Zero fail, p.57
Zero Fail, page 57
In his Sudan exile: SSI Special Report, Desert Shield and Desert Storm: A Chronology and Troop List of the 1990–1991 Persian Gulf Crisis (Carlisle, Pa.: U.S. Army War College, 1991).
He had grand plans to kill Americans: Osama bin Laden, “Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders,” accessed August 11, 2020, fas.org/irp/world/para/docs/980223-fatwa.htm.
11. A ROCK STAR PRESIDENT
The Star’s January 23 edition: “My 12-Year Affair with Bill Clinton: Mistress Tells All,” Star, January 23, 1993.
“They can’t run a story like this”: John J. Goldman, “Clinton Lied in Denying Affair, Woman Insists; Rebuttal: Gennifer Flowers Offers Tapes as Proof of a Liaison. She Refuses to Discuss Apparent Discrepancies in Her Story,” Los Angeles Times, January 28, 1992.
“I’m not prepared tonight to say”: “Governor Clinton’s Interview with Steve Kroft,” 60 Minutes, January 26, 1992.
“I saw a side of Bill”: Goldman, “Clinton Lied in Denying Affair, Woman Insists.”
But though Clinton was indeed lying: Peter Baker and Susan D. Schmidt, “FBI Taped Aide’s Allegations,” The Washington Post, January 22, 1998.
He didn’t have any sweat on his face: William C. Rempel and Douglas Frantz, “Troopers Say Clinton Sought Silence on Personal Affairs; Arkansas: The White House Calls Their Allegations About the President’s Private Life ‘Ridiculous,’ ” Los Angeles Times, December 21, 1993.
“I can’t fool you guys, can I?”: David Brock, “His Cheatin’ Heart,” The American Spectator, December 1993.
“You don’t know what that outfit”: Michael Isikoff, Uncovering Clinton: A Reporter’s Story (Crown, 1999).
Bruce Lindsey, Clinton’s campaign aide: Ibid.
But also, as governor, he had commandeered: Brock, “His Cheatin’ Heart.”
At the same time, the governor of Arkansas: The Boston Herald, February 4, 1992, p. 8.
Bush’s team flew in that morning: “Bush Campaign Speech,” C-SPAN, October 25, 1992.
“It’s no secret that the governor loves”: Robert Rankin, “Clinton’s Penchant for Mingling,” Philadelphia Inquirer, November 24, 1992.
Retired agent Dennis McCarthy: Marlene Cimons, “A President and His Protectors: Clinton Is a Challenge for the Secret Service, but Agents Are Used to It,” Los Angeles Times, January 12, 1993.
He wanted to be sure no one was listening in: Rebecca Borders, “Hell to Pay,” The American Spectator, January 1997.
The item claimed the First Lady had a wicked temper: Bill Zwecker, “Hot Rumors,” Chicago Sun-Times, February 19, 1993.
“It occurred to us at the time”: Borders, “Hell to Pay.”
“The pigs are here”: https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/04/clinton-white-house-the-residence-excerpt-116706/
“It was a challenge”: John Feinstein and Red Auerbach, Let Me Tell You a Story: A Lifetime in the Game (Back Bay Books, 2005) p. 191.
Nobody in the Clinton White House: “Transcript: William Jefferson Clinton,” Fox News Sunday, September 24, 2006.
Chief of Staff Mack McLarty dispatched: Carl Bernstein, A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton (New York: Vintage Books, 2008).
Perry told friends: Brock, “His Cheatin’ Heart.”
On Tuesday, the Los Angeles Times reporters: William C. Rempel and Douglas Frantz, “Troopers Say Clinton Sought Silence on Personal Affairs; Arkansas: The White House Calls Their Allegations About the President’s Private Life ‘Ridiculous,’ ” Los Angeles Times, December 21, 1993; Brock, “His Cheatin’ Heart.”
“We lied for him”: David Brock, “His Cheatin’ Heart,” The American Spectator, December 1993.
She was then negotiating with Congress: Bernstein, Woman in Charge.
Now she and her lawyers spelled it out: Paula Jones complaint, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, May 1994.
“Kiss it,” he said: Ibid.
“Please,” Clinton had said: Bernstein, Woman in Charge.
