Instead, they reiterated the practices those leaders followed when departing the White House in 1993, 2001, 20. None of the former presidents’ representatives said they were conducting additional searches of homes or offices where documents could potentially be stored. Former President Donald Trump and current President Joe Biden have also been subject to scrutiny after classified material was found in their homes. The discovery of classified documents in Pence’s Carmel, Indiana, home was the third such case in recent months. Bush all told CNN that all classified records had been turned over to the National Archives upon leaving office. Bush, Barack Obama and the late George H.W. The representatives for former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Representatives for four former presidents have all so far told CNN they do not have any classified records in their possession after news that former Vice President Mike Pence had classified documents in his Indiana home. "In eight years, I had never seen Dick like this, or even close to it." He said worried their friendship was fractured, but that it eventually survived the dispute.The National Archives is looking into sending letters to all living former presidents and vice presidents, asking them to go through their records to ensure there are no classified materials, according to sources familiar with the matter. Bush already had commuted Libby's sentence.Īfter he decided against a pardon, Cheney lashed out at Bush in private, accusing the president of leaving "a soldier on the battlefield." Cheney also pushed for a pardon for Libby. The book makes clear that Cheney nudged Bush toward war.īush writes that Cheney "had gotten out in front of my position" with an August 2002 speech dismissing the prospect of further inspections and says he ordered Condoleezza Rice, his national security adviser, to rein him in.Ĭheney also disagreed with Bush's decision to fire defence secretary Donald H Rumsfeld after the 2006 midterm elections, when the Iraq war was going badly. When the CIA sought permission to subject professed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to waterboarding, Bush said his response was, "Damn right." He added that the interrogations saved lives. That was exactly what he had done," Bush said. "I hadn't picked him to be a political asset I had chosen him to help me do the job. "He was seen as dark and heartless, the Darth Vader of the administration," Bush writes. Of Cheney, Bush said that while his vice-president had helped with important parts of the Republican base, he had become a magnet for criticism from the media and the political left. Libby was convicted of lying about his role in the case of the leaked identity of a CIA operative Valerie Plame. He writes about having "a sickening feeling" upon learning there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and says "cutting troop levels too quickly was the most important failure of execution in the war".īush also recounts the pressure he felt from Cheney to pardon I Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Cheney's former chief of staff. But it is traditional in the sense that Bush defends his presidency, including his decisions to lead a multinational coalition into war in Iraq and to authorise the use of harsh interrogation techniques on captured terrorist suspects.īush also expresses regret for his sluggish response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, for agreeing to reduce troop levels in Iraq after the initial invasion in 2003 and for nominating his friend, attorney Harriet Miers, to the supreme court. The book is not a conventional memoir, but rather a reflection by Bush on important decisions and moments in his life, including the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the war in Iraq. The New York Times obtained an advance copy and reported on the book on its website on last night. The former president makes the revelation in Decision Points, which is due in bookstores on 9 November from Crown Publishers. But he says he valued the qualities Cheney brought to their partnership and finally decided to stick with his vice-president, who agreed to run again. He writes that he spent weeks exploring the possibility of replacing Cheney with Tennessee senator Bill Frist, who was Senate majority leader.
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