Lawrence Ari Fleischer (born October 13, 1960) is the former
press secretary for
U.S. President George W. Bush from January, 2001 to July, 2003. Fleischer was born in
Pound Ridge, New York; his parents were Jewish, his mother a Hungarian immigrant who lost much of her family in the
Holocaust.
. He graduated from
Fox Lane High School in
Bedford, New York in 1978, and graduated from
Middlebury College in
Vermont in 1982. Today, he works as a media consultant for the
NFL and as an international media consultant to Canadian Prime Minister
Stephen Harper.
Congressional staffer
Upon his college graduation, Fleischer worked as press secretary for
Jon Fossel, a
Republican candidate for a
New York congressional seat. Later Fleischer worked as press secretary for
Congressmen Norman Lent. From 1985 to 1988 he was the field-director for the
National Republican Congressional Committee. He went back to being a press secretary in 1988, working for Congressman
Joseph DioGuardi for a short time.
Fleischer served as
Senator Pete Domenici's press secretary from 1989 to 1994. He then served as spokesman for the House of Representatives'
Ways and Means Committee for five years. He worked as deputy
communications director for
George H. W. Bush's 1992 reelection campaign.
White House Press Secretary
Although Fleischer served as communications director for
Elizabeth Dole during her presidential run in the
2000 election campaign, he joined
George W. Bush's presidential campaign after Mrs. Dole dropped out of the race. When Mr. Bush became the President in 2001, he tapped Fleischer to become the first press secretary of his administration.
Fleischer is credited with having been the first to introduce the phrase "
homicide bombing" to describe what has also been called
suicide bombing, in April 2002, to emphasize the
terrorist connotations of the
tactic:
However, conservative talk-radio host Michael Savage coined the term on his syndicated show,
The Savage Nation, before Ari Fleischer used it.
On May 19, 2003, he announced that he would resign during the summer, citing a desire to spend more time with his wife and to work in the
private sector. He was replaced by deputy press secretary
Scott McClellan on July 15, 2003.
Alleged role in Plame affair
Fleischer became an important figure in the
CIA leak case; he testified that
Scooter Libby,
Vice President Dick 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 US
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.
Fleischer testified in open court on January 29, 2007, that Libby told him on July 7, 2003, at lunch, about Ms. Plame, who is Mr. Wilson's wife.
MSNBC correspondent
David Shuster summarized Fleisher's testimony on
Hardball with Chris Matthews:
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 Pres. Bush. Fleischer had then relayed this information to
Time correspondent
John Dickerson and
NBC's
David Gregory in
Uganda during the
African trip.
Dickerson denied that such a conversation ever took place.
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 Ms. Plame in connection to Mr. 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
documentColumnist
Robert Novak, who published Ms. Plame's name on July 14, 2003, made a call to Fleischer on July 7, 2003, before Fleischer's trip to Africa with Pres. Bush. It is unclear whether Fleischer returned Novak's call.
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 Ms. Plame worked for the 'CIA' and that this fact was not well-known.
After receiving an
immunity agreement, Fleischer testified that he had revealed Ms. Plame's identity to reporters after learning it from Libby.
However, in the end it was discovered that
Richard Armitage first leaked Ms. Plame's identity, not Mr. Libby or Mr. Cheney.
Personal life
- Fleischer is an avid fan of baseball and the New York Yankees, and could be seen from time to time playing catch with President Bush on the White House lawn.
- After leaving the White House, he formed his own consulting firm, [Ari Fleischer Sports Communications], offering Media and Crisis management
