Fleischer, Ari
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peNsion plan?
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DAYS BEFORE ENDORSE HOUSE BILL TRUMP SAID HE CHERISH MEDICARE?
Febuary 26, 2025, edition of Fox News' The Story with Martha MacCallum
MARTHA MACCALLUM (HOST): Ari, final thought from you, because obviously you cannot make the kinds of cuts that Elon Musk talked about, which are tremendous. He said you have to cut $4 billion every day in order to meet their goal. You can't do it without getting into Medicare, Medicaid, the programs, and at least looking for fraud.
ARI FLEISCHER (FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR): Yeah, you know, during the campaign the president said he wouldn't touch Social Security and Medicare — a program for the elderly. Now, he has added, it seems, Medicaid to it, which to me puts the president on thin ice. I don't know how they're going to do what they want to do on Capitol Hill if they can't make reforms to Medicaid. If they're required to lock in all of the surge of people who got put onto Medicaid by the Biden administration post-COVID. These people need to come off. They shouldn't be on Medicaid for life. So, Medicaid needs to be touched. It needs to be touched the right way. But they can't do their job without that.
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crept out furtively like a swollen possum into the daylight, blinking in anticipation of a round of boos that never came. Less than two months after resigning as Donald Trump's White House communications director, and four days after making his late-night debut on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!", Sean Spicer assumed his new place in the public consciousness—as Stephen Colbert's
at the 2017 Emmy Awards.
"This is the largest audience to witness an Emmys, period!" Spicer yelped. "Both in person and around the world."
It was a television moment that wasn't, an absurd apologia for one of his most shameless lies to the American people and a nod to Melissa McCarthy's impression of him on SNL. It was also a harrowing glimpse into the not-too-distant future, when Trump administration officials may be warmly embraced by the same media they have devoted themselves to vilifying and discrediting.
In his six months as press secretary, Spicer trampled every norm and standard of decency he deemed expedient, all in the service of a president many medical professionals believe to be a sociopath. In addition to lying about Trump's inauguration crowd size, Spicer argued that Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad was worse than Hitler because "even he didn't use chemical weapons against his own people," unwittingly parroting Nazi-era propaganda about German Jews. He referred to concentration camps as "Holocaust centers" in the same press conference.
Spicer also scolded April Ryan, a prominent member of the White House press corps and one of its few black women, for "shaking her head," among myriad indignities large and small. His punishment? A kiss from the "Late Late Show's" James Corden and a teaching fellowship at the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School.
Spicer isn't the only administration official to be handsomely rewarded for greasing America's track to authoritarianism. Joining him at Harvard as a visiting professor is Corey Lewandowski, the lobbyist and former Trump campaign manager who was charged with battery after grabbing Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields' arm at a campaign event in Florida last year, leaving her bruised and traumatized. (Lewandowski was never prosecuted.) More recently, he was sued for intimidating his neighbors with a baseball bat and threatening to use his political connections to make their lives a "nightmare."
Lewandowski was a fixture on CNN until his resignation two days after Trump's election, and it's not difficult to imagine his return. The media landscape is littered with the alumni of the last inept and kleptocratic Republican administration; some have even emerged as leading voices in the #Resistance.
On any given night, Ari Fleischer, who sold an illegal war of occupation in Iraq as George W. Bush's press secretary, can be found opining on Jeff Zucker's network. David Frum, one of W's former speechwriters, has landed at the Atlantic as a senior editor, where he pens features and books with titles like "How to Build an Autocracy" and "Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic." And while Jeffrey Goldberg never served in the Bush administration, the tens of thousands of words he devoted to Saddam Hussein's bogus ties to Al Qaeda have not disqualified him from becoming the Atlantic's editor in chief.
