Editing Ari Fleischer

{{Short description|American media consultant (born 1960)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2018}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Ari Fleischer
| image               = Ari Fleischer (52251904248) (cropped).jpg
| caption             = Fleischer in 2022
| office              = 23rd [[White House Press Secretary]]
| president           = [[George W. Bush]]
| term_start          = January 20, 2001
| term_end            = July 15, 2003
| predecessor         = [[Jake Siewert]]
| deputy              = Scott McClellan
| successor           = [[Scott McClellan]]
| birth_name          = Lawrence Ari Fleischer
| birth_date          = {{Birth date and age|1960|10|13}}
| birth_place         = [[New York City]], U.S.
| death_date          = 
| death_place         = 
| party               = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
|
| children            = 2
| education           = [[Middlebury College]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])
| website             = {{url|fleischercommunications.com/|Official website}}
}}

'''Lawrence Ari Fleischer''' (born October 13, 1960) is an American media consultant and political aide who served as the 23rd [[White House Press Secretary|White House press secretary]], for [[President George W. Bush]], from January 2001 to July 2003.

As press secretary in the Bush administration, Fleischer was a prominent advocate for the [[2003 invasion of Iraq|invasion of Iraq]] in 2003. Since leaving the White House, he has worked as a media consultant and commentator. He joined [[Fox News]] as a contributor in July 2017.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Steinberg |first1=Brian |title=Fox News Signs Former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer as Contributor |url=https://variety.com/2017/tv/news/fox-news-ari-fleischer-contributor-white-house-1202490856/ |website=Variety.com |access-date=2 April 2020 |date=10 July 2019}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Fleischer was born in 1960 in [[New York City]],<ref>''Taking Heat: The President, the Press and My Years in the White House'', page 1. ([https://books.google.com/books?id=rRgySNzhW2wC&q=born books.google])</ref> the son of Martha and Alan A. Fleischer.<ref name=nyt1>{{cite news| url= https://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/10/style/weddings-celebrations-rebecca-davis-ari-fleischer.html| work= [[The New York Times]]| title= WEDDINGS/CELEBRATIONS; Rebecca Davis, Ari Fleischer| date= November 10, 2002| access-date= April 16, 2018}}</ref> His mother was a database coordinator and his father was owner of an executive recruiting company.<ref name=nyt1 /> His parents were [[American Jews|Jewish]]; his mother is a Hungarian immigrant who lost much of her family in the [[Holocaust]]. Both parents were Democrats who were "horrified" when Fleischer became a Republican, he told an interviewer in 2003: "While I lived at home and when I started college, I was a liberal Democrat. In a sense, it was President Carter who drove me out of the Democratic Party and it was President Reagan who welcomed me into the Republican Party."<ref>Tom Tugend,[https://jewishjournal.com/news/los_angeles/community_briefs/8905/ "Q&A with Ari Fleischer"], ''[[Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles]]'', December 25, 2003.</ref> He graduated from [[Fox Lane High School]] in [[Bedford (town), New York|Bedford, New York]], in 1978, and graduated from [[Middlebury College]] in [[Vermont]] in 1982.{{citation needed|date=April 2020}}

==Congressional staffer==
Upon his graduation from Middlebury, Fleischer worked as press secretary for Jon S. Fossel, a [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] candidate for a New York [[United States House of Representatives|congressional]] seat. Later Fleischer worked as press secretary for [[Norman Lent]]. From 1985 to 1988, he was field director for the [[National Republican Congressional Committee]]. He went back to being a press secretary in 1988, working for congressman [[Joseph DioGuardi]].{{citation needed|date=February 2010}}

Fleischer served as U.S. Senator [[Pete Domenici]]'s press secretary from 1989 to 1994 and as spokesman for the House of Representatives [[United States House Committee on Ways and Means|Ways and Means Committee]] for five years. He worked as deputy [[communications director]] for [[George H. W. Bush]]'s 1992 reelection campaign.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Guide to the White House Staff|last=Warshaw|first=Shirley Anne|publisher=CQ Press|year=2013|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2dN1AwAAQBAJ&q=ari+fleischer+deputy+communications+director+for+George+H.+W.+Bush%27s+1992+reelection+campaign|pages=271|isbn=9781452234328 }}</ref>

==White House press secretary==

[[File:Ari Fleischer 1.jpg|thumb|right|Fleischer as White House Press Secretary]]

Although Fleischer served as communications director for [[Elizabeth Dole]] during her presidential run in the [[2000 United States presidential election|2000 election campaign]], he joined [[George W. Bush]]'s presidential campaign after Dole dropped out of the race. When Bush became President in 2001, he tapped Fleischer to become his press secretary.

