Visitor logs released by the White House late Friday show that a host of prominent people have been spending time at the executive mansion, including liberal powerhouses George Soros and former vice president Al Gore.
Soros, the global financier and philanthropist, for example, visited the White House on Feb. 25 for a visit with Obama’s top economist, Larry Summers. The records show Soros also had meetings in the Old Executive Office Building on March 24 and March 25. Soros is one of the wealthiest investors in the world, and has become a controversial figure for his currency trading and for investing part of his vast fortune in liberal causes.
Gore, it appears from the logs, visited the Obama White House on April 8.
The White House warned prominently of false hits among the names. Names like Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayres are on the list, but are not the same people who caused problems for Obama in the campaign. The “John Edwards” listed in the records is not the same as the disgraced former Democratic presidential candidate, a White House spokesman said.
The list includes some of the nation’s most famous celebrities, including Oprah Winfrey, George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Denzel Washington, who visited the White House residence in May.
The list is replete with the biggest names in finance, including Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein , Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan Chase and Vikram Pandit of Citigroup. Former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan also visited.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates arrived at the White House on March 25. Microsoft CEO Steven Ballmer appears also to have put in time at the White House on separate occasions.
Also on the list are an eclectic mix of civil rights leaders like Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton, media notables like New York Times columnist Paul Krugman and Republicans like former House speaker Newt Gingrich.
Forty-two people were listed as meeting with “POTUS,” a White House acronym for President of the United States. And an even more select group of eight got meetings listed in the records as with “POTUS/FLOTUS,” or the President and the First Lady.
Among those meeting Barack and Michelle Obama together were Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and several high-powered senators and members of Congress.
And the list documents the types of events that brought many of the visitors, including the St. Patrick’s Day reception, a “Wounded Warriors Bike Ride,” and “Supreme Court Outreach,” along with the more typical bill signings and White House tours.
The list was released in response to freedom of information requests from a variety of groups. The White House says it will only release records that are 90 days old or older, so this first batch includes the period between January 20, 2009 to July 31, 2009. Future batches, the White House said, will be posted on an ongoing basis.
Norm Eisen, a special counsel to the president for ethics and government reform, noted in a blog post that there were many names that appeared to be famous figures but were in fact other people with the same names.
“A lot of people visit the White House, up to 100,000 each month, with many of those folks coming to tour the buildings. Given this large amount of data, the records we are publishing today include a few “false positives” – names that make you think of a well-known person, but are actually someone else,” Eisen wrote.
“In September, requests were submitted for the names of some famous or controversial figures (for example Michael Jordan, William Ayers, Michael Moore, Jeremiah Wright, Robert Kelly ("R. Kelly"), and Malik Shabazz). The well-known individuals with those names never actually came to the White House. Nevertheless, we were asked for those names and so we have included records for those individuals who were here and share the same names.”
Soros, the global financier and philanthropist, for example, visited the White House on Feb. 25 for a visit with Obama’s top economist, Larry Summers. The records show Soros also had meetings in the Old Executive Office Building on March 24 and March 25. Soros is one of the wealthiest investors in the world, and has become a controversial figure for his currency trading and for investing part of his vast fortune in liberal causes.
Gore, it appears from the logs, visited the Obama White House on April 8.
The White House warned prominently of false hits among the names. Names like Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayres are on the list, but are not the same people who caused problems for Obama in the campaign. The “John Edwards” listed in the records is not the same as the disgraced former Democratic presidential candidate, a White House spokesman said.
The list includes some of the nation’s most famous celebrities, including Oprah Winfrey, George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Denzel Washington, who visited the White House residence in May.
The list is replete with the biggest names in finance, including Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein , Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan Chase and Vikram Pandit of Citigroup. Former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan also visited.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates arrived at the White House on March 25. Microsoft CEO Steven Ballmer appears also to have put in time at the White House on separate occasions.
Also on the list are an eclectic mix of civil rights leaders like Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton, media notables like New York Times columnist Paul Krugman and Republicans like former House speaker Newt Gingrich.
Forty-two people were listed as meeting with “POTUS,” a White House acronym for President of the United States. And an even more select group of eight got meetings listed in the records as with “POTUS/FLOTUS,” or the President and the First Lady.
Among those meeting Barack and Michelle Obama together were Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and several high-powered senators and members of Congress.
And the list documents the types of events that brought many of the visitors, including the St. Patrick’s Day reception, a “Wounded Warriors Bike Ride,” and “Supreme Court Outreach,” along with the more typical bill signings and White House tours.
The list was released in response to freedom of information requests from a variety of groups. The White House says it will only release records that are 90 days old or older, so this first batch includes the period between January 20, 2009 to July 31, 2009. Future batches, the White House said, will be posted on an ongoing basis.
Norm Eisen, a special counsel to the president for ethics and government reform, noted in a blog post that there were many names that appeared to be famous figures but were in fact other people with the same names.
“A lot of people visit the White House, up to 100,000 each month, with many of those folks coming to tour the buildings. Given this large amount of data, the records we are publishing today include a few “false positives” – names that make you think of a well-known person, but are actually someone else,” Eisen wrote.
“In September, requests were submitted for the names of some famous or controversial figures (for example Michael Jordan, William Ayers, Michael Moore, Jeremiah Wright, Robert Kelly ("R. Kelly"), and Malik Shabazz). The well-known individuals with those names never actually came to the White House. Nevertheless, we were asked for those names and so we have included records for those individuals who were here and share the same names.”
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