Ex-French President Sarkozy, wife lavished Obama family with $41k gifts in 2011 | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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Ex-French President Sarkozy, wife lavished Obama family with $41k gifts in 2011

FILE - In this April 4, 2009 file photo, first lady Michelle Obama and France's then-first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy visit Strasbourg Cathedral in Strasbourg, France. New documents show that former French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni showered President Barack Obama and his family with more than $41,000 worth of gifts in 2011. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File)

WASHINGTON - A gift that Prime Minister Stephen Harper gave Barack Obama is unlikely to be a slam dunk to top any list of the most lavish presents the American president has received from foreign leaders.

Harper gave the president an autographed Toronto Raptors basketball, but it pales in comparison with the more than $41,000 worth of gifts that former French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his supermodel wife, Carla Bruni, gave the Obamas in 2011.

Documents released on Friday indicate the gifts from the Sarkozys ranged from designer golf and travel bags and fine crystal to soaps and perfumes, according to the State Department's Office of Protocol, which catalogues presidents to U.S. officials from foreign leaders and publishes an annual accounting, often one or two years late due to processing.

Among the goodies presented to the Obamas by the Sarkozys were a large black Hermes golf accessory bag worth $7,750, two Baccarat crystal table lamps on silver pedestals worth $5,500, two Baccarat crystal statuettes depicting golfers, a monogrammed black leather Louis Vuitton business bag, his-and-hers Christian Dior bathrobes and a black leather Dior clutch.

Sarkozy also gave Obama a glass sculpture of Alexander the Great's horse, a Lacoste shirt, a fountain pen and, perhaps in a nod to his tobacco-using days, a Ligne 8 lighter.

But don't expect the Obamas to furnish a post-White House residence with the items, because under law, most nonperishable gifts to the president and other U.S. officials must be to the National Archives or General Services Administration unless the recipient reimburses the Treasury for their estimated value.

The Sarkozys largesse may have been a function of France hosting the Group of Eight summit in 2011, at which the world financial crisis was a main topic of conversation. Most other leaders' gifts to the Obamas were along the lines of the more modest gift Harper gave.

Australia's prime minister presented Obama with a green and white iPod shuffle and Australian football jerseys.

One exception was a variety of artwork worth $13,200 that was given to Obama by the governor of the Mexican state of Oaxaca.

Although the Sarkozys were the top presidential gift-givers in 2011, the single most valuable package of goodies — $29,450 in art, watches and electronics — was given to former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen by Kuwait's emir.

Deputy CIA Director Michael Morrell may have received the most unusual gift in 2011, a silver hookah worth $1,500 from a giver whose identity is classified.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton didn't make out so badly either in 2011, getting a $3,400 silver bowl and a $7,425 gold coin and silk scarf from the sultan of Oman, a $3,200 strand of pearls from a senior Chinese official and artwork from the president of Tajikistan worth $2,850.

The most lavish gift given to Clinton came from the first lady of Zambia, who presented her with an emerald and diamond necklace worth $7,834, according to the records.

News from © The Associated Press, 2013
The Associated Press

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