Fleischer is credited with introducing the phrase "[[homicide bombing]]" to describe what has also been called [[suicide bombing]], in April 2002, to emphasize the tactic's terrorist connotations:

{{quote|The president ... convened a meeting of the [[National Security Council (USA)|National Security Council]], at which point, in the middle of the meeting, the president was informed about this morning's homicide bombing in [[Jerusalem]] ... The [[Saudi Arabia|Saudi]] [[telethon]], as they have told it to us, is to provide assistance to the [[Palestinian people]], and that isn't – no money is going to go to provide the homicide bombers with any assistance from the [[Politics of Saudi Arabia|Saudi government]].|Ari Fleischer, "White House Regular Briefing," [[Federal News Service]], April 12, 2002}}

On May 19, 2003, he announced that he would resign during the summer, citing a desire to spend more time with his wife and to work in the [[private sector]]. He was replaced by deputy press secretary [[Scott McClellan]] on July 15, 2003.

=== Iraq War ===
As press secretary in the Bush administration, Fleischer was a prominent advocate for the invasion of Iraq.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/the-tv-pundits-are-talking-about-the-prospects-for-war-with-iran-and-it-sounds-a-lot-like-2003/2020/01/05/97742d5e-2fcf-11ea-a053-dc6d944ba776_story.html|title=The TV pundits are talking about the prospects for war with Iran, and it sounds a lot like 2003|date=2020|newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref> He made numerous exaggerated and misleading claims about Iraq in the lead-up to the Iraq War, in particular about Iraq's purported WMD program (it did not have one) and the [[Saddam Hussein]] regime's purported relationship with al-Qaeda (they did not have an operational relationship).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/3/20/18274228/ari-fleischer-iraq-lies-george-w-bush-wmds|title=George W. Bush really did lie about WMDs, and his aides are still lying for him|last=Matthews|first=Dylan|date=2019-03-20|website=Vox|language=en|access-date=2020-01-03}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine|url=http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,454771,00.html|title=Advice to Ari Fleischer's Replacement|last1=Carney|first1=James|date=2003-05-27|magazine=Time|access-date=2020-01-03|last2=Dickerson|first2=John F.|language=en-US|issn=0040-781X}}</ref> In January 2003, after UN weapons inspectors said they had "not found any smoking gun" evidence of an active WMD program, Fleischer said, "The problem with guns that are hidden is you can't see their smoke... We know for a fact that there are weapons there." (there were not)<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199577415.001.0001/acprof-9780199577415|title=Lying and Deception: Theory and Practice|last=Carson|first=Thomas L.|date=2010-04-29|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-172281-3|pages=213|language=en-US|doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199577415.001.0001}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/un-not-satisfied-with-iraqi-answers/|title=U.N. 'Not Satisfied' With Iraqi Answers|website=www.cbsnews.com|date=January 10, 2003 |language=en-US|access-date=2020-01-03}}</ref> On the issue of whether the Saddam Hussein regime had sought to obtain uranium from [[Niger]], Fleischer said that it was "an issue that very well may be true. We don’t know if it’s true—but nobody, but nobody, can say it is wrong."<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Jamieson|first=Kathleen Hall|date=2007|title=Justifying the War in Iraq: What the Bush Administration's Uses of Evidence Reveal|journal=Rhetoric and Public Affairs|volume=10|issue=2|pages=249–273|issn=1094-8392|jstor=41940145|doi=10.1353/rap.2007.0038|s2cid=144626494|url=https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1357&context=asc_papers}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bush-cia-intelligence-darn-good/|title=Bush: CIA Intelligence 'Darn Good'|website=www.cbsnews.com|date=July 15, 2003 |language=en-US|access-date=2020-01-03}}</ref> In his press conferences, he repeatedly insisted that the burden of proof for the non-existence of the Hussein regime's WMD program fell on Saddam Hussein, not on the Bush administration to prove that he did have an active WMD program.<ref name=":0" /> On one occasion Fleischer said that Hussein "has to indicate whether or not he has weapons. . . . If he declares he has none, then we will know that Saddam Hussein is once again misleading the world... If Saddam Hussein indicates that he has weapons of mass destruction and that he is violating United Nations resolutions, then we will know that Saddam Hussein again deceived the world."<ref name=":0" />

