Darrell Issa

Issa: Obama DOJ's Blame Bush Strategy In ATF Scandal 'Reeks Of Desperation'

Ryan J. Reilly | October 4, 2011, 5:50PM

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) is trying to take the revelation that the Bush administration had a "gun walking" problem of its very own in stride.

"The committee has received some documents from the Justice Department about Operation Wide Receiver but Justice officials still have not made clear to committee investigators what did and did not take place in this operation," spokeswoman Becca Glover Watkins said in a statement to TPM.

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Eric Holder

'Operation Wide Receiver': The Bush Administration Had Its Very Own ATF 'Gun Walking' Scandal

Ryan J. Reilly | October 4, 2011, 3:50PM

Fmr. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and President George W. Bush

Updated: Oct. 4, 6:45PM

Know how Republicans have been blaming the Obama administration for a local ATF office's decision to let thousands of guns "walk" into Mexico? Turns out the Bush administration had a "gun walking" program of their very own.

Republicans on Tuesday called for a special prosecutor to look into whether Attorney General Eric Holder perjured himself during testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on ATF's Fast and Furious scandal.

Holder had testified on May 3 that he was "not sure of the exact date, but I probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks."

Documents have now emerged showing that the "Fast and Furious" program came up in the course of a couple of Holder's extensive weekly reports on ongoing developments in the Justice Department and its components in July 2010 and again in October 2010.

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Dianne Feinstein

Feinstein: Senate Panel Looking Into Allegation That Bush White House Wanted To 'Get' Professor

Eric Lach | June 17, 2011, 3:15PM

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)

The Senate Intelligence Committee has begun a preliminary investigation into the allegations that the Bush White House asked intelligence officials to gather damaging information on an outspoke critic, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) told The Lookout.

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Juan Cole

Professor Wants Investigation After Ex-Spy Says Bush White House Wanted To 'Get' Him

Eric Lach | June 16, 2011, 10:26AM

Juan Cole, a University of Michigan professor and influential blogger, has called on the Senate and House Intelligence Committees to investigate allegations raised in a New York Times story, that the Bush White House asked intelligence officials on at least two occasions to gather information on Cole that might discredit him.

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Signing Statements

Obama Signing Statements Under Fire... From Bush White House Alum (VIDEO)

Ryan J. Reilly | April 18, 2011, 4:15PM

No doubt, President Barack Obama's use of signing statements -- most recently to disregard a provision of the 2011 spending bill which defunded four of his so-called "czars" -- goes against statements he made during the 2008 campaign.

But when Bush administration alumni start faulting Obama for using signing statements, it gets a bit tough to let that criticism fly by.

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Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari

Saudi Man Who Allegedly Plotted Attack On Bush Bought Supplies On Amazon.com

Ryan J. Reilly | February 24, 2011, 2:30PM

Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, the 20-year-old who allegedly plotted to target the home of former President George W. Bush and attack other locations in the U.S. with improvised explosive devices led a seemingly lonely life in Texas after he arrived from Saudi Arabia in 2008. But the criminal complaint reveals that he may have compensated, in part, by starting a blog -- and that his alleged online activities had a decidedly darker side.

The investigation into Aldawsari appears to have started when the Carolina Biological Supply (CBS) reported a suspicious attempted purchase of the chemical phenol. Between December 2010 and January 2011, Aldawsari bought a number of items from Amazon.com that could seemingly be used to develop a weapon.

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Terrorism

Feds: Saudi Man In Texas Planned Attack On George W. Bush's Home

Ryan J. Reilly | February 24, 2011, 11:08AM

George W. Bush

A 20-year-old Saudi man living in Texas was arrested Wednesday and charged with the attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction in connection with his alleged purchase of chemicals and equipment used to make an improvised explosive device (IED).

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Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi

'Curveball': I Lied About Iraq WMD To Help Topple Saddam

Eric Lach | February 15, 2011, 10:55AM

Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi

Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi, codenamed "Curveball" by German and American intelligence officials, now admits he made up tales of mobile biological weapons trucks and clandestine weapons factories in Iraq, information that was used by the Bush White House to press the case for war. He also says he'd do it again.

