February 2001

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Clinton Frees Aides to Talk on Pardon 2/27/2001 5:57 PM Former President Clinton is freeing up his aides to tell Congress what they know about his pardon of fugitive Marc Rich, forgoing the battles over executive privilege that marked the Monica Lewinsky investigation. Former President Clinton is giving his ex-aides the green light to cooperate with congressional investigators looking into the controversial pardons issued on his last day in office, ABCNEWS has learned. Clinton has agreed to waive executive privilege claims that could block his former aides from telling the House Government Reform Committee what they know about the pardon of billionaire fugitive Marc Rich. Read the article Report: Clinton Spoke Up for Friends in CBS Dispute 2/27/2001 5:55 PM While he was still president, Bill Clinton telephoned the chief executive of television network CBS seeking to help two old friends in a million-dollar billing dispute, The Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition Tuesday. Citing people in the entertainment industry familiar with the matter, the paper said Clinton was seeking to help TV producers Harry Thomason and Linda Bloodworth-Thomason. It was several months before the flurry of requests for presidential pardons from Clinton, some of which have erupted into a scandal enveloping the former president and his wife Hillary, a U.S. senator from New York. Read the article Citing Clinton Abuses, Democrat Wants Pardons Curb 2/27/2001 5:53 PM Citing ``abuses'' by former President Clinton, one of Congress' most outspoken Democrats on Tuesday proposed an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to limit the ability of future presidents to issue pardons in their final months in office. ``The abuses we have seen of the pardoning power -- most egregiously by former President Clinton -- came in the lame-duck period just after a presidential election and before the inauguration of a new president,'' said Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts. ``The amendment I am introducing would prevent this pattern from recurring.'' Like his presidency, marred by a sex scandal that led to his impeachment, Clinton's post-presidency was beset from the start by controversy over a flurry of last-minute pardons. Read the article Clinton Library to Submit Names of Big Donors 2/27/2001 5:51 PM While confusion persists over the roles played by Beth Dozoretz and Denise Rich in the pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich, Chairman Dan Burton of the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee scored a small victory Tuesday in his investigation of the controversial Clinton pardons. Former President Clinton's Presidential Library Fund has sent a letter to Burton's Committee saying the Fund will allow Congressmen Burton, R-Ind., and Henry Waxman, D-Calif., to review a list of donors who have contributed $5,000 or more. Last week, the committee was rebuffed in its request to review the foundation's donor list. The committee wants to see if any money came in that could have been promised in exchange for pardons. Read the article The New Yorker Lists Clinton's Least Favorite Staffers 2/26/2001 10:44 PM Not everyone from the Clinton administration is still a friend of Bill. The former president's least favorite staffers and appointees are spokesman George Stephanopoulos, FBI Director Louis Freeh, Attorney General Janet Reno and Labor Secretary Robert Reich, according to the March 5 issue of The New Yorker. The list comes from former Sen. Bob Kerrey, who told the magazine that Clinton mentioned the four -- plus a fifth person Kerrey couldn't remember -- when Kerrey and the former president had dinner Jan. 30 in New York. Read the article President to Create Social Security Panel 2/26/2001 10:41 PM President Bush has decided to pursue fundamental reforms of the Social Security system by assigning a high-level commission to try to forge consensus for the controversial idea of allowing Americans to invest some of their payroll taxes in private retirement accounts. The strategy of a commission, which Bush plans to announce tonight during his first address to a joint session of Congress, allows the administration to sow momentum for the entitlement reforms that were a dominant theme of the president's campaign. It also buys time for the tax and education proposals that he has asked lawmakers to adopt first, according to administration officials and outside policy analysts. Read the article Denise Rich and former Democratic Party finance Director at White House January 19 2/26/2001 10:41 PM Denise Rich and former Democratic Party finance director Beth Dozoretz were at the White House on President Clinton's final night in office when he was deciding on a raft of controversial pardons, including one for Rich's ex-husband, Secret Service records show. The two women arrived together around 5:30 p.m., according to knowledgable sources. It is not clear what they were doing at the White House residence that evening, and they could have been among numerous guests at a late-night party attended by close Clinton friends and family. But the Secret Service logs provide the first evidence that the women were actually in the White House on the night that the controversial pardon was being decided. Read the article Bush Budget Wins Ventura's Vote 2/26/2001 10:36 PM Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura says he and President Bush are a lot alike, guys with a liking for cutting taxes and shooting from the hip. After a governors' meeting with Bush at the White House on Monday, Ventura said, "The president is telling the same message I'm telling, and I walked out of that room feeling very, very comfortable. ... The president and I are parallel." Last year, Ventura was host for Al and Tipper Gore at the governor's mansion, and a few months later he spent the night at the White House, talking with President Clinton until 4 in the morning. He didn't endorse anyone in the election, but he's taken a liking to Bush. Read the article Bush Won Florida, Newspaper Vote Recount Says 2/26/2001 9:16 AM There was no victory hidden for Al Gore in Florida's uncounted presidential ballots, The Miami Herald reported Monday, citing the results of a new study. The study, sponsored by the newspaper, its parent company Knight-Ridder and USA Today, shows a recount of Miami-Dade County undervotes -- or punch card ballots on which machines could not read a vote for president -- would not have given Gore enough votes to overtake Bush's win of the presidency when combined with recount results in Volusia, Broward and Palm Beach Counties. "There were many people who expected there was a bonanza of votes here for Al Gore, and it turns out there was not," Herald executive editor Martin Baron said Sunday. Read the article Irate Burton Incensed That Clinton Library Won't Cooperate 2/25/2001 9:28 PM The chairman of the House Government Reform Committee is steamed over the Clinton Library Foundation's refusal to comply with his investigation into the pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich. The library refused to supply the names of contributors who have