The media have proven no less amnesiac in their assessment of the Trump administration's acting officials. For all the stars adorning the lapels of John Kelly, H.R. McMaster and James Mattis, each has helped author enduring quagmires in Afghanistan, Iraq or both. And still they're treated as the proverbial adults in the room, even as Trump's presidency lists ever closer to military rule, with three generals assuming more and more responsibilities of basic governance. If none of these men can be held accountable for the deaths of thousands of U.S. soldiers and hundreds of times as many Arab civilians, what hope do we have of keeping a chastened Sean Spicer off of Carpool Karaoke? How many years away are we from Sarah Huckabee Sanders having her own show on MSNBC?
The Czech novelist Milan Kundera once wrote that, "the struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting." It's a struggle Americans appear to have already lost.
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:{:{ }::{All the president's PR men: Raw Story investigation reveals revolving door on Iraq PR}::{
}:Larisa Alexandrovna and Muriel KanePublished: Wednesday October 17, 2007:{
}:New questions are being raised about political operatives who have promoted President Bush?s Iraq war agenda and their role in spreading ?good news? about Iraq, illustrating a public relations revolving door among the Republican Party, the White House and the private sector.:{
}:A month long investigation by RAW STORY, originally prompted by the pro-Iraq war advertising of a ?grassroots? group called Freedom?s Watch, has unearthed a series of connections between the Bush administration and two subsidiaries of the PR giant Burson-Marsteller, particularly BM?s own ?grassroots? firm, Direct Impact.:{
}:Founded in 1988, Direct Impact boasts of over ?1,200 field representatives covering every Designated Market Area in the nation, ready to engage their community in a moment's notice. Self-designated as a ?grass roots? company, Direct Impact's community operations include media and online advocacy.:{
}:Direct Impact began working with Burson-Marsteller by 1997 and became a full-fledged subsidiary in late 2001. Following the acquisition, the formerly low-profile firm began hosting a steady stream of powerful Republican Party political and communications figures.:{
}:For example, Burson-Marsteller, which had hired former National Republican Congressional Committee communications director Craig Veith to oversee their Media Relations Practice, appointed him CEO of Direct Impact in late 2002.:{
}:As head of Media Relations, Veith and Prince Bandar, then Saudi ambassador to the US, had signed an agreement for Burson-Marsteller to work on repairing Saudi Arabia's image in the wake of 9/11 ? just three days after the attacks.:{
}:Veith was joined at Direct Impact in 2003 by a prominent GOP campaign strategist, Steve Schmidt, who had held Veith?s former job of communications director for the NRCC since 2001. Schmidt left Direct Impact a year later to become a top strategist in the Bush-Cheney ?04 campaign, where he ran the rapid response operation. He then joined the White House staff as a Senior Adviser to the President and a Counselor to the Vice President.:{
}:In April 2005, former Bush-Cheney '04 Midwest regional political director Dave DenHerder joined Direct Impact. DenHerder would become Direct Impact's COO in September after Veith, who had been both CEO and COO, departed to found his own firm.:{
}:Freedom's Watch and Democracy Data:{
}:In August 2007, a ?grassroots? organization called Freedom?s Watch began running a series of ads attacking those who disagree with the Bush administration?s strategy in Iraq as ?anti-victory.? According to their mission statement, the group seeks to give voice to Iraq war issues which it claims have been underrepresented because ?those who want to quit while victory is possible have dominated the public debate about terror and Iraq since the 2004 election.?:{
}:Although Freedom?s Watch is a non-profit corporation ?dedicated to educating individuals about and advancing public policies that protect America?s interests at home and abroad,? the group was exposed by the online publication, Politico, as largely consisting of wealthy Republican donors, Neoconservatives, and, most prominently, former White House Press SecretaryAri Fleischer.:{
}:In his role as press secretary, Fleischer had helped sell the Iraq war to the American people. At a September 2002 press briefing, he said, ?There is already a mountain of evidence that Saddam Hussein is gathering weapons for the purpose of using them. And adding additional information is like adding a foot to Mount Everest.? (WH Press Briefing 9/6/2002).:{
}:But Freedom?s Watch's relationship to Fleischer, as well as other political operatives in the RNC, is not the only issue surrounding the startup ?grassroots? effort.:{