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Alberto Gonzales

Bush Team Reunites To Cover 'Vindicated' Alberto Gonzales' Defense Bills

Ryan J. Reilly | December 3, 2010, 11:18AM

Fmr. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and President George W. Bush

With the Justice Department investigation of the U.S. Attorneys scandal wrapped up without charges, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has some big legal bills to pay. So Gonzales called on several Bush administration officials -- including former President George W. Bush himself -- to help.

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George Bush

Barbara Bush Says It Was Housekeeper Who Put Fetus In A Jar (VIDEO)

Rachel Slajda | November 23, 2010, 10:21AM

Former First Lady Barbara Bush

One of the most shocking passages from former President George W. Bush's memoir is the one in which he describes his mother having a miscarriage when he was a teenager. According to him, she put the fetus in a jar and showed it to him as they were driving to the hospital.

"I never expected to see the remains of the fetus, which she had saved in a jar to bring to the hospital," he wrote. As he said in one interview, "She said to her teenage kid, 'Here's the fetus.'"

But on Larry King Live last night, Barbara Bush told a decidedly different story.

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John Yoo

Yoo: I Said Torture Was Legal, But It Doesn't Mean They Should've Done It (VIDEO)

Ryan J. Reilly | November 22, 2010, 1:56PM

Former Justice Department lawyer and "torture memo" author John Yoo used a speeding metaphor to explain that just because he gave George W. Bush the legal justification for the "unpopular" decision to waterboard Khalid Sheikh Muhammed didn't mean Bush had to go through with it.

"Just because a law says you can drive 65 miles per hour doesn't mean you have to drive 65 miles per hour," Yoo said. "There's still a lot of discretion and choice that the leaders of our government had to make."

"I know part of the job from being the lawyer is defending sometimes unpopular decisions that your clients make. I'm willing to do that part of the job. But I also think that there's no escaping responsibility if people who make the policy decision," Yoo said in an interview on CNN on Friday.

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Alberto Gonzales

Gonzales: I Was 'Aware' Of Waterboarding

Ryan J. Reilly | November 22, 2010, 9:15AM

Fmr. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales

Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told TPM in an exclusive interview that he was aware of the so-called enhanced interrogation techniques used against suspected terrorists like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

He wouldn't say, however, whether he remembered when George W. Bush approved KSM's waterboarding. Bush recalled in his book that he told the CIA "Damn right" when asked whether to waterboard the man accused of planning Sept. 11.

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Alberto Gonzales

Alberto Gonzales: My Book Will 'Set The Record Straight'

Ryan J. Reilly | November 20, 2010, 9:23AM

Fmr. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and President George W. Bush

George W. Bush isn't the only official in the prior administration with writing chops. Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is also hard at work on a book that he told TPM will "set the record straight" on his public service and offer a "very candid, very honest" assessment of the people he worked with and decisions he made in the White House and at the Justice Department.

Gonzales also told me that he's in the midst of reading Bush's book Decision Points -- and while he's found his former boss' memoir "insightful," he remembers some events a bit differently than the former president.

"I would just simply urge your readers [to note] that he and I could observe the same thing and come away with completely different conclusions or memories of what we observed," said Gonzales. "So the fact that I might observe something or remember something differently than what he writes about in the book is just, I think, the human condition of people remembering something or observing something differently."

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Jerrold Nadler

Nadler: 'Shameful' For Holder To Ignore Bush Waterboarding Admission (VIDEO)

Ryan J. Reilly | November 11, 2010, 9:39AM

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY)

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) said Wednesday that President George W. Bush's recent admission that he approved the waterboarding of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was "a smoking gun" and renewed his call for Attorney General Eric Holder to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate torture.

But Nadler, the current chair of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, doesn't expect Holder to act.

"Judging by the record of this Attorney General, he will not pay attention, he will not respond," Nadler said in an interview on MSNBC on Wednesday. "And that is shameful."

