The Associated Press reported on Thursday that outgoing Clinton administration staffers caused $20,000 in property damage when they exited the White House in the days before President Bush’s inauguration, according to the results of a congressional investigation.
The General Accounting Office, the official investigative arm of Congress, completed its final report and was releasing it on its website Tuesday afternoon.
The report found that missing and damaged property included sixty-two keyboards, twenty-six cell phones, two cameras, ten antique doorknobs, five to ten presidential medallions, and a number of office signs. After Bush’s inauguration in January of 2001, reports emerged that the W keys from the White House keyboards had been removed, and many of the offices were trashed.
Of course the Clintonites all pooh-poohed this at the time, saying that it was all blown out of proportion and that even Bush himself said it didn’t happen. The reason Bush downplayed the reports was because of the new tone. He didn’t want any controversy, especially starting out.