In 2019, Fleischer said, "It’s a myth that Bush lied" about Iraq, resulting in a backlash.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2019/03/20/have-respect-dead-ari-fleischer-rebuked-after-defending-bush-iraq-war-anniversary/|title='Have respect for the dead': Ari Fleischer faces backlash after defending Bush on Iraq War anniversary|date=2019|newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref> Fleischer claimed that he and Bush "faithfully and accurately reported" the assessments of the Intelligence community. "[[Iraq and weapons of mass destruction#2005: Operation Avarice|Operation Avarice]]", a covert [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA) operation to buy up WMD's in Iraq, did secure over 400 missiles and rockets containing chemical weapons, mostly [[Sarin]] nerve-gas, between 2005 and 2006. In some cases the missile's toxicity was over 25%, much higher than expected. Some details of the classified operation were revealed by ''The New York Times'' in 2015.<ref>{{cite web| last1 =Chivers| first1 =C.J.| last2 =Schmitt| first2 =Eric| title =C.I.A. Is Said to Have Bought and Destroyed Iraqi Chemical Weapons| work =The New York Times| date =February 15, 2015| url =http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/16/world/cia-is-said-to-have-bought-and-destroyed-iraqi-chemical-weapons.html| access-date =July 14, 2020| df =mdy-all}}</ref> Additionally, hundreds and possibly thousands of US troops were exposed to various chemical weapons during cleanup operations when about 5,000 chemical warheads, shells or aviation bombs were located and demolished in Iraq. Some of the cases of exposure were hushed up at the time, as the military did not want to reveal that there were chemical agents around lest they be used by terrorists in conjunction with [[Improvised explosive device|IED]]s.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.military.com/daily-news/2015/04/03/army-seeks-to-identify-troops-veterans-exposed-to-chemical.html |access-date=July 14, 2020 |title=Army Seeks to Identify Troops, Veterans Exposed to Chemical Weapons |last=Jordan |first=Bryant |date=3 Apr 2015 |work=Military.com}}</ref>

=== Torture ===
In 2003, Fleischer said, "The standard for any type of interrogation of somebody in American custody is to be humane and to follow all international laws and accords dealing with this type subject. That is precisely what has been happening and exactly what will happen."<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Levinson|first=Sanford|date=2003|title=Precommitment and Postcommitment: The Ban on Torture in the Wake of September 11|journal=Texas Law Review}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Liptak|first=Eric Lichtblau With Adam|date=2003-03-04|title=THREATS AND RESPONSES: THE SUSPECT; Questioning to Be Legal, Humane and Aggressive, The White House Says|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/04/us/threats-responses-suspect-questioning-be-legal-humane-aggressive-white-house.html|access-date=2020-05-18|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The administration used [[waterboarding]], [[sleep deprivation]] and forced nudity against suspected combatants and suspected terrorists.<ref>{{Cite news|date=2009-04-22|title=Obama triggers firestorm in CIA interrogation case|language=en|work=Reuters|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN22525694|access-date=2020-05-18}}</ref>

In 2009, when the Department of Justice of the Obama administration launched a probe into alleged CIA interrogation abuses, Fleischer described the decision as "disgusting."<ref>{{Cite news|date=2009-08-25|title=Cheney, Fleischer slam Obama on 'disgusting' torture probe|work=The Christian Science Monitor|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/The-Vote/2009/0825/cheney-fleischer-slam-obama-on-disgusting-torture-probe|access-date=2020-05-18|issn=0882-7729}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Fleischer: Torture Investigation "Disgusting;" Nadler: It's Too Limited|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/fleischer-torture-investi_n_267437|last=Stein|first=Sam|date=2009-09-24|website=HuffPost|language=en|access-date=2020-05-18}}</ref> Fleischer said if he were subpoenaed in an investigation of alleged interrogation abuses, "I'll be proud to testify... I'm proud of what we did to protect this country."<ref>{{Cite magazine|title=Ari Fleischer: Subpoena Me on Torture|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2009/04/ari-fleischer-subpoena-me-on-torture|last=Pressman|first=Matt|magazine=Vanity Fair|date=April 30, 2009 |language=en|access-date=2020-05-18}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=ARI FLEISCHER "PROUD" TO ANSWER TORTURE SUBPOENA|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ari-fleischer-proud-to-an_b_194517|last=O'Hara|first=Meghan|date=2009-05-01|website=HuffPost|language=en|access-date=2020-05-18}}</ref>

