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.
The source of this is the GAO. I don't trust most of the comments said by that agency.
You can't be gracious to white trash; they have no comprehension of the word or ability to display such qualities.
Nothing to see here. Just move on. . .
But, no.
Those filthy vermin and their flying monkeys are going to get back in full, if they keep up the unfair aggression against our executive wing, from Enron to demanding private mtg information, they are going to receive an exposure that is going to topple their election chances this fall but BIG TIME. Just wait.
Like bin laden, the filthy dems have greatly underestimated how adept our President is, how GROWN-UP he and his staff are, and how unafraid this administration really IS of their nefarious and dirty dealings. Let it NEVER be said that these creepy jerks in the elite dem circles did not have a chance to clean up their act and fly right. Their digs, the sewer as it were, is about to undergo a cleaning unless things happen mighty fast this next week.
And as for Walker-he was trusted by our President to fly honorably, instead he has chosen to use his office as a tool for the dem party, JUST like he did during the clinton years. Big mistake. This man's days in office are numbered.
Move to the head of the class.
The mills of the gods grinds slowly,
but they grind ever so exceedingly fine......................
clintoon put up that picture of Mao - guess even HE thought that was enough! LOL!
I got those off FReeper John Jorsett's profile page.
You did a good job on your profile, btw. I like it!
While cautious GSA staffers won't issue a blanket exoneration of the Clinton team, Bernard Ungar, the agency's director of physical infrastructure, told Salon the media clearly exaggerated the extent of the damage. According to the terse GSA statement that formed the basis of Ungar's conclusion, "the condition of the real property was consistent with what we would expect to encounter when tenants vacate office space after an extended occupancy.
From today's article:
Bernie Ungar, a GAO director in charge of the investigation, said, "White House folks suggested that we cast as wide a net as possible."
Ungar said Bush aides urged the agency to expand its scope to include the White House's East Wing — where Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) had her offices as First Lady — but investigators stuck to the West Wing and the Eisenhower office building.
No? You don't say! You mean you don't think Bush should have slashed and burned everything east of the Mississippi the day he was sworn in, and you think he shouldn't have hung Bill and Hill on the Mall?
Say it ain't so, Rep. / sarcasm off.
I never did like "the new tone" ... you gotta be tough to be respected by your enemies!
g
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