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George Bush

Bush On Social Security: 'Privatization' Was A 'Poll-Tested Word'

Rachel Slajda | November 10, 2010, 11:18AM

George W. Bush signs copies of his book, 'Decision Points'

In the debate over his plans to partially privatize Social Security in 2005, "privatization" was "obviously a poll-tested word," says former President George W. Bush.

Bush, who has called the washout of his Social Security plans his biggest failure, told Rush Limbaugh yesterday that he was never out to privatize the program.

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'Decision Points'

Bush: Waterboarding Legal 'Because The Lawyer Said It Was' (VIDEO)

Rachel Slajda | November 9, 2010, 9:01AM

President George W. Bush in an interview with Matt Lauer

Former President George W. Bush was asked during an interview last night why he believes waterboarding is legal.

"Because the lawyer said it was," Bush said. "He said it did not fall within the Anti-Torture Act. I'm not a lawyer, but you gotta trust the judgment of people around you and I do."

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'Decision Points'

More Bush Bits: The Libby Pardon, Bombing Syria And A Fetus In A Jar

Rachel Slajda | November 8, 2010, 10:42AM

President George W. Bush in an interview with Matt Lauer

The day before former President George W. Bush's memoir is set to release, we have a few more bits and pieces to share.

In Decision Points, Bush wrote about his decision to commute the sentence of Scooter Libby, Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, who was convicted of perjury and other charges for his role in the Valerie Plame leak. According to Bush, Cheney was "angry" that Bush didn't grant Libby a full pardon.

Cheney confronted him and said, "I can't believe you're going to leave a soldier on the battlefield."

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'Decision Points'

Bush On Wiretapping, The 9/11 Shootdown Order And Executive Power

Rachel Slajda | November 5, 2010, 6:26PM

Fmr. President George W. Bush

Former President George W. Bush, in his new memoir out Tuesday, contends that he gave the original order to shoot down planes on Sept. 11, 2001, according to excerpts in the New York Times.

"I told [Vice President Cheney] that I would make decisions from the air and count on him to implement them on the ground," he wrote. "I told Dick that our pilots should contact suspicious planes and try to get them to land peacefully. If that failed, they had my authority to shoot them down. ... I had just made my first decision as a wartime commander in chief."

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George Bush

Bush: If I Hadn't Quit Drinking, 'I Really Am Convinced' I Wouldn't Have Been President

Rachel Slajda | November 5, 2010, 12:58PM

President George W. Bush in an interview with Matt Lauer

The dribbling out of excerpts and interview clips continues as former President George W. Bush re-emerges to promote his book, Decision Points. In the latest round of pre-release strategic leaks, Bush says he was able to quit drinking cold turkey at age 40 because he was never "chemically addicted."

The book reportedly opens with Bush's decision to quit drinking. In his interview with Matt Lauer, which airs in its entirety on Monday, Bush said alcohol had become a "love" that "began to compete" with his love for his wife and daughters.

"I was a drinker. Now I wasn't a knee-walkin' drunk. And I have concluded I was not chemically addicted, like some of my friends were, who required a 12-step program for some," he said.

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George Bush

Bush: I Gave The Order To Waterboard

Rachel Slajda | November 4, 2010, 9:38AM

George W. Bush

In his new memoir, former President George W. Bush says he personally gave the order to waterboard Khalid Sheik Mohammed in 2003.

According to the Washington Post, Bush writes that the CIA asked him if they could use the torture technique on Mohammed.

"Damn right," he said.

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George Bush

Bush: 'I Was A Dissenting Voice' On Iraq War

Rachel Slajda | November 3, 2010, 8:47AM

Fmr. President George W. Bush (R)

Former President George W. Bush considers himself "a dissenting voice" in the decision to go to war with Iraq.

In the first interview of the publicity tour for his new book, Decision Points, Bush told Matt Lauer that he didn't want to use force.

"Not everybody thought you should go to war, though," Lauer said. "There were dissenting voices."

