This article was originally published on Dec. 27, 2008
A stunning photo of President Bush shaking hands with the father of pardoned – then unpardoned – housing scammer Isaac Toussie emerged Friday as the White House reeled from the embarrassing scandal.
The full-color picture – obtained exclusively by the Daily News – was taken early this year.
It shows a smiling Robert Toussie clasping the President’s hand as they stand in front of an American flag.
It was not immediately clear if the picture was snapped before or after Robert Toussie’s $28,500 donation to the Republican National Committee in April.
Bush pardoned Isaac Toussie on Tuesday. The President took the extraordinary step of rescinding the pardon the next day, after reading about the political contribution in The News.
Isaac Toussie pleaded guilty in 2001 to lying to the Department of Housing and Urban Development to get mortgages for unqualified homebuyers.
Both Toussies face suits accusing them of fleecing hundreds of blacks and Latinos who bought overpriced, shoddy houses.
There was no answer at Robert Toussie’s door yesterday.
Meanwhile, Rep. Anthony Weiner is deciding what to do with $9,900 in campaign cash from the Toussie family.
Campaign finance records show the “Weiner ’09” mayoral committee received $4,950 each from Isaac Toussie’s father, Robert, and mother, Laura, on April 30, 2007.
Weiner has “never gotten any donations from Isaac himself [and] he did not write any letter on behalf of Isaac or take any action to support that pardon,” spokesman John Collins said. “We’ll take a look at any donations from the Toussie family.”
It’s not clear why the Toussies showered Weiner (D-Brooklyn, Queens) with so much cash.
The only contact between the congressman and Robert Toussie, who lives in Weiner’s district, came because of Toussie’s membership in a “civic organization in Manhattan Beach that was trying to get a sea wall fixed,” Collins said.
City Controller Bill Thompson, also a Democrat, received $500 from Isaac Toussie on Dec. 23, 2006, records show. Thompson aide Jeff Simmons said the controller had no dealings with Toussie.
Other local Democrats who have received Toussie money include Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, City Councilman Domenic Recchia of Brooklyn and then-mayoral candidate Mark Green.
A Recchia spokesman said the councilman had no personal dealings with the Toussies. Green said the same. Markowitz’s spokesman couldn’t be reached.