WASHINGTON -- Nevada's senators distanced themselves Tuesday from lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who pleaded guilty to charges of influence peddling while agreeing to give authorities information for a widening corruption probe of Congress.

Sens. Harry Reid and John Ensign said neither they nor their aides have been questioned nor contacted by Justice Department investigators digging into allegations that Abramoff steered campaign donations and expensive perks to lawmakers in exchange for official acts.

"Neither Senator Reid nor anyone on staff is under investigation or has received any notice" from prosecutors, Reid spokeswoman Tessa Hafen said.

Reid said at a news conference in Carson City that he has "not a thing" to be worried about as far as Abramoff. "I've never been in the same room with the man as far as I know," he said.

Likewise, Ensign said neither he nor his aides have been contacted by authorities, "and I would not expect us to be."

Reid, a Democrat, and Ensign, a Republican, were linked to the lobbyist in a news report in November that focused on a letter they wrote on March 5, 2002, to Interior Secretary Gale Norton.

The Nevadans urged Norton to reject an application from the Jena Band of Choctaw Indians, which was seeking to open a casino outside its Louisiana reservation.

An Abramoff client fighting the Jena casino, the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, donated $5,000 to Reid's political action committee, the Searchlight Leadership Fund, the next day, according to The Associated Press report.

Nearly three dozen other lawmakers who pressed Norton to reject the Jena tribe's application also collected donations from Abramoff or his clients and associates, according to the report.

Between 2001 and 2004 Reid received $61,000 from donors with links to Abramoff, Reid's office confirmed.

"Any contributions he received were part of lawful fundraising," Hafen said Tuesday. "Senator Reid has done nothing wrong and sees no need to return the donations."

Ensign received $16,293 from donors tied to Abramoff and gaming tribes, according to the report.

In October, two months after Abramoff was indicted on bank fraud charges, Ensign said he donated the money to the Nevada Patriot Fund, which helps families of Nevadans killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., who also signed a Norton letter, received $2,500 from Abramoff-linked sources. She has denied any connection between her action and the donations.

Ensign and Reid disclosed Tuesday they have asked the Senate Ethics Committee for an opinion on their 2002 letter, which they argued was ethical and proper. Representing a state with legalized gambling, they said it was not unusual for them to fight Indian tribes trying to expand gaming.

They also disclosed they wrote a similar letter in 2003.

"Our March 5 letter was consistent with this long-standing policy goal and any suggestion that the letter was motivated instead by political contributions is baseless," the senators told the Ethics Committee in a letter sent Dec. 14 to Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, the panel chairman, and Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., the ranking Democrat.

"We know what we did was right and fine and within ethics rules, and we wanted a stamp of approval from the Ethics Committee," Ensign said. A committee spokesman could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Among perks at his disposal, Abramoff controlled skyboxes at the MCI Center in Washington and at other sports venues that were used for fundraising. Ensign said his staff checked and found no records that he attended any such event.

Hafen said she had no comment on whether Reid has attended a sporting event in any such suite, saying Reid conducts "lawful fundraising."

Reid also has been linked to Abramoff through Edward Ayoob, who is from Las Vegas and worked for Reid from June 1997 to March 2002 variously as legislative counsel, tax counsel, appropriations manager, foreign affairs adviser and chief aide on judicial nominations, according to a biography on his employer's Web site.

Ayoob in 2002 was hired as a lobbyist by Greenberg Traurig LLP, where his work included teaming with Abramoff and other lobbyists on client matters.

Abramoff left Greenberg Traurig in March 2004 after the Senate and the FBI began investigating his activities.

Ayoob, 36, left Greenberg Traurig in spring 2005. He now is a senior lobbyist at Barnes & Thornburg LLP.

Contacted at his office last week, Ayoob declined to comment.

Reid on Tuesday downplayed Ayoob's role, saying Ayoob was a legislative assistant on his staff and not an adviser.

Ayoob and Reid met "from time to time" after Ayoob became a lobbyist, Hafen said. She said she did not know when they last spoke or how Reid would characterize their relationship today.

Review-Journal Capital Bureau writer Sean Whaley contributed to this report.