"White House officials had more extensive contacts with Enron executives in 2001 than previously disclosed, according to a document released by the Bush administration today in response to a request for information from a Senate committee ... The White House document ... disclosed that Enron executives, including Kenneth L. Lay, the former chairman, attended numerous White House functions, including the 2001 Inaugural, the Easter Egg roll, T-ball games, speeches and social events." -- The New York Times, Thursday, May 23
May 30, 2002 | WASHINGTON -- Top Enron executives, including former chairman Kenneth L. Lay, had closer personal ties to the Bush administration than previously disclosed, according to documents released today by the White House in response to the threat of a Senate subpoena. In addition to attending the 2001 Inaugural, the Easter Egg roll, T-ball games, speeches and social events, the Enron executives attended the Egg and Spoon Race, the Guns & Ammo Show, Pin the Tail on the Daschle and other informal White House functions, the documents revealed.
Bush officials angrily denounced the Senate's demand for documentation relating to Enron's ties to the White House. "At a time of war, it is unconscionable that Democrats should place narrow political considerations over the nation's good," said Vice President Dick Cheney, standing in the Rose Garden with an American flag waving behind him.
June 7, 2002 | WASHINGTON -- Former Enron chairman Kenneth L. Lay frequently had "sleepovers" at the White House and engaged in rowdy horseplay with President George W. Bush such as attempting to give the president "wedgies," according to documents released by the White House today. The president habitually summoned Mr. Lay into his presence with the command "Get Laid," according to the documents.
Senior administration officials bitterly attacked the Democratic-controlled Senate committee for forcing the White House to yield information it said was protected by executive privilege. At a news conference held in front of the grave of the Unknown Soldier, Attorney General John Ashcroft said, "Based on classified intelligence reports, we can categorically say that something really, really bad is going to happen to the United States at some unspecified time in the indeterminate future. At this time of war, attempts to drag America down by weakening our leadership are nothing short of a stab in the back."
June 14, 2002 | WASHINGTON -- Former Enron chairman Kenneth L. Lay had a personal Barcalounger installed in the Oval Office after George W. Bush's election and would recline there all day playing video games with Mr. Bush, according to documents released today by the White House in response to a Senate subpoena. "He was helping me out with a lot of stuff -- energy policy, 401K stuff, that gnarly fourth level of 'Metal Gear Solid,'" stated President Bush in an accompanying affidavit.
From the documents, it is not clear if Mr. Lay ever actually left the Oval Office.
Bush legal advisors vehemently denounced the Democratic-controlled Senate committee that issued the subpoena. In a press conference held in the chambers of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Permanently Enraged Republican Authority Figure Without Portfolio James Baker said, "The votes have been counted and recounted -- except for a few black felons who we scrubbed from the rolls. America has spoken -- the country wants to forget Enron and focus on the terrifying possibility that an American somewhere, sometime could be hurt by evildoers who don't like freedom."
July 4, 2002 | WASHINGTON -- Former Enron chairman Kenneth Lay is actually President George W. Bush's adopted son, the White House acknowledged today in an affidavit released in response to a Senate committee subpoena. "While it is true that Kenneth Lay is my lawful child, I had only limited contacts with him and other Enron executives during the time period that his company was undergoing a correction in its valuation," President Bush stated in the affidavit.
Following the release of the documents, Bush blasted the Democrats. In a press conference held in front of the World Trade Center site, surrounded by a full regiment of Afghanistan combat vets in battle fatigues, a phalanx of rocket launchers, an honor guard of 1,000 New York City firemen and policemen, and a 50-story-high poster of Saddam Hussein inscribed with the words "Every time you ask an inappropriate question of your nation's leaders, this man smiles," Bush said, "It is outrageous at a time of war that the sacred relationship between a father and his child is being violated by Democratic partisans for narrow political gain."
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