==Alleged role in Plame affair==
{{Further|Plame affair}}
Fleischer was an important figure in the [[Plame affair]], which revolved around journalist [[Robert Novak]]'s public identification of [[Valerie Plame]] as a covert CIA officer in 2003. Fleischer testified that [[Scooter Libby]], Vice President [[Dick Cheney]]'s then-[[Chief of staff (politics)|chief of staff]], told him that [[Valerie Plame]] was a CIA agent weeks before Libby had claimed to have been informed of Plame's status by a reporter.

On July 7, 2003, in the [[James S. Brady Press Briefing Room|James S. Brady Briefing Room]], Fleischer was asked about [[Joseph C. Wilson|Joseph Wilson]], a former U.S. ambassador who had recently written an editorial for ''[[The New York Times]]'' criticizing the intelligence information the [[George W. Bush administration|Bush administration]] had relied upon to make its case for [[war in Iraq|invading]] the nation of [[Iraq]]. Specifically, Fleischer was asked to respond to Mr. Wilson's assertion that he had been sent to Niger to investigate claims that [[Saddam Hussein]] had sought [[yellowcake uranium]] and found no evidence that such events had ever occurred.

{{quote|'''Q:''' Can you give us the White House account of Ambassador Wilson's account of what happened when he went to Niger and investigated the suggestions that Niger was passing yellow cake to Iraq? I'm sure you saw the piece yesterday in ''The New York Times''.

'''FLEISCHER:''' Well, there is zero, nada, nothing new here. Ambassador Wilson, other than the fact that now people know his name, has said all this before. But the fact of the matter is in his statements about the Vice President—the Vice President's office did not request the mission to Niger. The Vice President's office was not informed of his mission and he was not aware of Mr. Wilson's mission until recent press accounts—press reports accounted for it.<ref name="Fleischerbriefing">{{cite press release|title=Press Secretary Briefings|publisher=Office of the Press Secretary The White House|date=July 7, 2003|url=https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2003/07/20030707-5.html#9|access-date=2008-12-07}}</ref>}}

Fleischer testified in open court on January 29, 2007, that Libby told him on July 7, 2003, at lunch, about Plame, who is Wilson's wife. [[MSNBC]] correspondent [[David Shuster]] summarized Fleisher's testimony on ''[[Hardball with Chris Matthews]]'':

{{quote|Ambassador Wilson was sent to Niger by his wife. His wife works at the CIA," Fleischer recalled Libby saying. Libby said the information was "hush-hush, on the Q-T."

He testified that "The information about Wilson's wife was news to me. It was the first time I had ever heard it."<ref name="hours later">{{cite news| first= David |last= Shuster|title=Libby trial: Jurors taking note of Fleischer testimony|work=Hardball with Chris Matthews|date=January 29, 2007| url= http://hardblogger.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/01/29/44432.aspx|access-date=2007-03-07| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070210015340/http://hardblogger.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/01/29/44432.aspx|archive-date=February 10, 2007|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref>}}

Fleischer also testified to the fact that [[Dan Bartlett]], the president's communications adviser, told him the same thing on [[Air Force One]] days later on the way to Niger with President Bush. Fleischer had then relayed this information to ''[[Time magazine|Time]]'' correspondent [[John Dickerson (journalist)|John Dickerson]] and [[NBC]]'s [[David Gregory (journalist)|David Gregory]] in Uganda during the African trip.<ref name="Fleischer_testimony">{{cite news| first= James Gordon |last= Meek |title= Fleischer says he leaked Plame's CIA employment |work=New York Daily News |date=January 30, 2007 |url= http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/politics/16577858.htm }}{{dead link|date=May 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
</ref><ref name="washingtonpost">{{cite news|title=Ex-CIA Official Testifies About Libby's Calls| url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/24/AR2007012400944.html| last1= Leonnig| first1= Carol D.| author-link= Carol D. Leonnig| last2= Goldstein| first2= Amy| author2-link=Amy Goldstein (journalist)|date=January 25, 2007|access-date=January 26, 2007|newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref>

Dickerson denied that such a conversation ever took place.<ref name="Dickerson-Valerie-who?">{{cite news| first= John |last= Dickerson|title=My Surreal Day at the Libby Trial| work= Dispatches From the Scooter Libby Trial| via= Slate.com| date= January 29, 2007| url= http://www.slate.com/id/2158157/entry/2158492/}}</ref> Fleischer gave his final "Press Briefing" on July 14, 2003.

