 per person.

....

Pepper Pennington, the lawmaker's spokeswoman, said Wednesday that Feeney relied on the estimates relayed to him by the sponsor of the trip, which he thought was the National Center for Public Policy Research, a Washington-based conservative think tank. She also said that Feeney left the trip before it ended.

"Most important, unlike others, he only went one way and he personally paid for his own way out of Scotland," she said, adding that Feeney also paid for his own greens fees at St. Andrews, as well as several other personal expenses.

Details of the Scotland trip were revealed in documents filed in the case of Mark Zachares, a former congressional aide who pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiracy charges associated with work he did with Abramoff.

Zachares was on the Scotland trip in August 2003. A month later, Zachares said in court documents, he falsely reported the trip's sponsor in House travel disclosure forms. He also lied that the trip was conducted for "fact-finding" purposes and that all costs for travel, lodging and meals came to only $5,643. That "figure (was) coordinated with Abramoff to be substantially identical as the figures other attendees, including Representative . . . (Feeney), would report.

.....