When did Bush start and end vacation in August 2001? (nt)

[Eric J in MN]

nt

[Lisa]

1. I thought he started the first Saturday in August ...

... flying to Crawford right after his medical exam that morning.

And he came back to Washington "early" (around the end of the month?) -- he claimed it was because Laura was nagging him to get back to DC.


I know he was back in town on the 31st.

[Eric J in MN]

2. are the exact dates anywhere? (nt)

nt

[Lisa]

3. start date here

http://edition.cnn.com/2001/ALLPOLITICS/08/04/bush.stemcell/



Originally scheduled to return "around Labor Day"
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2002-07-31-bush-vacation_x.htm


Bush seen in Washington on 31st:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/08/29/politics/main308666.shtml

Madeleine Kane says he came back sometime on the 30th, and she's really good about checking sources.

Anyway, he promptly went off to Camp David for ANOTHER holiday.

[greenman3610]

4. smoking gun?

Tenet briefed Bush in Aug 2001, after Tenet had learned about
the arrest of Zacarias Moussaoui .
Did Tenet tell Bush about this event?
Should they have connected the dots, in light of
Aug 6 PDB and summer of urgent warnings?


CIA director briefed Bush in August '01
http://www.freep.com/cgi-bin/forms/printerfriendly.pl




BY STEWART M. POWELL
HEARST NEWSPAPERS

April 16, 2004





WASHINGTON -- CIA Director George Tenet met with President George W. Bush at least eight times in the 42 days before the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, a CIA spokesman said Thursday.

The spokesman was correcting Tenet's testimony Wednesday before the Sept. 11 panel that he hadn't talked with the president during the entire month of August.

CIA records showed Tenet briefed the president on national security threats once during Bush's 27-day ranch vacation, on Aug. 17, and again at the White House on Aug. 31. He also met with the president at least six more times during the first eight days of September, the spokesman said.

Tenet's contacts with Bush during that period are significant because the CIA director was the highest ranking U.S. official who was aware of both the FBI's arrest of flight student Zacarias Moussaoui in Minnesota and the CIA warning to Bush that Osama bin Laden was determined to strike inside the United States.

The CIA warning memo to Bush on Aug. 6, 2001, also noted that the FBI had detected "patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks."

Tenet learned of Moussaoui's arrest on Aug. 23 or Aug. 24 in a CIA memo entitled "Islamic Extremist Learns to Fly," investigators for the panel, formally called the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States of America, disclosed Wednesday.

Tenet's spokesman said "as far as we know" the CIA chief did not mention the arrest of Moussaoui to Bush on Aug. 31 or at subsequent meetings before the Sept. 11 attacks.

Tenet's testimony that he had not spoken to Bush during August raised interest on the 10-member bipartisan panel.

In addition to Tenet's meetings with Bush in the days leading up to the Sept. 11 attacks, the spokesman said other CIA officials -- including Deputy CIA Director John McLaughlin and a senior CIA analyst -- briefed the president six days a week either in Washington or at his Texas ranch.

CIA contact with Bush was "very robust," said the spokesman, Bill Harlow. "There was no shortage of communication."

[Eric J in MN]

5. thanks. The return date seems to be August 31, 2001 (nt)

nt

[Stephanie]

6. We need the exact info for the next ten days

I recall he went to Camp David, but I don't know when. Did he spend Labor Day there?

[Lisa]

8. he was speechifying elsewhere on Labor Day

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/08/29/politics/main308666.shtml

"After spending Thursday and Friday nights at the White House, the president and first lady Laura Bush planned to go to Camp David, the retreat in the Maryland mountains, for the weekend. On Monday, Labor Day, Mr. Bush travels to Michigan and Wisconsin."

Events in Wisconsin, then the Teamsters' BBQ in Detroit (a number of protesters present!)
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/09/

[Lisa]

7. actually, looks like it's Thursday (the 30th)

Not surprising, since he's never shown an inclination to dive into work right after getting back from a holiday.

http://edition.cnn.com/2001/ALLPOLITICS/08/30/bush.return/

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President George W. Bush left Crawford, Texas, on Thursday -- wrapping up his month-long "working vacation" at his ranch -- and returned to Washington, prepared for a budget battle with congressional Democrats.

The president's Marine chopper touched down on the South Lawn of the White House at mid afternoon Thursday, bringing his vacation to a quiet close. Bush shook hands with onlookers before entering the executive mansion for he first time in 26 days.

[Cleita]

9. There is a part of the WH site about Bush that publishes his

itinerary, like where he is most of the time. I don't know how accurate it is, and I haven't visited in a long time, but they did at one time record all his vacations in Crawford and weekends in Camp David.

[hexola]

10. He cut the vacation short and came back to Washington early...why?

http://www.evote.com/index.asp?Page=/news_section/2001-08/08172001Bush.asp