12. THE INTERN
“I’m expecting one”: The Starr Report: The Official Report of the Independent Counsel’s Investigation of the President (Washington, D.C.: Public Affairs, 1998).
“I’ll bet it’s Monica”: Ibid.
Midway through: Monica Lewinsky Grand Jury Testimony, August 6 and August 20, 1998, accessed August 12, 2020, washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/mltestimony.htm.
Lewinsky instead performed oral sex: “Narrative Pt. III: Continued Sexual Encounters,” The Washington Post, accessed August 12, 2020, washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/icreport/6narritiii.htm.
Then Lewinsky let herself out: Ibid.
The president later confided in Lewinsky: Starr Report.
“This is about the office of the presidency”: John M. Broder and Stephen Labaton, “Shaped by a Painful Past, Secret Service Director Fights Required Testimony,” The New York Times, May 30, 1998.
“The director of the Secret Service, a taxpayer-funded agency”: Tim Weiner, “Secret Service Tells Its Agents to Keep Quiet About the Past,” The New York Times, December 17, 1997.
Seymour Hersh speculated that something more must be: “Secret Service Warned About Going Public,” The Washington Post, December 18, 1997.
They asked that he retract his claims: Ibid.
Clinton grew increasingly anxious: “Narrative Pt. III.”
A new conservative website: George Lardner, “The Scandal’s Producer and Publicist,” The Washington Post, November 17, 1998.
“I’ve got nothing to hide”: Starr Report.
A member of the group discouraged the officer: Susan D. Schmidt, “Clinton, Lewinsky Met Alone, Former Guard Says,” The Washington Post, February 11, 1998.
Merletti told Kelleher they had to meet with Starr: Jim Lichtman, “Trust and Confidence, Part 1,” ethicsstupid.com, April 11, 2016, accessed August 12, 2020, ethicsstupid.com/personalities/trust-and-confidence/.
“I certainly do. It’s my fault”: “Mike Wallace, Interviewer: ‘You and Me,’ ” NPR, November 8, 2005.
“The sound of a gunshot”: Ken Gormley, The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr (New York: Broadway Books, 2011), p. 425.
“It’s as if he couldn’t”: Gormley, The Death of American Virtue, p. 426.
Merletti, when later questioned by an FBI agent: Ibid., p. 667.
“The argument was pure craziness”: Louis J. Freeh, My FBI: Bringing Down the Mafia, Investigating Bill Clinton, and Fighting the War on Terror (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2006), pp. 266–67.
“Sir, my focus is the safety and security of the president”: Larry Cockell, grand jury testimony transcript, July 17, 1997, p. 42.
13. SCRAMBLING ON 9/11
Bush’s brief stop at the school: “Fact Sheet: President Bush—Putting Reading First,” September 10, 2001, The American Presidency Project, accessed August 12, 2020, presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=79074.
“A plane has hit the World Trade Center”: Garrett M. Graff, “We’re the Only Plane in the Sky,” Politico, September 9, 2016.
As the leader of the detail: “ ‘We’re Under Attack’: Native Pittsburgher Escorted President on 9/11,” WPXI.com, September 7, 2011.
a fresh new horror came into focus: Declassified USSS statement for 9/11 Commission report, “Actions of TSD (Technical Security Division) Related to Terrorist Incident,” September 12, 2001.
“We need to turn all the planes away”: Nelson Garabito, 9/11 Commission interview, March 11, 2004; Terry Van Steenbergen, 9/11 Commission interview, March 30, 2004.
News stations were replaying tape: “A White House View of 9/11,” LBJ Library, September 3, 2013.
“Oh my God! There’s more explosions”: “September 11, 2001: As It Happened,” CNN, September 11, 2001.
“We gotta get out of here!”: Graff, “We’re the Only Plane in the Sky.”
“You can’t do it in front of second-graders”: Ibid.
“We need to get him secure”: Ibid.
DON’T SAY ANYTHING YET: Allan Wood and Paul Thompson, “An Interesting Day: President Bush’s Movements and Actions on 9/11,” May 15, 2003, globalresearch.ca.
“We need to get you to Air Force One”: Graff, “We’re the Only Plane in the Sky.”
Card proposed a compromise: Ibid.; “A White House View of 9/11,” LBJ Library, September 3, 2013.
