Too close for comfort

Even though Ford was suspicious, the bill was still moving forward. Ford is efficient in getting the bill moving. It was about to go to a floor vote and now the FBI needed to pull things back.

In a quick phone conversation on March 15th, 2005, we hear the following:

"We passed the bill out of the committee today. It's going to the floor on Monday," says Ford.

Ford was in a hurry to get off the phone. He said he was on his cell and didn't like to talk to long on the phone --a little weird as we see Ford always on his cell phone talking to someone. Ford tries to get off the phone, but McNeil stresses that he really needs to talk to him and to call him as soon as he can.

When asked "why" by the prosecutor, McNeil said he needed to talk to him, because the bill could not go to the floor for a full vote. It was part of the FBI policy not to let it go to the floor and become a law. He needed to come up with a way to get it delayed.

On March 17 (Exhibit 58), McNeil uses the excuse that he wanted to become a sole business owner of E-Cycle and wanted to wait until that happened before the bill went to the floor. He tells Ford to get them to hold it until the 10th or 15th of April.