Washington ? While Congress investigated Jack Abramoff’s efforts to win influence inside government, its members held a secret: Nearly three dozen lawmakers pressed to block a Louisiana Indian casino while collecting donations from the lobbyist and his tribal clients.

Many lawmakers, including leaders in both parties, intervened with letters to Interior Secretary Gale Norton within days of receiving money from tribes represented by Abramoff or using the lobbyist’s restaurant for fundraising, an Associated Press review of campaign reports, IRS records and congressional correspondence found.

Lawmakers said their intervention had nothing to do with Abramoff.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., held a fundraiser at Abramoff’s restaurant in Washington on June 3, 2003, that collected at least $21,500 for Hastert’s Keep Our Majority political action committee from the lobbyist’s firm and tribal clients.

Seven days later, Hastert wrote Norton urging her to reject the Jena tribe of Choctaw Indians’ request for a new casino.