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Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad told a Feb. 20 news conference that his 2002 Oval Office meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush was arranged by U.S. lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who was paid $1.2 million for making the arrangements. Mahathir said he was not certain who actually paid Abramoff, though he knew it was not the Malaysian government. He added that the White House encourages foreign governments to seek meetings with the president by using lobbyists' services. In the months following the Sept. 11 attacks, Mahathir faced intense pressure from the Bush administration because of his rejection of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and general anti-American stance, making a Mahathir-Bush meeting an unlikely prospect at the time.
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