}:Freedom's Watch is hosted on servers belonging to Democracy Data and Communications (DDC) ? DEMOCRACYDATA.COM ? which for many years had common ownership, leadership, and even shared office space and telephone numbers with Direct Impact.:{
}:According to public records, in 2001 both Direct Impact and Democracy Data were located at 1029 North Royal Street, Alexandria, VA. They also shared the following telephone number: 703-684-9690 and the following fax number: 703-683-9626. In 2005, well after Burson-Marstellar had acquired Direct Impact and also well after Veith had become CEO, they continued to share the same address as well as the same phone and fax numbers.:{
}:Although there is no apparent current direct link between Freedom?s Watch and Direct Impact, the overlapping of relationships raises questions about the true origin of the ?Freedom?s Watch? grassroots effort and a larger, more political use of domestic organizations to convey a message that mirrors that of the Administration.:{
}:Blackwater USA:{
}:The most recent news buzz about Burson-Marsteller has been about their contract with the embattled security contractor Blackwater USA.:{
}:According to the Nation?s blog, Blackwater?s subsidiary BKSH was "tasked with salvaging Blackwater's tattered image and allegedly murderous conduct. ... The account is being handled by Robert Tappan, a former State Department official who directed communications for the Coalition Provisional Authority in 2004.":{
}:Reached for comment last Tuesday, Paul Cordasco ? a spokesman for Burson-Marsteller ? said that the engagement with Blackwater was short term.:{
}:"Through a personal relationship, BKSH, a subsidiary of Burson-Marsteller, helped Blackwater prepare for their recent hearing before Congress,? Cordasco said. ?With the hearing over, BKSH's temporary engagement has ended.":{
}:Cordasco did not respond when asked to elaborate on what ?a personal relationship? means, nor to questions asking about what exactly the firm did for Blackwater.:{
}:Robert Tappan is not part of BKSH, however. In July 2006, Tappan became head of Burson-Marsteller?s Washington office with responsibility for overseeing the marketing operations of Direct Impact, a position he still maintains.:{
}:Prior to joining Burson-Marsteller, Tappan had served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, holding that position from November 2002 to June 2006. Tappan?s case, one of many, illustrates the vanishing boundaries between the private sector of public relations and government communications.:{
}:While at the State Department, Tappan was said to have been involved in the distribution of domestic pro-Afghanistan war propaganda, in the form of a ?feel good? Administration pre-packagedpiece about Afghanistan that appeared on local tv outlets in 2003, without a disclaimer, as a news story.:{
}:?Tracking precisely how a ?good news? report on Afghanistan could have migrated to Memphis from the State Department is far from easy,? wrote two reporters for the New York Times. ?The State Department typically distributes its segments via satellite to international news organizations like Reuters and Associated Press Television News, which in turn distribute them to the major United States networks, which then transmit them to local affiliates.?:{
}:??Once these products leave our hands, we have no control,? Robert A. Tappan, the State Department's deputy assistant secretary for public affairs, said in an interview. The department, he said, never intended its segments to be shown unedited and without attribution by local news programs. ?We do our utmost to identify them as State Department-produced products.??:{
}:Tappan was sent to Iraq in early 2004 to serve as Director of Strategic Communications for the Coalition Provisional Authority. At this point in the war, optimism about the US endeavor in Iraq was beginning to fade and the Pentagon was turning to public relations to bolster popular support.:{
}:?U.S. occupation in Iraq has led to progress, in spite of what the media say, according to Robert Tappan,? a news story after his return remarked. ?Tappan and the CPA were also responsible for an advertising campaign in Iraq, he said. The messages in the three-commercial series were ?We all yearn to live in a free Iraq,? ?I want my children to live in peace? and ?I want a prosperous Iraq.??:{
}:For his services, Tappan earned the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service ? the highest Defense Department civilian honor.:{
