Email to Brown claims Bush was happy former FEMA head was taking heat for Katrina response RAW STORY

Published: Friday June 9, 2006 Print This | Email This An "embarrassing email" leaked by former FEMA head Michael Brown to CNN quotes President Bush as saying at a Cabinet meeting held shortly after Katrina that he was pleased that Brown was taking most of the heat for the federal government's roundly criticized response to the hurricane. "I'd rather they beat up on him than me or Chertoff," President Bush allegedly said at the meeting, referring to the head of the Department of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff. The sender also thanked Brown for "diverting hostile fire away from the leader." CNN wasn't able to conclusively confirm that the email sent on September 7, 2005 came from the White House, but Brown said that it was sent to him by a high-level White House official, and the sender's email address ends with "eop.gov," as in "Executive Office of the President." The sender's name was blocked out by the network, as per Brown's request. Full text of the email: # I did hear of one reference to you, at the Cabinet meeting yesterday. I wasn't there but I heard someone commented that the press was sure beating up on Mike Brown, to which the President replied, "I'd rather they beat up on him than me or Chertoff." Congratulations on doing a great job of diverting hostile fire away from the leader. # The email can be viewed at this link. A White House spokesman told CNN that this was an old rumour and refused to comment on it. "Some of the contents of the e-mail were first claimed in a column written by Brown's lawyer, Andy Lester, in the conservative publication, "Human Events," and subsequently picked up by news media, but until now, the existence of a written record has been unreported," reports CNN at its Situation Room blog (link).

