A hacker has infiltrated the email accounts of the Bush family, including those of both President George H.W. Bush and his son, George W. Bush.
The hacker, known only as "Guccifer," was able to obtain cell phone numbers, email correspondence, family photos, and images of George W. Bush's paintings (yup, he's a painter now). He posted much of what he stole online, according to the Smoking Gun web site.
"There's a criminal investigation and, as such, there's nothing else we can say," Jim McGrath told the Associated Press on Friday.
The FBI in Houston, where the Bush family resides, also declined to comment.
"We do not confirm or deny the existence of any investigation," Houston FBI spokeswoman Shauna Dunlap said.
Despite the lack of official comments on the matter, most of the information is already available for anyone interested in combing through.
Some emails concern George H.W. Bush's recent hospitalization. Many in his family were concerned about their father's life, prompting them to begin collecting favorite stories and jokes in case a funeral needed to be planned. The elder Bush's condition had gotten so serious that his former chief of staff emailed the family saying, "your dad's funeral team is having an emergency meeting at 10 a.m. just to go through all the details." Another aide added that the development "fell under the broadening category of things NOT TO TELL YOUR MOTHER."
In another email, George W. Bush said he was "thinking about eulogy" before requesting stories about his father. "Hopefully I'm jumping the gun," he added, "But since the feeling is that you all would rather me speak than bubba [Bill Clinton], please help."
Jeb Bush also mentioned Clinton in an email, saying his father helped restore Bubba's "sordid reputation. [That's] a very tough thing to do but with kindness, dad probably helped Bill Clinton than anything he himself has done."
Aside from email, the most notable thing about the online dump is the fact that we learned George W. Bush has taken up painting... and he's pretty good! There are three images showing off three separate paintings. One seems to be a house or church, while the other two portray what seem to be lonely self-portraits of the former president. Check out New York Magazine's critical analysis for some insight into their potential meaning.
