Fox News reporter says Bush admitted using cocaine, then retreats, citing, 'questions'

Raw Story
Jan. 03, 2007

As political media buzzed about whether or not Senator Barack Obama's admission eleven years ago that he used cocaine as a teenager would hurt his political prospects, Fox News ran a segment on "Obama's Cocaine Confession." Their conversation took an unusual turn, however, when Fox reporter Kirian Chetry said President Bush had also admitted to using cocaine.

Obama "talks very candidly, as did our current president, who admitted to using cocaine, correct? [Others demur] Well, who wrote, somebody wrote in a book -- well, he admitted that he had an alcoholic, he had a drinking problem. Who was it who said they witnessed him using cocaine? It was somebody who wrote a book..."

As her colleagues tried to talk her down from the line of discussion, Chetry responded, "Okay, okay, fine, but there were questions about the current president and whether he used cocaine or not as a young guy, but there's something about turning your life around...that people can accept."

A clip of the exchange is available for viewing below:

Clarification: Because of editing word ordering, an earlier headline suggested that Bush had admitted to using cocaine on air. It was in fact the reporter who made the assertion. We apologize for the confusion.