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Bobby Thompson

Accomplice Of 'Bobby Thompson' Arraigned In Alleged Charity Scam

Johanna Barr | October 27, 2010, 4:19PM

"Bobby Thompson" and George W. Bush

The Ohio Attorney General's office announced today that Blanca Contreras, an associate of the alleged charity scammer and GOP donor known as "Bobby Thompson," had been arraigned after being extradited from North Carolina. She pleaded not guilty to charges of racketeering, money laundering, and aggravated theft. Bond was set at $2 million.

Contreras served as the acting treasurer for U.S. Navy Veterans Association, a fraudulent charity that Thompson allegedly operated from 2003 to 2010.

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Bobby Thompson

Charity Scammer Allegedly Used Fake Names To Donate $$ To GOP Candidates

Rachel Slajda and Johanna Barr | October 21, 2010, 8:43AM

"Bobby Thompson" and George W. Bush

"Bobby Thompson" isn't the only fake identity associated with the charity scammer / GOP donor who was indicted last week in Ohio. Thompson -- whose true identity is unknown -- also made up a dozen fake names, then allegedly took out money orders in those names so he could make donations to political candidates.

According to the Ohio attorney general's office, Thompson wrote at least 11 money orders using the names of people who apparently don't exist, along with addresses associated with his fake charity, U.S. Navy Veterans Association. He used the fake names to give $376 to Florida attorney general Bill McCollum in 2006, $2,260 to Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign in 2008 and $500 to Marty Seifert, a former Minnesota state house representative who unsuccessfully ran for governor this year.

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U.S. Attorneys

Gonzales: 'I'm Probably The Least Political Animal Of The Bush Administration'

Rachel Slajda | September 13, 2010, 5:52PM

Fmr. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and President George W. Bush

The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal is out this weekend with a glowing profile of former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, just about two months after the Justice Department dropped its investigation into whether Gonzales politicized the DOJ during his tenure.

As you might expect, Gonzales denied that his 2006 firing of U.S. attorneys was politically motivated.

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George Bush

Watchdog Report: Bush Aides Didn't Care About Threat To Emails

Rachel Slajda | August 30, 2010, 9:59AM

Former Vice President Dick Cheney and Former President George W. Bush.

Aides to President George W. Bush weren't troubled by the threat, due to a tech glitch, of losing millions of emails -- the preservation of which is required by federal law.

According to a new report by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, Vice President Cheney and others ignored warnings that, with no viable archive system in place, emails could be lost as the White House switched to the Microsoft Exchange email system in 2002. White House Counsel Harriet Miers even rejected a 2005 plan to restore the emails, according to the report.

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Faisal Shahzad

Times Square Bomb Suspect Jogged, Slammed Bush, Defaulted On Mortgage

Zachary Roth | May 5, 2010, 2:03PM

Faisal Shahzad

A day and a half after his arrest, a portrait is starting to emerge of Faisal Shahzad, the Pakistani-born American citizen who was pulled off a flight to Dubai at JFK Airport Monday night and arrested in connection with Saturday's attempted Times Square bombing.

That portrait, compiled based on accounts in several news outlets, is notable for the way in which Shahzad -- like so many of the young men behind Islamic terror attacks on the U.S. and Europe -- seems to have been simultaneously alien from, and embedded within, western culture. Born in Pakistan's remote and tribal Northwest Frontier Province, Shahzad, 30, grew up in a country that banned alcohol and taught Islam in school, and he maintained close ties to family members in the region. But he also went jogging in his suburban Connecticut neighborhood, and perused used car websites to find the Nissan Pathfinder that he's charged with using in the bomb plot. And he seems to have gone over the edge not long after participating in that archetypal American ritual of recent years -- defaulting on his mortgage.

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Alphonso Jackson

DOJ Drops Investigation Into Bush-Era HUD Secretary

Rachel Slajda | May 3, 2010, 4:40PM

Former HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson

Alphonso Jackson, the former secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development who resigned amid allegations of extreme cronyism, has been cleared by the Justice Department after a three-year investigation.