pledged more than $5,000 to the Clinton Library fund. Chairman Dan Burton, R-Ind., received a "partial submission" of records Thursday in response to its investigation into the controversial last-minute pardon of Rich by former President Clinton. "This is unacceptable," Burton said in a written statement. "Nothing short of full compliance is acceptable." Read the article Bush Targets Corporate Subsidies 2/25/2001 9:26 PM President Bush plans to reduce corporate ``subsidies'' to help pay for tax cuts and higher education and health spending, his budget chief said Sunday. As Bush prepares to outline his budget plan to Congress on Tuesday, one likely target is the U.S. Export-Import Bank, said Mitch Daniels, director of the Office of Management and Budget. The bank guarantees loans to foreign companies in projects that use U.S. products and services. Also targeted are federal programs that bring telephone service to rural areas, Daniels said on ``Fox News Sunday.'' Read the article Bush to Contend Both Taxes, Debt Can Be Reduced 2/25/2001 9:21 PM President Bush, in his first address to Congress on Tuesday, will assert his budget plan effectively eliminates the national debt over the next decade, even after accounting for his $1.6 trillion tax cut and his ambitious goal of creating private Social Security accounts, aides said. Unlike former vice president Al Gore, Bush rarely emphasized debt reduction on the campaign trail, though aides sometimes suggested his plan would pay off the debt by 2016. But now, armed with higher surplus projections and a new method of calculating how much debt really can be paid off, Bush will deliver the message that big tax cuts and significant debt reduction are compatible. Read the article Armey Wants To Meet With NAACP Head 2/22/2001 10:04 PM House Majority Leader Dick Armey on Thursday asked the head of the NAACP to meet with him to discuss what Armey said was a common practice of trying to make political gains by labeling Republicans as racists. "I believe there is a phenomenon in American politics today that could justly be called 'racial McCarthyism' or 'reverse race-baiting,'" Armey, R-Texas, said in a letter to Kweisi Mfume, a former House member who has headed the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People for the past five years. "Deliberate or not," Armey wrote, "if left unchallenged, this practice will continue to divide our nation, polarize our political parties, and do untold harm in the lives of real people who are unjustly accused of conspiracy against the civil rights of African Americans." Read the article Rumsfeld Issues Military Machine Ban 2/22/2001 10:03 PM Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld will order a moratorium on allowing civilians at the controls of any military ship, aircraft or vehicle, officials said Thursday. The move responds to questions about the role of civilians aboard the U.S. submarine that collided last week with a Japanese fishing trawler. Rumsfeld's spokesman, Rear Adm. Craig Quigley, said the order is a "work in progress" and may be issued by the end of the week. "All the services know this is coming," Quigley said. Read the article Bush Chides Saddam, Supports Freeh 2/22/2001 10:03 PM President Bush, in his first full-fledged news conference, declared the military strike against Iraq a success Thursday despite the sub-par performance of U.S. missiles. "We got his attention," he said of Saddam Hussein. Fielding questions for a half hour, the president also said he was "deeply concerned" about the FBI spy case but gave agency director Louis Freeh a vote of confidence. "I think he does a good job," Bush said two days after FBI agent Robert Philip Hanssen was arrested and accused of spying for Moscow. At times both confident and cautious, Bush answered more than a dozen questions after opening the White House briefing room session with a defense of his tax-cutting and budget-tightening plans. Read the article Bush Criticizes China for Helping Iraq 2/22/2001 10:01 PM President Bush said Thursday he is disturbed that China is helping Iraq build a more sophisticated and effective defense against American and British air patrols. "It's troubling that they be involved in helping Iraq develop a system that will endanger our pilots," Bush told a White House news conference. He was responding to reports that last week's U.S.-British airstrikes in the Baghdad area were prompted by indications that Chinese civilian and military workers have been helping lay fiber-optic cables to improve the durability of Iraq's air defense network. "We're concerned about the Chinese presence in Iraq," Bush said, and the administration is "sending the appropriate response" to Beijing. Read the article Clinton Brother-in-Law Paid $400,000 for Pardon Lobby 2/22/2001 10:12 AM Wednesday's revelation that Hillary Clinton's brother received hefty payments for securing a presidential pardon and sentence commutation for two legal clients intensified the investigation into President Clinton's last-minute pardons, even as the former first couple demanded the money be returned. Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., a longtime Clinton foe and chairman of the House committee investigating the pardons, called the revelations of the payments to Rodham "deeply troubling" and vowed to investigate. "This makes it look like there is one system of justice for those with money and influence, and one system of justice for everyone else," Burton said. Read the article Powell To Ask for Tax Release 2/21/2001 4:18 PM Secretary of State Colin Powell is going to the Middle East this weekend without a peace plan but with a plea to Israel to provide the Palestinians with economic relief by turning over collected taxes and duties. It is an appeal the United States has made in the past, one that was underscored by Nabil Shaath, a senior Palestinian negotiator, in talks at the State Department with Powell and Edward Walker, the assistant secretary of state for the Near East. Accusing Israel of imposing a ''total siege'' on the West Bank and in Gaza, Shaath said Wednesday he had asked Powell to pressure Israel to turn over to the Palestinians tax revenues and custom duties. Shaath said the Palestinian economy had been reduced by about 50 percent. Read the article Congressman Graham to Seek Thurmond's Senate Seat 2/21/2001 4:17 PM U.S. Rep. Lindsey Graham, one of the prosecutors during President Clinton's impeachment, announced Wednesday that he will seek the Republican nomination for the Senate seat being vacated by Strom Thurmond. Graham, who was elected to Congress in 1994, often served as a spokesman for the 13 prosecutors in Clinton's impeachment. He also was active in last year's presidential campaign for Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona. Graham said his campaign would emphasize national defense, Social Security and education issues. Read the article Vice President's Wife Continues to Speak Out Against Eminem 2/21/2001 4:14 PM Lynne Cheney said Tuesday she is "amazed and dismayed" that rock star Elton John is going to perform at the Grammys with rapper Eminem, whose lyrics chronicle violence against women and gays. The vice president's wife has