}:Immediately before joining the State Department, Tappan had been a senior vice president with public relations firm Powell Tate, whose co-founder and vice-chairman wasSheila Tate, a onetime press secretary to Nancy Reagan and George H.W. Bush. Tate was a participant in the Rumsfeld Group,named for the then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, a kitchen cabinet of lobbyists and Republican insiders who met informally to help the White House and the Defense Department produce sellable talking points about Iraq. In particular, they worked on ?linking the anti-terrorism cause with efforts to convince the public 'of the need to engage ?rogue states? ? including Iraq ? that are likely to harbor terrorists.??:{
}:The group was brought together after 9/11 by Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Victoria "Torie" Clarke, who had advised Rumsfeld ?that in order to get the American public to buy into the war on terrorism, they needed to suggest a link to nation states, not just nebulous groups such as al-Qaeda.?:{
}:Like Tappan and his superiors at State, Clarke appeared to view news and the nature of reporting as a product to be delivered to the American people, ordered by a third party and often filtered through the foreign press.:{
}:In 2006, Direct Impact and Democracy Data appear to have parted ways. This was confirmed to Raw Story by Tappan in September.:{
}:?Burson-Marsteller does not have any role with Freedom?s Watch in any way, shape or form,? Tappan declared in an email to RAW STORY. ?Neither our firm, nor any of its subsidiary or affiliate companies, are involved with Freedom?s Watch. To the best of my knowledge, none of our principals, including me, have been involved with this organization, either on a personal or professional level, at any time.?:{
}:Taken in concert, this group of people suggests a pattern whereby GOP campaign and public relations expertise has been applied to selling the administration?s policies, particularly in the Middle East and Iraq, in a series of advertising campaigns where private PR and government advocacy become almost indistinguishable.:{
}:The privatization of propaganda:{
}:The National Security Act of 1947, Section 503(f), defines domestic propaganda as illegal. The Act states that ?no covert action may be conducted which is intended to influence United States political processes, public opinion, policies, or media.?:{
}:However, when asked specifically by Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) in February 2006 about his views of the President?s power to conduct domestic covert propaganda, then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said he was unable to answer the question::{
}:FEINSTEIN: Can the president suspend, in secret or otherwise, the application of Section 503 of the National Security Act, which states that no covert action may be conducted which is intended to influence United States political processes, public opinion, policies or media? In other words, can he engage in otherwise illegal propaganda? :{
}:GONZALES: Senator, this will probably be my response to all of your questions of these kind of hypotheticals. Questions as to whether or not ? can Congress pass a statute that is in tension with the President?s constitutional authority? Those are very, very difficult questions, and for me to answer those questions sort of off the cuff, I think would not be responsible.Bush Administration propaganda efforts have been well-documented.:{
}:In 2004, for example, local stations were found to have received videos produced by more than 20 different federal agencies to promote the administration?s policies, many of which aired as if they were the network?s own reporting. The Army and Air Force?s Hometown News Service has delivered ?good military news? to an estimated 41 million homes. Nor were commentators immune: In January 2005, news emerged that conservative commentator Armstrong Williamshad received $240,000 from the Education Department to promote the No Child Left Behind Act.:{
}:Larisa Alexandrovna is managing editor of investigative news for Raw Story and regularly reports on intelligence and national security stories. Contact: larisa@rawstory.com:{
}:Muriel Kane is director of research for Raw Story.}:http://rawstory.com/news/2007/All_presidents_PR_men_Raw_Story_1017.html===
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wiki
Lawrence Ari Fleischer (born October 13, 1960) is a formerWhite House Press Secretary for U.S. President George W. Bush, from January 2001 to July 2003. Today, he works as a media consultant for the NFL,[2] Bowl Championship Series, and other various sports organizations and players through his company, Ari Fleischer Sports Communications.[3] He is also an international media consultant to Canadian Prime MinisterStephen Harper.[4][5] He helped Mark McGwire in his media strategy for his admission of steroid usage. He was also briefly hired by Tiger Woods to help him with a strategy to make his entrance back on the PGA Tour, but was not retained after news stories surfaced promoting his representation of Woods. He was hired by the Green Bay Packers as a consultant in August 2008.