But she could see that this aircraft had charted a course: Brian Ross, “Flight 77 to the White House,” ABC News, October 24, 2001.
The Intelligence Division agents: Former assistant Secret Service director Danny Spriggs in interview at Newseum, April 11, 2017.
A JOC officer told him: Danny Spriggs, declassified 9/11 Commission statement.
Spriggs had begun his phone call: Truscott interview with USSS Inspection Division, October 1, 2001.
“We have an aircraft, moving very fast”: The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on the Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (New York: W. W. Norton, 2004).
“The plane is turning”: Ibid., p. 39.
It’s one of our jets: Ross, “Flight 77 to the White House.”
“How the hell could a plane hit”: 9/11 Commission Report, p. 35.
Scott then walked over to the West Wing: James O. Scott, memo of September 12, 2001, interview with USSS Inspection Division, October 1, 2001.
“Sir, we have to leave immediately”: Vice President Richard B. Cheney interview, “9/11: The President’s Story,” TLC, September 12, 2016, accessed August 14, 2020, youtube.com/watch?v=N-75OeMabLY.
Neither Scott nor other key members: “The Underground White House,” White House, accessed August 14, 2020, whitehouse.gov1.info/tunnel/.
“Today, we’ve had a national tragedy”: President George W. Bush remarks at Emma E. Booker Elementary School, September 11, 2001, accessed August 14, 2020, americanrhetoric.com/speeches/gwbush911florida.htm.
“Poof, he was gone”: Tom Bayles, “The Day Before Everything Changed, President Bush Touched Local Lives,” Sarasota Herald-Tribune, September 10, 2002.
The Service had asked that they be placed there: “A White House View of 9/11,” LBJ Library, September 3, 2013.
Bush’s fellow passengers learned the grim news: Ibid.
Together they grabbed their cat: “President George W. Bush: The 9/11 Interview,” National Geographic Channel, September 11, 2011, youtube.com/watch?v=ke_OgE_V6tQ.
14. “YOU DON’T BELONG HERE”
“Nineteen men armed with knives”: “Transcript: 9/11 Panel Releases Its Final Report,” FDCH E-Media, July 22, 2004.
In 1998, he led a tabletop exercise: Richard Clarke interview with 9/11 Commission, March 2003.
At the Secret Service, Director Stafford instructed his staff: Becky Ediger, Deputy Special Agent in Charge, statement to 9/11 Commission.
“That was driving decisions”: Susan B. Glasser and Michael Grunwald, “Department’s Mission Was Undetermined from Start,” The Washington Post, December 22, 2005.
“Creating a cabinet office doesn’t solve the problem”: Ari Fleischer, White House press briefing, March 19, 2002.
Without a tear, O’Neill said so long: Glasser and Grunwald, “Department’s Mission Was Undetermined from Start.”
“Director Stafford, recently one of the major national news magazines”: House Judiciary Committee hearing on the Department of Homeland Security, July 9, 2002.
15. “HE PREDICTED ALL OF IT”
The compound was quiet: White House Statement, December 12, 2006.
Baserap’s survey found overwhelming agreement: Survey, executive summary, by Officer Charles Baserap.
16. “HE’LL BE SHOT SURE AS HELL”
By 2004, he represented scarcely two hundred thousand people: Jeff Zeleny, “Once a Convention Outsider, Obama Navigated a Path to the Marquee,” The New York Times, August 27, 2008.
“I stand here knowing that my story”: Barack Obama, Address to Democratic National Convention, July 27, 2004.
Michelle shared her fears in blunt terms: “How He Did It,” Newsweek, November 17, 2008.
Just six months earlier, Michelle had met: Vogue, June 2005.
That December, at the end of their beach talks: “How He Did It.”
And he had to get professional protection soon: Peter Slevin, Michelle Obama: A Life (New York: Penguin, 2015), p. 236.
“I don’t lose sleep over it”: “The Obamas on Security,” CBS News, interview with Steve Kroft, February 9, 2007, accessed August 14, 2020, youtube.com/watch?v=nyUsDOeFo24.
“Our world will become unbearable”: Alex Spillus, “Obama Gets Protection; Secret Service Guards Him Amid Fears of Plot,” London Daily Telegraph, May 5, 2007.
Unfortunately, some: “American Morning,” CNN, May 4, 2007.