On July 18, 2005, ''[[Bloomberg L.P.|Bloomberg]]'' reported that in his sworn testimony before the [[grand jury]] investigating the leak, Fleischer denied having seen a memo circulating in Air Force One on July 7, 2003, which named Plame in connection to Wilson's mission and which identified her as a "CIA" covert agent. However, a former Bush Administration official also on the plane testified to having seen Fleischer perusing the document.<ref name= "autogenerated1">{{cite news| url= https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aagJweX0XNCQ&refer=us| work= Bloomberg.com |title= Prosecutor's Probe Centers on Rove, Memo, Phone Calls (Update2)| date= July 18, 2005}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2005/04/11/LI2005041100879.html| newspaper=The Washington Post|title=Cheney's Unforgivable Egotism| first= Dan |last= Froomkin| date= April 11, 2005}}</ref>

Columnist [[Robert Novak]], who published Plame's name on July 14, 2003, made a call to Fleischer on July 7, 2003, before Fleischer's trip to Africa with President Bush. It is unclear whether Fleischer returned Novak's call.<ref name= "autogenerated1" /> However, Fleischer is mentioned in [[Special Prosecutor]] [[Patrick Fitzgerald]]'s indictment of Libby. The indictment states that Libby told Fleischer (referred to as the White House press secretary in the indictment) that Plame worked for the "CIA" and that this fact was not well known.

After receiving an [[Witness immunity|immunity]] agreement, Fleischer testified that he had revealed Plame's identity to reporters after learning it from Libby.<ref name="washingtonpost"/> However, in the end it was discovered that [[Richard Armitage (politician)|Richard Armitage]] first leaked Plame's identity, not Libby or Cheney.

== Media bias ==
In his book ''Suppression, Deception, Snobbery, and Bias: Why the Press Gets So Much Wrong ― and Just Doesn't Care'', Fleischer argues that "there's a younger generation of journalists … who think their job is to be subjective" and that "They don't believe in objectivity. They don't believe in two sides. They believe that their side, particularly on social issues and on racial matters, is the only right side."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Thiessen |first=Marc A. |date=2022-07-26 |title=Why do people believe the 'big lie'? Because Americans don't trust the media. |language=en-US |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/26/big-lie-perceptions-skewed-media-bias-against-trump/ |access-date=2022-08-23 |issn=0190-8286}}</ref>

==Consultancy firm==
Today he works as a media consultant for various corporations and sports organizations and players through his company, Ari Fleischer Communications.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fleischercommunications.com/|title=Ari Fleischer Communications|website=fleischercommunications.com|access-date=April 16, 2018}}</ref> He has consulted for former Canadian prime minister [[Stephen Harper]],<ref>{{cite news|last=Alberts|first=Sheldon|title=PMO hires two former White House strategists|date=April 16, 2009|work=[[National Post]]|agency=Canwest News Service|location=Washington|quote=The Conservative government has hired two former White House communications strategists as part of a "sustained" effort to raise Canada's profile in the U.S. media — with Prime Minister Stephen Harper acting as salesman-in-chief, Canwest News Service has learned. The Prime Minister's Office yesterday said it had retained Mike McCurry, a former press secretary to Bill Clinton, and Ari Fleischer, who held the same job during George W. Bush's first term, on temporary contracts to help Mr. Harper land interviews with leading US television networks and newspapers.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/harper-hired-former-bush-spokesman-twice-1.975681|title=Harper hired former Bush spokesman twice|date=January 6, 2010|work=CBC News|agency=The Canadian Press}}</ref> [[Mark McGwire]], the [[Washington Redskins]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bruce-allen-gop_n_4695976|title=Redskins GM Leans On GOP Consultants To Deflect 'Ignorant' Questions About Team's Name|last=Lachman|first=Samantha|date=January 30, 2014|work=HuffPost News|access-date=September 24, 2019}}</ref> [[Tiger Woods]] and the [[Green Bay Packers]].

