New York Sen. Hillary Clinton is once again poking her finger in the eye of the Bush administration, announcing late Saturday that she will block President Bush's nominee to run the Environmental Protection Agency unless the White House comes clean on what she says is an air quality cover-up at Ground Zero.
"This is an effort to get the administration that he wants to join to take responsibility," she said of Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt, whom Bush tapped after EPA administrator Christie Whitman announced she was leaving the post earlier this year.
"This is a very big issue," the former first lady complained. "It not only has to do with the health and safety of the people I represent. It has to do with the credibility and trust of this entire government."
Clinton told the Associated press that she would place a hold on Leavitt's nomination, a procedural move that would prevent the full Senate from voting on his confirmation, though it does not stop committee hearings.
In August, EPA Inspector General Nikki L. Tinsley released the findings of her investigation, which claimed that warnings about Ground Zero air quality in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks had been toned down at the behest of the White House.
Whitman, however, has denied that her agency issued any assurances that knowingly compromised the health and safety of Lower Manhattan residents.
"We were not told to lie. We didn't want to scare people," Whitman explained last week. "There's no way in hell - excuse my language - that I would ever, ever play games with this kind of information."
After IG Tinsley released her report, however, Sen. Clinton complained that there was a White House cover-up under way, saying she knew what a cover-up looked like based on her own experience as first lady.
"I know a bit about how the White House works," she bellowed to reporters. "Somebody picked up the phone, somebody got on a computer, somebody sent an email, somebody called for a meeting, somebody in that White House probably under instructions from somebody further up the chain told the EPA, 'Don't tell the people of New York the truth. And I want to know who that is!"
"[The EPA] knew and they didn't tell us the truth and the White House told them not to tell us the truth," the top Democrat fumed.
"Maybe in the immediate aftermath, the first couple of days, nobody could know" how dangerous the air was, the former first lady allowed. "But a week later, two weeks later, two months later, six months later - give me a break."
Mrs. Clinton outlined her demands for the White House to come clean on the episode last week, saying she wants records of "all communication between the White House and EPA regarding air quality in downtown New York City, including but not limited to all communication between those offices concerning the editorial changes made to EPA press releases."
The top Democrat also stipulated that the Bush administration must identify the White House officials who made alterations in EPA press releases that minimized the threat from contaminated air at Ground Zero.
To listen to Sen. Clinton and her husband explain how they nixed a deal that could have prevented the 9/11 attacks, Click Here.
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
2004 Elections
Bush Administration
Sen. Hillary Clinton
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"Hillary’s Scheme" reveals the darkest secrets of America’s most powerful and corrupt woman: Click here now
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