“Obama will die”: “Hyphoid Logic,” accessed August 14, 2020, vyoma108.blogspot.com/2008/02/threats-against-barack-obama-americas.html.
On April 22, while Clinton and Obama were still: Daryl Johnson, Right-Wing Resurgence: How a Domestic Terrorism Threat Is Being Ignored (Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2012).
“deliberate attempt to embarrass the agency”: David Johnston, “Obama Secret Service Agent Tied to Sex Joke,” The New York Times, May 15, 2008.
Late that Saturday night: Statement of Karen Neb, female with Adolf, FBI agent affidavit, September 24, 2008.
A day after FBI agents told a federal judge: Kristen Wyatt and Lara Jakes Jordan, “Fed Official: Colo Men No True Threat to Obama,” Associated Press, August 25, 2008.
The Service had installed two van-sized sheets: Paul Thompson, “Bulletproof Glass Shield for Obama Victory Speech As Security Is Stepped Up for President Elect,” Daily Mail, November 5, 2008.
Agents estimated that in the months: Ron Kessler, In the President’s Secret Service (New York: Crown, 2010).
More than two thousand people joined Stormfront: Eve Conant, “Rebranding Hate in the Age of Obama,” Newsweek, May 4, 2009.
17. SULLIVAN’S CREW
She hadn’t reached the lecture halls: Peter Slevin, Michelle Obama: A Life (New York: Penguin, 2015).
18. THE NIGHT BULLETS HIT THE WHITE HOUSE
On the rooftop of the White House: Carol D. Leonnig, “Secret Service Fumbled Response After Gunman Hit White House Residence in 2011,” The Washington Post, September 27, 2014.
The Park Police did not obtain a warrant: USSS Spot Report: Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez, November 17, 2011.
19. “I WOKE UP TO A NIGHTMARE”
“See logistics below”: USSS Inspection Report: Cartagena.
Of the 175 Secret Service personnel in town: Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General: USSS Cartagena Review and USSS Inspection Report: Cartagena.
The men presumed it was the Pley Club: DHS Office of Inspector General: USSS Cartagena Review.
Stokes had about four or five beers: USSS Inspection Report: Cartagena.
She told him it would cost: DHS Office of Inspector General: USSS Cartagena Review.
“I have goose and some mixers”: USSS Inspection Report: Cartagena.
In the thirty-plus years since CAT was formed: Dan Emmett, Within Arm’s Length: A Secret Service Agent’s Definitive Inside Account of Protecting the President (New York: Macmillan, 2014), pp. 102–10.
And during that time: foxnews.com/politics/exclusive-secret-service-agents-partied-like-rock-stars-on-obamas-vineyard-vacation.
He grabbed a pole: USSS Inspection Report: Cartagena.
The American men kept ordering more vodka: Interview with Dania Londono Suarez, Today, May 7, 2012.
“If he gives me a ‘little gift’ ”: USSS Inspection Report: Cartagena.
She wanted to be clear how much: USSS Inspection Report: Cartagena.
“No problem, baby”: Carol D. Leonnig and David Nakamura, “Woman Describes Night in Secret Service Scandal,” The Washington Post, May 5, 2012.
By this time, he had tossed down: USSS Inspection Report: Cartagena.
Bongino and Huntington stood by: Videotapes of agents entering Cartagena hotel, obtained under Freedom of Information Act by Malia Litman.
Bongino carried Luciana piggyback: USSS Inspection Report: Cartagena.
She well knew the hotel policy: USSS Inspection Report: Cartagena.
Huntington looked at her, startled: USSS Inspection Report: Cartagena.
“No, let’s go, bitch”: Leonnig and Nakamura, “Woman Describes Night.”
He watched Suarez through the peephole: USSS Inspection Report: Cartagena.
She grabbed a pillow from Bongino’s bed: DHS Office of Inspector General: USSS Cartagena Review.
Every now and again, he could see his shadow: DHS Office of Inspector General: USSS Cartagena Review.
When she explained her dispute: USSS Inspection Report: Cartagena.
The local police sergeant then handed the wad of cash: DHS Office of Inspector General: USSS Cartagena Review.
he passed another CAT member: USSS Inspection Report: Cartagena.
At 9:15 a.m. Thursday: USSS Inspection Report: Cartagena.
