The Associated Press
Friday, Jan. 26, 2001; 4:44 p.m. EST

WASHINGTON –– President Bush brushed aside reports of vandalism at the White House by departing members of the Clinton administration.

"There might have been a prank or two, maybe somebody put a cartoon on the wall, but that's OK," Bush said Friday. "It's time now to move forward."

Some staff members of the Bush administration have said they moved into their new offices to find problems including glass desktops broken, keyboards doused with fluids and stripped of "W" keys, and the tags that identify phone numbers switched.

The new administration has asked staffers to report any suspected vandalism, and an administration official has been assigned to keep track of their reports. But a spokesman repeated Friday he doubts anything will be done with the findings.

"I think that whatever took place is past," White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said. "This is part of changing the tone. We're just going to do our jobs. ... As far as we're concerned, it's over."

Karen Tramontano, counselor to President Clinton's chief of staff, John Podesta, said she was in the White House West Wing and adjacent office buildings late the night before Clinton left office, and saw no vandalism.

"We left everything in good condition," she said. "We all left our offices intact."