taken an active role in condemning the music industry for promoting artists with violent lyrics and has been especially critical of Eminem. "This certainly isn't the first time, but Eminem is certainly, I think, the most extreme example of rock lyrics used to demean women, advocate violence against women, violence against gay people," Mrs. Cheney said in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer. Read the article Former President Calls Rich Pardon 'Disgraceful' 2/21/2001 4:13 PM Former President Carter said Tuesday that Bill Clinton abused his power and brought disgrace to the White House with his last-minute pardon of fugitive Marc Rich. "I think President Clinton made one of his most serious mistakes in the way he handled the pardon situation the last few hours he was in office," Carter said during a speech at Georgia Southwestern State University. "A number of them were quite questionable, including about 40 not recommended by the Justice Department." Of the Rich pardon, Carter said: "I don't think there is any doubt that some of the factors in his pardon were attributable to his large gifts. In my opinion, that was disgraceful." Read the article A Loyalist Calls White House to Order 2/20/2001 1:34 PM Earlier this month, Andrew H. Card Jr. made an accidental splash as President Bush's chief of staff. An interview he gave to USA Today produced the front-page headline "Bush to close offices on AIDS, race" -- and a resulting furor. To calm the controversy, Card fell on his sword, allowing the White House spokesman to announce Card made "a mistake." The flap demonstrated the fierce loyalty and discipline of Card, who, during two decades of service to the Bush family, has risen from small-town Massachusetts legislator to Cabinet secretary and presidential staff chief. It was all the more remarkable because what Card had said in the first place was, essentially, correct. While Bush wasn't killing AIDS and race efforts, he was folding the functions into a leaner, more efficient White House. In the end, Card opted for public embarrassment rather than jeopardizing his streamlining efforts. Read the article Ashcroft Faces Tough Choices Early 2/20/2001 7:37 AM Attorney General John D. Ashcroft is facing a series of difficult decisions about some politically hot issues at the Justice Department, including the first federal execution in decades, tobacco litigation, the Microsoft case, a potential budget crisis that could lead to massive job cuts, the revamping of the troubled federal immigration agency, the Marc Rich pardon and the selection of a civil rights chief. A skilled politician elected to major public office five times in Missouri, former senator Ashcroft has pledged to make decisions as attorney general without regard to politics about these issues and the three other areas he has identified as his top priorities: reducing gun violence, curbing illegal drug use by teens and fighting discrimination in housing and voting. Read the article It's Bush vs. Iraq Again 2/19/2001 8:34 PM It looks like it could be the mother of all grudge matches: Iraq's Saddam Hussein against George W. Bush, son of the man who defeated Iraq in the 1991 Gulf War. Friday's bombing raid against Iraq, within the first month of Bush's presidency, suggests that the old Gulf warriors of the new administration will take a more aggressive stance than the Clinton White House to hamper the Iraqi leader's attempts to rebuild his military. That doesn't mean Bush will seek to accomplish what his father and President Clinton failed to do: overthrow Saddam. State Department officials say the administration's first priority will be retooling United Nations economic sanctions so that they focus more narrowly on weapons. Read the article Supreme Court Retirement Rumors Fly 2/19/2001 8:31 PM Maybe Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist will leave first. After nearly 30 years on the court, about half as chief justice, he has dealt with almost any constitutional issue imaginable and built a conservative legacy. Also, the 76-year-old Rehnquist might figure that leaving now affords the best opportunity for a conservative president and Republican-led Senate to replace him. Perhaps Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, also a Republican, will quit and retire in Arizona. O'Connor, 70, also has made her mark in 20 years on the court and reportedly has told friends she's ready to travel and play golf. Or possibly the oldest member of the court, 80-year-old Justice John Paul Stevens, will stop commuting between Washington and Florida and retire in the South. Read the article President Calls Earnhardt's Widow 2/19/2001 8:30 PM President Bush, who described race driver Dale Earnhardt as a friend, called to express his condolences to the widow of the NASCAR star after he was killed in a crash at the Daytona 500, the White House said. Bush spokesman Gordon Johndroe said Sunday the president's "prayers are with the Earnhardt family and the NASCAR community." Read the article Poll: Reagan, Kennedy, Lincoln Get Nod as 'Greatest Presidents' 2/19/2001 8:25 PM Ronald Reagan's 90th birthday this month seems to have given the former chief executive a boost in public standing, according to the latest yearly poll that asks Americans to name the United States' greatest president. Last year, Presidents John F. Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln came up statistically tied in the Gallup poll, while Reagan and Franklin Delano Roosevelt lagged slightly behind. Reagan, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease, pulled ahead of Roosevelt in this year's poll, which was taken just after a cycle of news stories had run about his 90th birthday and his recovery from a broken hip. Read the article President Bush Dedicates Museum Devoted to Oklahoma Bombing 2/19/2001 8:24 PM President Bush opened a museum commemorating the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing Monday, imploring Americans to "confront evil, wherever and whenever" it exists in a nation vulnerable to senseless violence and terrorism. "The presence of evil always reminds us of the need for vigilance," Bush said in a solemn address. The emotional ceremony began with 168 seconds of silence -- one second for each life lost in the rubble of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. Only the whistling, wintry wind and the rippling of an American flag could be heard outside the Oklahoma City National Memorial Center, where nearly 1,500 people gathered less than 100 yards from the site of the worst act of terrorism on U.S. soil. Read the article James To Lead Antitrust Division 2/15/2001 10:38 PM Charles A. James, a veteran antitrust lawyer who helped craft government rules on corporate mergers, was named Thursday by the Bush administration to head the Justice Department's antitrust division. James has a reputation for conservatism on antitrust matters and his nomination raised speculation that the government might be more likely to seek a settlement in its case against Microsoft Corp. James, who is black, is the second African American chosen as a top deputy to Attorney General John Ashcroft, who was criticized by Democrats and civil rights groups