He also worked with the Saudi Arabian [[LIV Golf]] Tour.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.si.com/college/2022/06/08/ari-fleischer-liv-golf-press-conference-cfp|title=CFP Media Consultant Ari Fleischer's Bad Publicity Tour Continues |date=June 7, 2022 |publisher=News|access-date=12 June 2022}}</ref>

==Memoir==
In 2005, Fleischer published a memoir, ''Taking Heat: The President, the Press and My Years in the White House''. [[Michiko Kakutani]] wrote in ''The New York Times,'' "[T]his book does not provide any new insights into the workings of the current White House. It does not present compelling portraits of cabinet members or members of the White House supporting cast. And it does not shed new light on the president or his methods of governance." She found the book "insular, defensive and wholly predictable."<ref name="query.nytimes.com">{{cite web| first= Michiko |last= Kakutani |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/01/books/books-of-the-times-after-years-of-taking-heat-spokesman-takes.html?pagewanted=2 |title=BOOKS OF THE TIMES - After Years of Taking Heat, Spokesman Takes Potshots |work= The New York Times |date=March 1, 2005 |access-date=October 15, 2016}}</ref> In Salon.com, Eric Boehlert declared that despite "a few curious nuggets," the book is "long on praise for his boss and criticism of the 'liberal' media, and short on revelations."<ref name= "query.nytimes.com"/>

==Personal life==
In November 2002, Fleischer married Rebecca Elizabeth Davis, an employee in the [[Office of Management and Budget]], in an [[Interfaith marriage|interfaith]] ceremony.<ref name="from pound">{{cite news| url= http://www.westchestermagazine.com:80/Westchester-Magazine/April-2016/From-Pound-Ridge-To-Pennsylvania-Ave-Back/| date= April 4, 2016| title= From Pound Ridge To Pennsylvania Ave—And Back| first= Jerry| last= McKinstry| url-status= live| work= Westchester| via= westchestermagazine.com| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160815062045/http://www.westchestermagazine.com/Westchester-Magazine/April-2016/From-Pound-Ridge-To-Pennsylvania-Ave-Back/| archive-date= August 15, 2016| access-date= April 16, 2018| df= mdy-all}}</ref> Rabbi Harold S. White officiated the ceremony, with the participation of Rev. Michael J. Kelley, a Roman Catholic priest.<ref name=nyt1/> He resides in New York.<ref name= "from pound" /> He raised his children Jewish and are members of a synagogue in Westchester, New York.<ref name= "from pound" /> Fleischer's brother, [[Michael Paul Fleischer|Michael]], worked for the [[Coalition Provisional Authority]] in Iraq.

He is on the board of the [[Republican Jewish Coalition]].<ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.rjchq.org/About/biodetail.aspx?id=57992ad8-40d2-4b11-90a9-3646910d4955 | title= Ari Fleischer, Board of Directors| publisher= [[Republican Jewish Coalition]] | website= rjchq.org| access-date= June 30, 2009| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110721104327/http://www.rjchq.org/About/biodetail.aspx?id=57992ad8-40d2-4b11-90a9-3646910d4955 |archive-date= July 21, 2011 }}</ref>

==In other media==
Fleischer is portrayed by [[Rob Corddry]] in [[Oliver Stone]]'s ''[[W. (film)|W.]]'', a biographical movie about George W. Bush.

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* [[Christopher Hitchens|Hitchens, Christopher]]. "[http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/fighting_words/2006/09/fear_factor.html Fear Factor: How did we survive Ari Fleischer's reign of terror?]" ''[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]''. Monday September 11, 2006.
* [[Mathew Klickstein|Klickstein, Mathew]]. "[http://jewishtimes.com/55597/how-to-speak-for-the-president/news/ How to Speak for the President]" "[[Baltimore Jewish Times]]". Wednesday December 14, 2016

==External links==
{{Commons category|Ari Fleischer}}
* [https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/briefings Transcripts of all White House press briefings since 2001]
* [http://www.fleischercommunications.com/ Ari Fleischer Communications]
* {{C-SPAN|49900}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Jake Siewert]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[White House Press Secretary]]|years=2001–2003}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Scott McClellan]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{WHPS}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fleischer, Ari}}
[[Category:1960 births]]
[[Category:American people of Hungarian-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:George W. Bush administration personnel]]
[[Category:Jewish American government officials]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Middlebury College alumni]]
[[Category:New York (state) Republicans]]
[[Category:People associated with the Plame affair]]
[[Category:People from Pound Ridge, New York]]
[[Category:Washington, D.C., government officials]]
[[Category:Washington, D.C., Republicans]]
[[Category:White House press secretaries]]