and Congress, the GAO, itself,IMHO
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.
Yes, YES, finally, someone who thinks - see my earlier posts.
I'm no legal expert, but according to my layman's knowledge:
A) Larceny is stealing without use or threat of force, as opposed to robbery. Knocking out a victim to steal his wallet is robbery. Taking the wallet from an already unconscious person is larceny.
B)Petit larceny dollar limit (vs. grand larceny) I think is $100.
While the Clintonians were petty, I think it qualifies as grand larceny (considering the willfully unconscious state of the press and the Clinton's supporters). But with all the Arkanacides, I can't help but wonder if that can be considered threat of force.
With so many crimes to choose from, I just can't pick which one I'd like to see on their "permanent record" :>
Is it true that wearing stripes makes one appear thinner? In the case of HILLARY!'s wide load and porcine ankles it might be a slight improvement.
Better make that a heated marble toilet seat! There'll be some mighty frigid (___)___) sittin' on that.
Did I depict that widely enough?
and Congress, the GAO, itself,IMHO
Don't think our President is ok-ing this stepped up probe to make his administration 'look good'. That is probably not even on the radar screen.
What he is doing is demonstrating in real terms what the dems could not accept in quite, gracious terms. That being that the Bush administration was not going to make a huge bru-ha-ha over the sickening way the clinton flying monkeys destroyed items within our precious WH.
TO call the claims of pranks a lie went too far. Instead of accepting the graciousness, the clintons and their freaky, immoral low class goons called the whole thing a LIE. Ooooops. That resets the clock.
This could become VERY big if the photos are released. And ya know....I bet there a THOUSANDS. I'm already angry at the clintons and their filthy trashing of our WH all over again. And I suspect there are many, now, who are for the first time going to want to take a look at what the clintons and their entourage of filth actually did.
Hopefully-by the grace of GOD, if this is made public, each and everyone of those psychos will have to PAY out of their OWN POCKETS for the damages. That would certainly be a just reward.
When will Republicans learn that you can't reason with Leftists, and the only way to negotiate with them is with a knee on their chests and a knife at their throats?
We have been too soft for too long. We have to stop being afraid of being called mean, racist, etc.
This is a question of the Separation of Powers of the Constitution. Congress has no more right, short of impeachment, to dictate what the White House does than the White House has a right to dictate what Congress does.
The White House should fast track this case to the Supreme Court and put a stake through it's heart once and for all.
I just need to vent my opinion once in a while!
g
The Klintonistas seem to thrive on digging up scandals, so let them choke on their own. There's plenty to go around.
You mean a subtle warning like this?
"Senator Soandso, this is Hillary, you know, we really need your help on this impeachment thing, you know, and I was just going over this FBI file, you know, that just fell on my desk, I can't recall how, but anyway, remember this file and think about Vince Foster and, you know, I know we can count on your influence.
Bush wasn't going to do anything - but she didn't behave herself.
Now we have to get one of the liberal newspapers to comment on her stealing furniture.
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