as insensitive on racial matters. Read the article Cheney Tells Conservatives Bush will Govern in Reagan Tradition 2/15/2001 10:35 PM Vice President Dick Cheney told conservative activists Thursday he and President Bush will govern in the tradition of Ronald Reagan, who remains wildly popular with the group. Cheney, speaking at the winter meeting of the Conservative Political Action Conference, promised quick action on a much-debated missile defense system, urged quick passage of tax cuts and pledged to create a more civil tone in Washington. "The president's tax cut is pro-growth and America needs it now," Cheney said. "It lets overcharged taxpayers keep more of their own money, giving our economy the boost it needs." Read the article GOP Firm on Tax Cut Plan Despite Defections 2/15/2001 10:32 PM Republican leaders are downplaying the defections of two GOP senators who abandoned President Bush's $1.6 trillion tax-cut plan because they said it would be too costly. With the Senate's 50-50 partisan balance and just one Democrat so far voicing support for the plan %u2014 Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia -- every senator's vote may be crucial to the fate of the tax plan, the heart of Bush's economic program. "I've got a lot of work to do," Bush told reporters Thursday before meeting with GOP members of the House and Senate budget committees. "But I'm convinced that when the American people hear our plan, they will support it. And I think we got a very good chance of getting the tax package through." Read the article U.S. Pardon Attorney: White House Withheld Rich Information 2/14/2001 2:37 PM The Clinton administration withheld details of fugitive financier Marc Rich's criminal background from the Justice Department, a U.S. attorney testified at today's congressional hearing into the controversial pardon. Pardon attorney Roger Adams told the Senate Judiciary Committee that the White House Counsel's office did not inform him that Rich was wanted in the U.S. on charges of tax evasion, fraud and participating in illegal oil deals with Iran -- only that Rich and a business partner "had been living abroad for several years." Adams, a key witness for the judiciary committee, said he was surprised by a Justice Department check that revealed Rich was a fugitive living in Switzerland. According to a source speaking on condition of anonymity, the discovery of Rich's criminal background prompted Adams to fax the White House informing them of Rich's fugitive status and the nature of the charges against him. Read the article Networks to Promise Better Election Coverage, Urge Uniform Closing 2/14/2001 2:31 PM The heads of the nation's television networks, in rare testimony before Congress, outlined the steps they will take to avoid a repeat of the Florida election call that prematurely elected George W. Bush. Media representatives, speaking Wednesday to the House Energy and Commerce Committee Wednesday, also reasserted that technical problems, not political bias, were responsible for the election-night errors, and it is the news organizations themselves, not the government, that should fix them. The panel, chaired by Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., heard testimony from the heads of ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, CNN, The Associated Press and Voter News Service. VNS is a consortium created in 1993 by those six news organizations to provide exit polling data and actual voting results. Read the article Senator Bond Stands Firm on Voter Fraud Charges 2/14/2001 12:44 PM A few weeks back, Missouri Senator Christopher "Kit" Bond and Representative William Lacy Clay Jr. found themselves in the same corporate box at the Trans World Dome to take in a sporting event. Clay took notice of Bond's cast-encased right arm and quipped, "Hit the podium a little hard, Senator?" Bond, the state's most powerful Republican, laughed. So did Clay. Clay and other Democrats aren't laughing now. After pounding the podium in anger on election night, Bond continues to call for a federal investigation into allegations of attempted vote fraud by Democrats - including Clay - on Nov. 7 in the city of St. Louis. Read the article Clinton's Harlem Office Shuffle Hits Logistical Snag 2/13/2001 2:48 PM Former president Bill Clinton's search for New York office space hit a new snag Tuesday, as the tenants of the Harlem offices he visited said they did not want to move. The offices Clinton was considering -- the 12th floor of 55. W 125th street in a regentrified neighborhood of Harlem -- are currently leased by New York's Department of Administrative Services. The agency, which uses the office space as an abused women and children's center, told Fox News' they did not want to relinquish their lease. This latest obstacle in Clinton's attempt to set up a Manhattan headquarters did not seem to immediately deter the former president, whose tour of the Harlem neighborhood was met with a cheering crowd. After touring the site, Clinton announced his intention to locate his headquarters in Harlem. Read the article Cellucci Nominated for Canada Post 2/13/2001 2:45 PM President Bush on Tuesday nominated Massachusetts Governor Paul Cellucci as ambassador to Canada. "Governor Paul Cellucci is a friend and a fellow governor," Bush said in a statement. "His appointment signifies the importance I place on the close relationship between the United States and Canada." Cellucci was an early backer of Bush's presidential bid, and helped rally support for Bush, a two-term Texas governor, among other governors. He was an important ally during the New Hampshire Republican primary, which Bush lost to Sen. John McCain. Read the article Bush Prays for Crash Victims 2/13/2001 2:44 PM President Bush led U.S. service men and women Tuesday in a moment of silent prayer for Army personnel killed and injured in the nighttime crash of two Army Black Hawk helicopters over Hawaii. "Just this morning, we were reminded of the risks of your duty and the sacrifices that you make," Bush told a gathering of Navy and Defense Department personnel at headquarters for the Allied Command Atlantic, U.S. Joint Forces Command. Read the article Bush Not Happy About Clinton Probes 2/13/2001 2:44 PM President Bush said Tuesday that reports that members of former President Clinton's party took items off Air Force One on Clinton's last flight were "simply not true." Bush, in a wide-ranging discussion with reporters while flying back from Norfolk, Va., also suggested he has little enthusiasm for congressional probes of his predecessor's final acts in office, including pardons. Read the article Bush Calls on Allies to Work on Missile Defense 2/13/2001 2:42 PM President Bush marveled Tuesday at a high-tech simulation of NATO's military might as he asked America's allies to "work as one" with him on the development of a missile defense system and "new architecture" for U.S. defenses. "To succeed, America knows we must work with our allies. We did not prevail together in the Cold War only to go our separate ways pursuing separate plans with separate technologies," Bush told an outdoor assembly of Navy and Defense Department personnel. Read the article Poll: Bush Gets Generally