WASHINGTON, Feb. 12 (Xinhuanet) -- The New York Times on Sunday published a photo showing U.S. President George W. Bush and the now indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff at a gathering in May 2001.

    In the picture, the authenticity of which the newspaper said had been confirmed by the White House, Bush was shaking hands with Raul Garza, chief of the Kickapoo Indian tribe in Texas, and a small, partly obscured image of Abramoff was looking on from the background.

    The White House has declined to release pictures of Bush and Abramoff, a leading Republican fund-raiser who helped raise more than 100,000 U.S. dollars for the president's re-election campaign. Bush has said he did not recall having met with Abramoff, although the White House has not disputed accounts that the lobbyist visited the White House on several occasions.

    Abramoff pleaded guilty to corruption-related federal charges last month and agreed to cooperate in a corruption investigation that could implicate as many as 20 lawmakers.

    The picture, albeit an opaque one, provided a window into Abramoff's efforts to sell himself to Indian tribes as a man of influence who could open the most secure door in Washington to them, the newspaper reported.

    It was not clear how the disgraced Abramoff and the tribal chief, whom the lobbyist was trying to sign as a client, gained access to a meeting on the White House grounds that was ostensibly for a group of state legislators who supported Bush's 2001 tax cut plan, the report said.

    The photo was provided by Garza, who was under indictment on federal charges of embezzling money from his tribe, the report said.

    A lawyer of Garza told the Times that Abramoff arranged for the chief to attend the meeting, in a conference room in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building adjacent to the White House. The meeting took place at a time when the lobbyist was seeking a contract to represent the 800-member tribe and its casino. Abramoff never got the contract, the report said.

    White House spokesman Scott McClellan denied last Friday that the presence of Abramoff and the tribal leader at the meeting suggested the lobbyist had any special influence at the White House, according to the report. Enditem