Contents
- 1 Early life
- 2 Congressional staffer
- 3 White House Press Secretary
- 4 Alleged role in Plame affair
- 5 Personal life
- 6 References
- 7 Further reading
- 8 External links
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Alleged role in Plame affair:{:(style="margin-right:0px;color:#555555;;margin-left:0px"):}:[edit:{]}:
Further information: Plame affair
Fleischer became an important figure in the CIA leak case; he testified that Scooter Libby, Vice PresidentDick Cheney's former Chief of Staff, told him that Valerie Plame was a covert agent weeks before Libby had claimed to have been informed of Plame's status by a reporter.
On July 7, 2003, at The James S. Brady Briefing Room, Fleischer was asked about Joseph Wilson, a former U.S. ambassador who had recently written a New York Times editorial criticizing the intelligence information the Bush administration had relied upon to make its case for invading the nation of Iraq. Specifically, Fleischer was asked to respond to Mr. Wilson's assertion that he had been sent to Niger to investigate claims that Saddam Hussein had sought yellowcake uranium and found no evidence that such events had ever occurred.
| “ | Q: Can you give us the White House account of Ambassador Wilson's account of what happened when he went to Niger and investigated the suggestions that Niger was passing yellow cake to Iraq? I'm sure you saw the piece yesterday in The New York Times. FLEISCHER: Well, there is zero, nada, nothing new here. Ambassador Wilson, other than the fact that now people know his name, has said all this before. But the fact of the matter is in his statements about the Vice President—the Vice President's office did not request the mission to Niger. The Vice President's office was not informed of his mission and he was not aware of Mr. Wilson's mission until recent press accounts—press reports accounted for it.[7] | ” |
Fleischer testified in open court on January 29, 2007, that Libby told him on July 7, 2003, at lunch, about Plame, who is Wilson's wife. MSNBC correspondent David Shuster summarized Fleisher's testimony onHardball with Chris Matthews:
| “ | "Ambassador Wilson was sent to Niger by his wife. His wife works at the CIA," Fleischer recalled Libby saying. Libby said the information was "hush-hush, on the Q-T." He testified that "The information about Wilson's wife was news to me. It was the first time I had ever heard it."[8] | ” |
Fleischer also testified to the fact that Dan Bartlett, the president's communications adviser, told him the same thing on Air Force One days later on the way to Niger with President Bush. Fleischer had then relayed this information to Time correspondent John Dickerson and NBC's David Gregory in Uganda during the African trip.[9][10]
Dickerson denied that such a conversation ever took place.[11] Ari Fleischer gave his final "Press Briefing" on July 14, 2003.
On July 18, 2005, Bloomberg reported that in his sworn testimony before the grand jury investigating the leak, Fleischer denied having seen a memo circulating in Air Force One on July 7, 2003, which named Plame in connection to Wilson's mission and which identified her as a "CIA" covert agent. However, a former Bush Administration official also on the plane testified to having seen Fleischer perusing the document.[12][13]
Columnist Robert Novak, who published Plame's name on July 14, 2003, made a call to Fleischer on July 7, 2003, before Fleischer's trip to Africa with President Bush. It is unclear whether Fleischer returned Novak's call.[12] However, Fleischer is mentioned in Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's indictment of Libby. The indictment states that Libby told Fleischer (referred to as the White House press secretary in the indictment) that Plame worked for the "CIA" and that this fact was not well known.
After receiving an immunity agreement, Fleischer testified that he had revealed Plame's identity to reporters after learning it from Libby.[10] However, in the end it was discovered that Richard Armitage first leaked Plame's identity, not Libby or Chen....
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