High Marks; Americans Place Education First 2/13/2001 2:40 PM Americans feel positively about President Bush on the whole, according to a new poll, but they're more enthusiastic about his proposals on education than about his income tax cut plans. Half of the people surveyed in the CNN-USA Today-Gallup Poll said improving education should be a top priority for the Bush administration, and just under three in 10 said reducing income taxes should be the highest goal. Other issues were given higher emphasis than tax cuts. Almost four in 10 said the main focus should be on keeping America prosperous, balancing the budget, providing military security and dealing with energy problems. Read the article Survivors' Father Announces Bid for Oklahoma Governor 2/13/2001 2:39 PM The father of two young survivors of the Oklahoma City bombing is running for governor, saying he wants to give something back to the people of Oklahoma. Jim Denny said the state's response to the bombing of the federal building and to other emergencies, including tornadoes in May 1999 and last month's crash of an Oklahoma State University basketball team plane, taught him much about Oklahomans. "I love the people," Denny said Monday as he announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination in the 2002 election. "It's going to be a true honor to reach out and serve the people of Oklahoma." Read the article Bush Calls for Military Pay Raises 2/12/2001 8:52 PM President Bush stepped out as commander-in-chief today, flying to the largest Army base east of the Mississippi River to put price tags on his campaign promises for improving the lives of military members and their families. "You're among the first in the Army to hear me extend, 'Hoah!" Bush said, roaring the traditional grunt greeting, which sounds like, "Hoo-ah!" In the damp coastal Georgia morning, the soldiers massed around the parade ground echoed back a deafening, "Hoah!" Bush's trip was his first on a jet as president, and his first visit to a military installation. He plans trips to bases each of the next two days as part of his "national security week," designed to highlight his plans for the military, which is one of his top six agenda items (along with education, faith-based charity, tax cuts, prescription drug coverage for seniors as a Medicare benefit and strengthening Social Security). Read the article Atlanta Lawyer Likely Pick for Ashcroft Deputy 2/12/2001 8:50 PM President Bush intends to appoint Larry D. Thompson, an Atlanta lawyer who is African American, to the high-profile post of deputy attorney general, a move designed in part to counter criticism that Attorney General John D. Ashcroft is insensitive to race, administration sources said yesterday. Thompson, a partner in the Atlanta law firm of King & Spalding, is best known in Washington for serving as an adviser and a witness for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas during his contentious Senate confirmation hearings. Thompson is a political conservative and a native of Missouri, where Ashcroft served as state attorney general, governor and senator. Read the article Specter Says Clinton 'Technically' Could Be Impeached Again 2/12/2001 8:49 PM Bill Clinton faced more controversy on Monday over his pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich, with officials saying the former president could be subject to action ranging from a second impeachment trial to a criminal investigation by a U.S. attorney. In the most recent development, sources told Fox News a congressional committee investigating the case would subpoena documents related to the Rich pardon on Tuesday. Hours earlier, Attorney General John Ashcroft suggested he was open to working with Congress in its probe of the circumstances behind the pardon. Ashcroft declined to say point blank whether he would support granting limited immunity to permit Rich's former wife, Denise Rich, to testify to House and Senate investigative panels. Mrs. Rich last week invoked her Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination in the case. Read the article Ashcroft Open to Rich Pardon Probe 2/12/2001 8:48 PM Attorney General John Ashcroft suggested on Monday that he was open to working with Congress in its investigation of the circumstances behind former President Clinton's pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich. Ashcroft declined to say point blank whether he would support granting limited immunity to permit Rich's former wife, Denise Rich, to testify to House and Senate investigative panels. "I think it's very important for us to take those kinds of requests very seriously," Ashcroft told reporters at the Justice Department. Ashcroft spoke at his first formal meeting with the news media since being sworn in earlier this month after a stormy Senate confirmation. Read the article Panel Looks to Compel Rich's Ex-Wife to Testify on Pardon 2/11/2001 4:27 PM The House committee investigating former President Clinton's controversial pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich likely will seek a grant of immunity for his former wife in exchange for her testimony. Denise Rich invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in response to questions submitted to her by the House Government Reform Committee, which held a hearing Thursday as part of the pardon probe. But committee Chairman Dan Burton, R-Ind., said the panel probably would ask the Justice Department for an immunity grant to compel Rich -- a major Democratic Party contributor -- to testify. Read the article Morgan Stanley Apologizes to Clients for Clinton Speech 2/11/2001 4:23 PM The president of Morgan Stanley has told clients it was a mistake to invite former President Bill Clinton to speak at a company conference last week, The New York Times reported report Sunday. "I fully understand why you are upset that former President Clinton spoke at one of our conferences," chairman Philip J. Purcell wrote in an e-mail message. "We clearly made a mistake." Morgan Stanley acknowledged last week that it received several phone calls from customers irate that Clinton was speaking at the company's annual High Net Worth conference, held this year in Boca Raton, Fla. Clinton was paid between $100,000 to $150,000 for his first speech since leaving office. It was closed to the press and the public. Read the article Park Service on Clintons' Returned Gifts: They're Ours 2/11/2001 4:23 PM Lamps, tables, chairs, sofas and prints were among the household goods that former President Clinton and his wife returned to the government this week, according to a complete list released Friday by the National Park Service. The service released the list a day after concluding that 19 items the Clintons took with them when they left were the property of the White House, not personal gifts they were entitled to keep. Questions remain about why the items ended up with the Clintons. The Clintons have refused to comment on the National Park Service determination. But early this week, the former president's office issued a statement saying every item accepted by him and the former first lady, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., had been identified by the White House