Brown has just testified (and the New York Times has the documents that prove) that Chertoff and Bush were told on Monday, August 29th, that the levees had broken in New Orleans. This was the same day the hurricane hit.
This is what Bush did the next morning, and remember we now know he’d been informed that New Orleans was flooded, people were stranded on rooftops and drowning in attics, and bodies were floating in the flooded city. He flew to San Diego, California:
Bush in fact did not even leave his ranch for DC until mid-day on Wednesday, August 31st. He did not begin work at the White House until after 5pm that day. By that time, DHS and the White House had been informed since Monday that New Orleans was flooded, and people were on rooftops and in attics, dying.
On September 1, Bush said “I don’t think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees.” Here is the video of him saying this on ABC’s Good Morning America. In fact, we now know he had been briefed in detail specifically with predictions, on August 27th, that the levees would break.
CNN Transcript: from September 2, 2005:
BUSH: The levees broke on Tuesday in New Orleans. On Wednesday and Thursday we started evacuating people. A lot of people have left that city. A lot of people have been pulled out on buses.
On September 12, here you can see video of Bush claiming that he was under the impression from Tuesday newspapers that New Orleans had “dodged a bullet.”
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