Safavian's attorney, Barbara Van Gelder, said she may call Abramoff as a defense witness if the lobbyist strikes a plea bargain to resolve his own ongoing investigation. Both sides said the trial should take less than a week to conclude.

Van Gelder has said previously that the case against Safavian is an effort to squeeze out information to aid in the Abramoff inquiry. Abramoff is being investigated by a federal grand jury investigation in Washington about his lobbying for American Indian tribes and their gambling operations, which may have involved illegal payments to members of Congress. Abramoff also has been indicted in Florida for fraud.

Safavian is charged with five counts of obstructing and misleading to federal investigators for allegedly lying about his ties to Abramoff when Safavian was chief of staff at the General Services Administration, which manages government property.

He allegedly told ethics officials Abramoff had no business before GSA when he accompanied the lobbyist on a lavish golf trip to Scotland, along with Ohio Republican Rep. Robert Ney and Abramoff business partner Michael Scanlon, who pleaded guilty last month to bribing public officials.

However, prosecutors allege Safavian was actively helping Abramoff to buy or lease two pieces of GSA-managed government property.

Safavian joined GSA after leaving Cannon's staff and, according to e-mails in the court documents, was asked by Abramoff for help a week after starting his new job. He was later the top procurement official at the White House budget office until he resigned shortly before his arrest.

U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman said he would issue a ruling on Van Gelder's demands that the government turn over documents relevant to Safavian's defense. She has requested items such as surveillance information, wiretaps and investigators' notes.

The government prosecutor, Peter Zeidenberg, said the government was preparing thousands of additional pages requested by Van Gelder.