gift office as a present to them. Read the article How New Jersey Got a New Governor 2/11/2001 4:21 PM New Jersey voters aren't exactly sure how it is that state Senate President Donald T. DiFrancesco (R) became their governor. A Quinnipiac University poll of 1,156 registered New Jersey voters found that only 39 percent knew that under New Jersey law the state Senate president takes over when the governor leaves office early. DiFrancesco took over when Christine Todd Whitman (R) became administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Although 62 percent said it was "a good thing" that the state Senate president took over, 72 percent said they would like to change the state Constitution to include an elected lieutenant governor. New Jersey is one of seven states without such a post. One person not complaining is DiFrancesco, who now enjoys the power of incumbency in his quest for this year's GOP gubernatorial nomination. But Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler (R) has refused to step aside for a DiFrancesco coronation. Read the article Bush to Visit Military Bases to Press Case for Full Review 2/11/2001 4:19 PM President Bush will visit three military bases this coming week, his fourth in office, to press his case for a full review of the military's operational, personnel and procurement policies. The president's travels will take him to Georgia, Virginia and West Virginia as he prepares the Pentagon and the country for a "top-to-bottom" overhaul of a $300 billion-a-year operation that may well lead to a reduction in nation's nuclear arsenal, a missile defense shield and more money for the men and women of the armed forces. Fox News has also learned Bush will ask for a $4 billion increase in the fiscal year 2002 budget to increase military pay and improve housing for enlisted men and women. This comes after Bush promised military personnel during his campaign and later at Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's nomination to up the ante set by former President Clinton, who increased military pay by 4.8 percent in the current military spending budget of more than $300 billion. Read the article Bush Puts Focus on Military 2/11/2001 4:19 PM Improving quality of life in the military is the Bush administration's first order of business as it conducts its top-to-bottom armed services review, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Sunday. "I think the focus has to be on quality of life for the people," Rumsfeld said on "Fox News Sunday." "Without the men and women that we're able to attract and retain to man the forces, then we really don't have a national defense, so that has to be the first focus." The comments opened a week that Bush has devoted to national security, and came on the eve of his visit to an Army base in Georgia to bolster what he has warned is sagging military morale. During the campaign, Bush said equipment shortages, poor housing and pay and unfocused, "overextended" missions were eroding morale. Read the article Bush is Following in the Footsteps of Reagan 2/11/2001 4:17 PM He is the son of one president, but in his first weeks in office, President Bush is staking a claim to be the political heir of another: Ronald Reagan. Bush is a very different man, and he faces far different times than Reagan did 20 years ago. Reagan won elections decisively. Also, Bush inherits prosperity and unrivaled military supremacy, not stagflation, national malaise and a Cold War nuclear standoff. And Bush is prone to mangle his words, while Reagan was the best political communicator of his time. Yet Bush, the 43rd president, is following in the footsteps of the 40th president more than in his own father's. Read the article Bush Sends Tax-Cut Plan to Congress 2/8/2001 2:37 PM President Bush sent his $1.6 trillion, 10-year tax-cutting proposal to Congress on Thursday, insisting it is a necessary tonic for the economy. "A warning light is flashing on the dashboard of our economy and we just can't drive on and hope for the best," he said. "We need tax relief now. In fact, we need tax relief yesterday," the president said before dispatching Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill to the Capitol to deliver the plan to eager Republican leaders. Before a room full of reporters at the Capitol, O'Neill handed a summary of the plan to GOP leaders, who accepted it with glee. The documents were little more than a press release, and O'Neill said the administration would be releasing details in coming weeks. Read the article Denise Rich Pleads Fifth; Quinn, Holder Face Burton Committee 2/8/2001 12:53 PM Denise Rich has invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in response to questions submitted to her by the House Government Reform committee investigating President Clinton's pardon of her ex-husband, fugitive financier Marc Rich. On Feb. 5, the committee chaired by Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., sent Rich a list of 14 questions regarding her support of the presidential pardon for her ex-husband. Included in the list were questions regarding her sizable contributions to Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign and the Democratic National Committee, as well as other personal gifts to the Clintons. Since 1992, Rich has contributed more than $1 million to the Clintons and the Democrats. Read the article John Ashcroft Criticizes Clinton 2/8/2001 12:52 PM John Ashcroft used his first interview as attorney general to take out after Bill Clinton over the war on drugs and his pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich. In a television interview Wednesday night, the new attorney general said his top three goals were to increase gun prosecutions, reinvigorate the war on drugs and to stamp out racial discrimination. But he also looked back at some of former President Clinton's most controversial moves, including his pardon of Rich on his last day in office. "A pardon should be reserved for a situation where there is a manifest sense of injustice," Ashcroft said Wednesday night on CNN's "Larry King Live" program. "The American people are troubled whenever they think a pardon would be associated with political support or financial support." Read the article Bush Won't Seek Defense Increases 2/7/2001 10:20 PM President Bush will propose no immediate major increase in the Pentagon budget but probably will seek more money before the fall, after Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld completes reviews of the services, administration officials said Wednesday. White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said Bush has no immediate plan to add to the defense budget for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30 but "has not ruled out" adding to it a little later. Fleischer indicated the president plans to seek at least $1 billion more in the fiscal 2002 budget to cover promised military pay raises. He said that budget, which begins Oct. 1, otherwise will be essentially unchanged from the $310 billion place-holder budget the Clinton administration left. Read the article GOP Ready To Give Seat to Democrat Traficant 2/7/2001 10:19 PM Republicans are ready to make room on the House Transportation