Sutton says al-Mansour told him about Obama, saying in a letter, "There's a young man that has applied to Harvard. I know that you have a few friends left there because you used to go up there to speak. Would you please write a letter in support of him?"
On air, Sutton confirmed he did write the letter, telling his friends at Harvard, "I thought there was going to be a genius that was going to be available and I certainly hoped they would treat him kindly."
During the 2008 presidential campaign, Ben Smith of Politico reported the Obama campaign's flat denial of Sutton's story.
Smith was not able to get in touch with Sutton, whose advanced age had raised questions whether his memory of writing a letter of recommendation for Obama was confused. [CONTINUE READING]
By Ben Smith
The White House is denying that the president bowed to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia at a G-20 meeting in London, a scene that drew criticism on the right and praise from some Arab outlets.
"It wasn't a bow. He grasped his hand with two hands, and he's taller than King Abdullah," said an Obama aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The Washington Times called the alleged bow a "shocking display of fealty to a foreign potentate" and said it violated centuries of American tradition of not deferring to royalty. The Weekly Standard, meanwhile, noted that American protocol apparently rules out bowing, or at least it reportedly did on the occasion of a Clinton "near-bow" to the emperor of Japan. [Continue reading]
In an appearance on the New York-produced "Inside City Hall" television show, octogenarian Harlem lawyer Percy Sutton – whose clients included Malcolm X – explained that Islamic radical Khalid Abdullah Tariq al-Mansour, "one of the world's wealthiest men," asked him to write a letter of recommendation to Harvard Law School for then relatively unknown Barack Obama. In the video, Sutton says he was introduced to Obama by al-Mansour, a Saudi citizen, who "was then raising money" for Obama. Sutton described al-Mansour as being from Texas, saying al-Mansour was the "principal adviser to one of the world's richest men," most likely Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. Video of the Sutton interview is posted at YouTube.com and embedded below.
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