Jackson's lawyer told the Washington Post that the DOJ has closed its investigation into Jackson without pressing charges. The DOJ didn't comment.

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Massey Energy

Report: Top Bush Flack's PR Firm Doing Damage Control For Massey

Zachary Roth | April 26, 2010, 11:21AM

Dan Bartlett, former counselor to President George W. Bush, and Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship

To fight off damaging publicity in the wake of the explosion earlier this month that killed 29 West Virginia miners, Massey Energy has turned to a firm run by a top communications specialist from the Bush White House.

Austin-based Public Strategies has been advising Massey's board on how to respond to questions about the disaster and the board's oversight of the company, the Wall Street Journal reported last week, citing people familiar with the matter. Dan Bartlett, who ran President Bush's PR operation, is Public Strategies' president and CEO. Republican consultant Mark McKinnon, who played a leading role in Bush's presidential campaigns, is another principal.

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Bernard Kerik

Before Heading To Prison, Bernie Kerik Starts Blogspot Blog

Justin Elliott | April 16, 2010, 9:40AM

Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik

Bernard Kerik, the former New York Police Commissioner, former interim interior minister of Iraq, and onetime nominee to be secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, has started a new blog using the free Google Blogger service at bernardkerik.blogspot.com.

"It's all national security and terrorism stuff related to some of the threats we face, things that I think we should be looking at," Kerik, reached by phone Thursday at his Franklin Lakes, New Jersey home, tells TPMmuckraker of the new blog. He posted Monday on "the unfortunate reality of friendly fire" in response to the Wikileaks video of a U.S. helicopter killing a Reuters photographer in Iraq.

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Kristopher Sickles

'Scar My Tattered Body No More With Your Punishing Dildo Mallet': Accused Militia Plotter Bared Almost All In Film (VIDEO)

Zachary Roth | April 1, 2010, 10:39AM

Kristopher Sickles

In the last few days we've told you about Kris Sickles, aka "Pale Horse," who in the past has posted videos urging people to arm themselves and march on Washington, and this week was charged -- along with eight other members of the Hutaree, a Christian militia group -- with seditious conspiracy in connection with an alleged plot to kill law enforcement.

But Sickles, who in those videos identified himself as a member of the Ohio Militia, may also have a lighter side. The accused plotter looks to have starred in a deeply Not Safe For Work movie, filled with cursing, mock violence, pot jokes, and sound effects conveying flatulence. Sickles appears entirely naked but for a mask of President George W. Bush that obscures some, but not all, of his genitalia.

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Hutaree

Accused Christian Militia Member Posted Video Last Year: 'I'm Just A Simple Militant ... What's Wrong With That?'

Zachary Roth | March 29, 2010, 2:37PM

"Pale Horse" (left), seen in an Ohio Militia video

We already told you that one of the members of a Christian militia group charged today with "seditious conspiracy" in connection to an alleged plot to kill law enforcement appears to be the extremist who over the last 18 months created widely-viewed videos that warn "our country is in peril" and urge people to take up arms and march on Washington. And it now appears that that same militia member -- Kristopher Sickles, who goes by the name of "Pale Horse" -- posted a third video in which he lambasted the "corporate media" for its coverage of the militia movement.

The video, posted last August to YouTube and still available, sheds further light on the mindset and philosophy of at least one of the nine Hutaree members accused today of conspiring to kill police officers, then bomb their funeral in a bid to kill more law enforcement personnel, as part of a plot to "oppose by force the authority of the U.S. government."

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David Frum

Days After Lambasting GOP, Frum Leaves AEI

Zachary Roth | March 25, 2010, 6:54PM

David Frum

David Frum, the conservative pundit and former Bush White House speechwriter, has left his perch at the American Enterprise Institute -- with some observers wondering whether the move was triggered by his recent criticism of the GOP.

Today, Frum posted on his blog a note he had sent to AEI President Arthur Brooks:

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Ari Fleischer

The Return Of The Bush Flacks

Zachary Roth | March 12, 2010, 10:51AM

Clockwise from top left: Bush administration spokespeople Dan Bartlett, Dan Senor, Dana Perino and Ari Fleischer

For some of the Bush administration's most energetic spinners, it looks like it's finally safe to get back into the water.