Committee for dissident Democrat Jim Traficant, but as of Wednesday it wasn't official. "We have a seat reserved for him," said John Feehery, a spokesman for Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill. "We have to work out some technicalities." Feehery would not elaborate. House Democrats finished handing out their committee assignments Wednesday and gave Traficant nothing. Read the article Lawmakers Want Vietnam Memorial Center 2/7/2001 10:17 PM The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, among the most visited sites in the nation's capital, may soon get an interpretive center for explaining the war and elaborating on the lives of the more than 58,000 dead whose names are etched into the black granite wedge. Legislation to build the center close to the memorial located at the west end of the Washington Mall between the Lincoln Memorial and Constitution Avenue was announced Wednesday. "The education center will serve as an important resource to teach America's youth about the war and those who sacrificed so much," said Rep. J.C. Watts, R-Okla., one of the sponsors. Read the article Ashcroft To Focus on Crime, Drugs 2/7/2001 10:16 PM Attorney General John Ashcroft intends to increase gun prosecutions, renew the war on drugs, and reach out to minorities as his three top priorities, a spokeswoman said Wednesday. After his civil rights record was bitterly attacked during a stormy Senate confirmation battle, Ashcroft is inviting Justice Department's civil rights division officials to a brown bag lunch in his private department dining room next week, chief spokeswoman Mindy Tucker said. Civil rights will be first, but he plans to hold these lunches with each division. Ashcroft has three main civil rights issues in mind, Tucker said. "He wants to make sure no American feels outside the protection of the law." Read the article Gore: Clinton Lost the Election; Clinton: Gore Lost the Election 2/7/2001 10:15 PM It could take quite a while for historians to reach a consensus on why Al Gore lost the 2000 election -- but Gore apparently wasted no time in pinning responsibility for his narrow defeat on President Clinton. The two men had a contentious meeting in their final days in the White House, two Democrats close to the former president and vice president told Fox News. Accounts of the meeting first appeared in The Washington Post. Gore essentially told Clinton he believes he lost the contested election because of the former president's sex scandal with a White House intern, the sources told Fox News. Gore told Clinton the scandal was harmful to the country and disastrous for his campaign, the Democrats said. Read the article Bush Presses Tax Cuts to Help 'Typical Families' 2/7/2001 10:13 PM President Bush gathered with American taxpayers at the White House on Wednesday as lawmakers ramped up their rhetoric over the $1.6 trillion tax-cut plan Bush will send to Congress this week. The president hosted a reunion with 21 families he visited on the campaign trail to showcase how his plan would put more money in the pockets of typical Americans. The average family in the group earns $58,000 and stands to save about $1,800 a year under Bush's proposal, which includes an across-the-board reduction in all tax brackets, the doubling of the child-tax credit and a cut in the "marriage penalty" to joint filers. Read the article Man Wounded, Arrested Outside White House After Firing Shots 2/7/2001 10:13 PM A middle-aged former IRS employee from Indiana fired a gun at the White House Wednesday, then was shot in the knee by the Secret Service and arrested, officials said. The incident began at about 11:30 a.m., when Secret Service officers on routine patrol heard shots fired, White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said. They spotted a man holding a gun, some distance from the southwest gate. According to an eyewitness account, the man had fired three shots at the White House from outside the south fence. The area around the White House was sealed off immediately and the Secret Service approached the suspect, who was crouched down at the fence with a gun to his head, the U.S. Park Police told Fox News. Read the article GOP Senators To Pitch Energy Bill 2/6/2001 9:23 PM Republican energy legislation to be introduced next week will focus on boosting clean coal technology, revitalizing the nuclear industry and finding new sources of oil and natural gas including drilling in an Arctic wildlife refuge, according to a draft of the bill. Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, chairman of the committee that will take up the legislation, discussed the measure during an hour-long meeting Tuesday with Vice President Dick Cheney, who heads a presidential task force on energy. Murkowski said the meeting "revolved around the realization that we have an energy crisis in this country" and that ways must be found to produce more energy and rely less on oil imports. Read the article Bush Urges Airlines to Avoid Strikes 2/6/2001 9:22 PM President Bush urged the nation's four largest airlines and their workers on Tuesday to avoid strikes this spring and said he would ``explore all options'' if they are unable to settle their differences. ``I am worried about strikes at airlines. ... It could have a harmful effect on our economy,'' Bush said during a visit to a toy store in the Washington suburb of McLean, Va., to promote his tax plan. Urging agreements, he said, ``The president's got some opportunities if they're unable to do so. ... I will explore all options.'' Read the article Morgan Stanley Investors Protest Clinton Speech 2/6/2001 9:13 PM Bill Clinton's $100,000 speaking appearance at a Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. conference Monday led to threats by some of the investment firm's customers to take their business elsewhere. The Wall Street giant acknowledged Monday that it has received several phone calls from customers irate that the former president was speaking at the company's annual junk-bond conference. The speech, Clinton's first since leaving office, was closed to the press and public. Read the article White House Laments DNC Chief's Remarks 2/6/2001 9:12 PM A White House spokesman fired back at the new head of the Democratic Party for questioning the legitimacy of President Bush's election, saying such remarks hurt efforts to build unity in Washington. Terry McAuliffe was picked Saturday as chairman of the Democratic National Committee. In his acceptance speech, he said of the election: "If Katherine Harris, Jeb Bush, Jim Baker and the U.S. Supreme Court hadn't tampered with the results, Al Gore would be president, George Bush would be back in Austin, and John Ashcroft would be home reading Southern Partisan magazine." White House press secretary Ari Fleischer on Monday called the remarks "disappointing." Read the article Happy Birthday, Mr. President! 