Did Mr Bush do anything wrong?
Although the law requires prompt disclosure of what are called insider sales, or sales by senior executives, Mr Bush did not inform the securities and exchange commission (SEC), the US market regulator, until 34 weeks later. So technically Mr Bush was at fault. Bush supporters say that he did fully disclose the transaction, and that “half of corporate America was filing forms late at that time”. How does Mr Bush explain the episode? A decade ago, Mr Bush blamed the SEC, which he said had lost the forms he had filed. When the story resurfaced last week, the White House admitted that this had not been the case. Instead, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer blamed the delay on “a mix-up with the attorneys”, but could not shed light on how the confusion arose. Why is this coming to light now? Someone leaked the SEC report on the incident, presumably to embarrass Mr Bush. He has been thrown on the defensive because of his close business ties at a time when corporate America is in the dock fo