OK, in truth, some of them never really got out. But we can't help noticing that in the last few weeks, several prominent spokespeople for the last administration have been back in the media spotlight, triggering memories of those halcyon early years of the century.

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Dan Senor

Report: Former Bush Adviser Senor 'Seriously Considering' Senate Run

Zachary Roth | March 11, 2010, 10:58AM

Dan Senor, former chief spokesperson for the Coalition Provisional Authority

There's more evidence that Dan Senor may be planning a U.S. Senate bid from New York this year.

The New York Times reports that the neoconservative and former top spokesman for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq has been urged to run by a slew of top Republicans -- including Rudy Giuliani, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who chairs the NRSC, Michael Long, the influential leader of New York's Conservative Party, and Ed Cox, the chair of the state GOP -- and that Senor is "seriously considering" doing so.

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Contractors

U.S. Embassy Guards Now Being Recruited On Craigslist

Justin Elliott | January 13, 2010, 12:01PM

Whitestone Group personnel, mounted.

In what has got to be some kind of milestone in the privatization of government security functions, an Ohio firm has turned to online classifieds service Craigslist to recruit guards for the U.S. embassy in Brazil.

An ad from the Whitestone Group, of Columbus, OH, was posted on Craigslist in Miami under the "security jobs" category. Candidates must have not only "experience managing people," but also "Secret Clearance with ability to obtain Top Secret Clearance."

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Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

Bond On Detroit Case: Obama Didn't Learn From Bush's Mistakes

Justin Elliott | January 4, 2010, 12:47PM

Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO)

In a statement to TPMmuckraker, Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO) elaborates on his position that the Bush Administration made a mistake in not classifying shoebomber Richard Reid as an "enemy combatant" -- and that President Obama is now repeating that mistake in handling Umar Abdulmutallab.

But Bond, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, does not explain why he did not speak out against Bush's handling of Reid at the time.

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John Yoo

Yoo: I've Never Met Bush

Zachary Roth | December 30, 2009, 12:40PM

John Yoo

George W. Bush, you say? Never heard of him.

That's the tack that Torture Memo author John Yoo seems to take in a new interview with Deborah Solomon of The New York Times Magazine.

The parley was to promote Yoo's new book, Crisis and Command, which the Times describes as "an eloquent, fact-laden history of audacious power grabs by American presidents going back to George Washington" -- a subject with which Yoo, who was a lawyer in the Bush Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, has some familiarity.

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George Bush

Bush White House Emails Won't Be Public For Years

Zachary Roth | December 15, 2009, 8:30AM

President Barack Obama

The Obama administration and two good government groups yesterday announced, with some fanfare, that they'd come to an agreement on those missing emails from the Bush White House.

But if you think the news means we're finally about to get the full story on the Valerie Plame leak, or the deliberations that took us to war in Iraq, think again. Many of the roughly 22 million emails secured through the deal likely won't be made public until 2022. And even the ones that can be released sooner won't see the light of day for around three years.

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George Bush

Obama Administration Will Restore Missing Bush White House Emails

Zachary Roth | December 14, 2009, 3:59PM

George W. Bush

The White House has announced a settlement in a lawsuit filed by two good-government groups concerning emails that went missing over a two-and-a-half year period during the Bush administration.

Under the terms of the deal, 94 days of emails -- which could shed light on controversial topics that the Bush administration sought to obscure from public view, such as the Valerie Plame scandal and the run-up to the war in Iraq -- will be transferred to the National Archives, and eventually made public.

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Michael Brown

Michael Brown To Teach Class On Patriot Act

Zachary Roth | December 4, 2009, 3:10PM

Michael Brown

Heckuva seminar, Brownie!

Michael Brown, the much-ridiculed former FEMA director who became a symbol of the Bush administration's disastrous response to Hurricane Katrina, has landed a new gig: teaching a law-school class on the Patriot Act next spring.

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