2/6/2001 9:11 PM Ronald Reagan joins a select group including only two other former presidents as he celebrates his 90th birthday Tuesday, the stalwart Gipper battling old age, Alzheimer's disease and a broken hip twelve years after leaving the White House. The former movie star's birthday Tuesday was a subdued celebration at the former president's Bel-Air home, where he is recovering from surgery to repair the hip he broke Jan. 12 in a fall. "We will celebrate Ronnie's 90th birthday very quietly here at home with a birthday cake (likely his favorite chocolate), of course!" Mrs. Reagan said in a written response to questions e-mailed to her by The Associated Press. Read the article Ashcroft Names Key Aides to Senior Posts 2/2/2001 11:00 PM John D. Ashcroft's Justice Department began taking shape yesterday, as the new attorney general named trusted aides to senior staff jobs and conferred with Bush administration officials over the probable appointments of Larry D. Thompson as deputy attorney general and Theodore Olson as solicitor general. Justice Department officials outlined an initial Ashcroft agenda that will focus on tougher enforcement of existing laws governing the sale of handguns; a new, lifetime ban on the ownership of guns for juveniles who use firearms while committing a crime; and following through on a Bush campaign pledge to break the troubled Immigration and Naturalization Service into two parts. One of the new agencies would focus on the enforcement of immigration laws, while the other would emphasize the more rapid processing of applications for citizenship. Read the article Ashcroft Pledges Fair Justice Department 2/2/2001 1:43 PM John Ashcroft declared it's "nice to be here" as he began his first day as attorney general Friday after a bruising confirmation battle in which Democrats attacked his deeply held conservative beliefs. Ashcroft promised a Justice Department "free from politics" after winning Senate confirmation on a vote of 58-42. "The Justice Department will vigorously enforce the law guaranteeing rights for the advancement of all Americans," the conservative former Missouri senator said after the vote. He arrived at the department's Pennsylvania Avenue headquarters promptly at 9 a.m. after stopping at another Justice office to take the drug test which is required of all new executive branch employees. Asked how he felt, the beaming 79th attorney general replied: "Very pleased." Read the article Memos Add to Furor Over Rich's Pardon 2/2/2001 1:41 PM New documents suggest ex-Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder knew about Bill Clinton's controversial pardon of fugitive felon Marc Rich well in advance -- contrary to Holder's claims. The memos raise the question of why Holder failed to notify Manhattan U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White and the FBI in time for them to argue strongly against the pardon, as he knew they would. Rich's lawyer, Jack Quinn, Clinton's former White House counsel, released his own memos and e-mails yesterday. They buttress his claim that Holder supported -- or at least didn't oppose -- the pardon, met with Quinn to discuss it, and even gave Quinn public-relations advice on getting out the "legal merits" of the case. Read the article Bush on Charm Offensive at Democratic Retreat 2/2/2001 1:38 PM What is a Republican president doing meeting behind closed doors with 50 Democratic senators? It's only the latest maneuver in George W. Bush's "charm offensive." This morning, President Bush became the first chief executive to attend a private policy retreat of the opposing party, mingling for half an hour with Senate Democrats as they gathered at the Library of Congress for their ritual strategy session. One Democratic source present at the meeting described Bush as "charming" and "funny" as he shook hands and engaged in lighthearted banter with the group. In brief remarks, Bush said he "loved" being president and was "honored" to have been elected, conceding that he did not win the contest in a landslide. He also spoke about his close friendship and working relationship as Texas governor with Bob Bullock, the late Democratic lieutenant governor. "Boy, he's really good," the source said. Read the article Book Flap: Clinton Photo History Prompts Questions 2/2/2001 1:36 PM The coffee-table book lists for $40, but one might be tempted to pick it up in a bookstore and walk out without bothering to stop at the cash register. Of course, taking the book itself would be shoplifting, which can't be condoned. But, the pictures in it were taken by Robert McNeely, while he served as President Clinton's official photographer from 1992 to 1998. They were produced on government time at taxpayer expense. So, in a sense, you already paid for it. McNeely's effort to publish the book ruffled feathers at the White House, particularly among his former colleagues, who complained that the veteran photographer was trying to take unfair advantage of his official position. Read the article Senate Pardon Probe Wins Conditional Democratic Support 2/1/2001 6:11 PM Congressional committees on both sides of the Capitol intend to hold hearings next week looking into former President Clinton's controversial pardon of financier Marc Rich. The Senate Judiciary Committee has tentatively scheduled two days of hearings next Wednesday and Thursday, according to a spokesman for Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pennsylvania, who has been given a leading role in the inquiry. The Senate panel will look into the propriety of pardoning Rich, who was indicted in absentia in 1983 on tax evasion and racketeering charges. He has been living outside of the United States since that time. Read the article Rumsfeld To Consult With Europeans 2/1/2001 6:07 PM Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld will attend a European security conference in Munich, Germany, on Saturday in his debut abroad as President Bush's Pentagon chief, officials said Thursday. Among the topics likely to arise is the Bush administration's plan for deploying a national missile defense, a project strongly opposed by Russia and China and questioned by many of the European allies. Rumsfeld will meet formally and informally with many of his counterparts from European NATO countries, including the defense ministers of Britain, Germany, Italy and France. He also will deliver a speech to the session, known as the Munich Conference on Security Policy. After the Munich meetings, Rumsfeld plans to fly to Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany, home of the 52nd Fighter Wing, to attend a reception and dinner with service members and their families. Read the article Senate Confirms Ashcroft as Attorney General 2/1/2001 6:05 PM The Senate narrowly confirmed John Ashcroft as attorney general on Thursday, ending a bruising battle over the nominee's conservative record and beliefs and handing President Bush his strongest taste yet of the Washington partisanship he has pledged to overcome. A day and a half of debate ended at 1:40 p.m., when eight Democratic senators joined all 50 Republican senators and voted 58 to 42 to support Ashcroft, who represented Missouri as governor, attorney general and U.S. senator. Sens. John Breaux of Louisiana and Ben Nelson of Nebraska joined six other Democrats who had previously pledged to back Ashcroft. The others were Sens. Robert Byrd of West Virginia, Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, Russell Feingold of Wisconsin and Zell Miller of Georgia. Read the article