Posted on 02/09/2002 6:59:22 AM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
In an astonishing reversal of President Bush's nonchalant attitude towards an array of corruption charges against Bill and Hillary Clinton, the president and his aides are now said to be "quietly pushing" a probe into allegations that Clinton staffers trashed the White House in Jan. 2001.
What's more, they've asked that the newly revved up investigation focus on the East Wing, where former first lady Hillary Clinton had her offices.
The shift could mean the GAO probe will also examine evidence that Mrs. Clinton absconded with furniture and other White House artifacts to decorate her private mansions in New York and Washington.
"White House folks suggested we cast as wide a net as possible," GAO director Bernard Ungar told the New York Daily News Saturday, adding that the Bushies wanted to redirect the probe's previous focus from the Eisenhower office building to Mrs. Clinton official digs.
The request for action on the Clinton vandalism charges prompted complaints from GAO chief David Walker, who told the News, "they want us to do more work than is even reasonable."
The Clinton probe could prove distracting to Walker's focus in recent weeks: prying loose White House records on meetings between Vice President Dick Cheney and Enron officials.
Immediately after reports of White House vandalism, Bush seemed to take no interest in the episode and urged the media to look that other way.
"There might have been a prank or two, maybe somebody put a cartoon on the wall, but that's OK." he told reporters. "It's time now to move forward."
But after Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner complained last June that Clinton workers had been unfairly smeared and demanded the Bushies apologize, White House press spokesman Ari Fleischer said the destruction was more extensive then the president had let on.
A list of damages he released included:
75 phones that had been "tampered with," including 10 where the lines had been cut.
Twenty percent of the desks in the Eisenhower Office complex had been overturned.
Obscene graffiti was discovered by Bush staffers in six offices.
A 20-inch-wide presidential seal had been ripped off a wall.
One hundred computer keyboards had been rendered inoperable by the Clinton vandals.
Pornography was left behind in White House photocopiers.
Trash was spilled throughout the White House counsel's office, along with other assorted random damage.
One estimate put the cost of the destruction as high as $250,000.
Bush administration spokeswoman Claire Buchan said the White House counsel's office had photographs of the vandalism, but did not explain why they were not offered to the GAO when the agency first requested proof in April.
In releasing the list of damages, Fleischer explained, "We tried to be gracious, but the last administration would not take graciousness." Claims that Bush staffers had lied about the destruction had forced him to respond, he said.
After Fleischer's comments, the GAO's Ungar began backtracking on his April report that there was no unusual damage to the White House after Clinton staffers departed.
"Ungar said the GAO found accounts of damage that included telephones disconnected from wall jacks, phones with extension numbers defaced and tables and desks that were overturned," reported Newsday, in a follow up story on Fleischer's list.
It's not clear whether the White House's newly aggressive attitude will translate into action in the office of the U.S. Attorney for New York's Southern District, which has been accused of footdragging in its probe into the Clinton Pardongate scandal.
After they make the crooks return the furniture. Let's have another ball! WOO HOO! "The silverware was returned" Party!
After a nice afternoon stroll, on the well landscaped soil, on the graves of the Clintons. Just thinking about it gives me a shiver of pleasure! It is too bad that the actuarial tables tell us that this won't be for another 30 years or more. Meantime we will take our humble pleasures from stuff like this. Enjoy, enjoy!
One step at a time John, one step at a time. Before you send out the Matador to finish the bull, you send out the picadors, to cut them up a little. We can enjoy the entire spectacle, right up to the coupe de grace.
Exactly, that is why it is such a good idea. It makes the Enron probe look like just what it is, pety politics, so that people will just ignore it, like they do anything that smacks of politics.
The Clintons are real big on reparations aren't they. How about a nice fat tax rebate straight out of the Clinton till?
I think you've nailed it, Republic. This is simply a shot across the bow of the Dumbs.
I rarely disagree with you Miss Marple, but in this case I do. The reporter who broke this story, Tim Burger, is a fair and responsible journalist, and not a Clinton buttboy or Hillary fan (like say, "reporter" Adam Nagourney of the New York Times). He may have been tipped off by an Administration staffer "on background" and encouraged to confirm it with the GAO. The GAO had zero motivation to push this story now, as it dilutes their "destroy Cheney at all costs" focus. The *last* thing the GAO wants is to have the press distracted from "all Enron all the time".
And the storyline, i.e., Hillary is a thief, does not make her look sympathetic. She is only sympathetic when a "man does her wrong" (Bill cheating on her, or Rick Lazio "invading her space"). If she is being (however subtly) accused of thievery, you can be assured that there is proof.
The Demonrats made a mistake by their incessant attacks on the Bush administration. They forgot about the sad case of George Mitchell. Mitchell resigned from his Senate Majority Leader post thinking he would be appointed Commissioner of Baseball. There was a certain owner of an MLB team, one George W. Bush, who saw to it that this didn't happen because of how Mitchell treated his father when his father was President. Notice how W. didn't "alert" Mitchell to allow him to save face before he quit the Majority Leader post, but let him wallow in his unemployment until Bubba appointed him special envoy to the Irish Peace Process. And we all know how that turned out!
And as much as I admire you, I think it's sad that you got involved with Ted Bundy and his crime spree! (The same level of proof -- none whatsover -- is involved in all three charges, you know).
They couldn't just pick-up and move along, NOOOOOO..they had to push this man (our President)! Well, you mess with the Bull, you get the horns.
My take: IT'S ABOUT TIME, GW! No more Mister Nice Guy!
Klintonites not gracious? Egad!
But, I suppose they were too focused on that "most ethical administration in history" thing.
Can't we put some of that Ozark Trash in jail now?
Not a big fan of anything Republicans, conservatives or Christians do, are you?
I agree completely. But this is Newsmax, which does not have the highest credibility rating in the world.
Carolyn
a target rich environment...
I love that!
Foxnews is reporting little tidbits regarding Global Crossing
and we know who made BIG MONEY out of that deal!
Maybe some folks ought to put a bug in the ear of various media (other than cable news) and build it up as having the potential for the biggest media event/trial/scandal in the history of television guaranteed to draw the biggest ratings ever. Get the backing of some big money advertisers and start popping the popcorn.
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