In January of 2001, the Bush Administration, which just moved into the White House, accused Aides to President Clinton of vandalizing the White House.

Charges of supposed vandalism start to come from the Bush Administration

• The 'vandalism' was well known by a press briefing on January 26, 2001.
• "Ari, how dismayed is the President about the vandalism, and what does he want you to do with the cataloging once it's completed?" (1)
• "Ari, are there -- just a follow-up, please, on the vandalism. Could you at some point get us a figure, because people are using wild figures -- $90,000 -- just give us some general ballpark idea?" (1)
• "Ari, did the President specifically give instructions that no kinds of criminal charges or legal charges should be pursued with respect to any vandalism or mischief that might have taken place?" (1)

Charges of supposed vandalism from the media

• Fox News and the Washington Times acted as the vanguards in this made up scandal.
• "By the way, the reported vandalism in those White House offices now includes power and phone cords cut... trash dumped on floors, desk drawers emptied onto floors, pornographic pictures left in computer printers, scatological messages left on voice mail, and cabinets and drawers glued shut. And the Washington Times reports that the presidential 747 that flew Bill and Hillary Clinton to New York on inauguration day was stripped bare. The plane's porcelain, china... and silverware, and salt and pepper shakers, blankets and pillow cases, nearly all items bearing the presidential seal, were taken by Clinton staffers who went along for the ride. The Washington Times quoted a military steward as saying that even a supply of toothpaste was stolen from a compartment under a sink." - Brit Hume, 1/25/01 (2)
• "Look, we've had these reports, very disturbing reports -- and I have actually spoken to people that have confirmed a lot of the reports -- about the trashing of the White House. Pornographic materials left in the printers. They cut the phone lines. Lewd and crude messages on phone machines. Stripping of anything that was not bolted down on Air Force One. $200,000 in furniture taken out." - Sean Hannity, (2)1/26/01
• "Now, you know what else helped Bush have such a good week? It was the contrast with the Clintons' sleazy departure from the White House, which is a hot story in itself.... You had the trashing of the White House itself. We don't know how much, but the typewriters, the voicemail, the graffiti on the walls and so on, reflecting, I think, a real bitterness that they should not have reflected, at least in that." - Fred Barnes, 1/27/01 (2)
• "I mean, the price tag right now is about $200,000, so that's a felony right there." - Bill O'Reilly, 1/26/01 (2)

Bush Administration does not want to investigate or prosecute

• Even though they've made everything ever since then political, the Bush Administration expressed no desire to investigate what happened, the first clue that something was a little strange. After a while, they even changed course on the vandalism and said it was time to stop talking about it. (3)

Independent Reports find no vandalism

• GAO finds little `corroborating evidence' of White House vandalism. (4)
• General Services Administration concludes that Clinton Administration did not trash White House. (5)

(1) http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/briefings/20010126.html

(2) http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1689

(3) http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0101/27/cst.05.html

(4) http://www.accessmylibrary.com/premium/0286/0286-8817235.html

(5) http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=PD&s_site=twincities&p_multi=SP&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EDCB7BC807C681E&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM

Categories: Bush Administration, Hoaxes, Media