• Vial of Ronald Reagan's blood: Auction called off

    AP

    This undated image released by PFCAuctions shows a vial supposedly containing Ronald Reagan's dried blood residue.

    By Jonathan Lloyd, NBCLosAngeles.com

    An auction house announced Thursday that it plans to donate a vial containing dried blood residue said to be from President Ronald Reagan to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation instead of selling the item.


    The vial had been taken from a laboratory that tested Reagan's blood for lead in the days after he was seriously wounded by a would-be assassin in 1981. In a statement, the auction house said "we have negotiated with the consignor to arrange for the item to be withdrawn from the auction and donated to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, a considerable financial gesture from the consignor."

    Bidding for the items on the PFC Auctions website was at $30,086 when the item was pulled, according to the company. The bid deadline was set for Thursday evening.

    Read the original report at NBCLosAngeles.com

    After it was removed from the laboratory by someone who worked at the lab, the vial was obtained during a February auction in the United States. The lot description said the vial holds a "sample of President Ronald Reagan’s blood after an assassination attempt in 1981."

    Officials with the Reagan Foundation said they were pleased the vial would be kept "out of  public hands." Earlier this week, the foundation's executive director called the auction a "craven act."

    Reagan's family and his surgeon also criticized the proposed sale.

    First story at NBCWashington.com: Vial of Ronald Reagan's blood up for sale

    "We are very pleased with this outcome and wish to thank the consignor and PFC Auctions for their assistance in this matter," said John Heubusch, executive director for the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation.

    "While we contend that the removal of the vial from the hospital laboratory and the U.S. auction sale in February 2012 were not legal acts in our opinion, we are grateful to the current custodian of the vial for this generous donation to the Foundation Ensuring President Reagan’s blood remains out of public hands."

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    The consignor, a collector of presidential memorabilia who asked to remain anonymous, purchased the vial for $3,550 at the February auction.

    "I just don't think people should profit from it," said Joseph Maddalena, of Profile in History Auction House in LA. "I would never do it. It's kind of poor taste. Selling somebody's blood? It's a little creepy."

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  • Vial of Ronald Reagan's blood up for sale, UK auction house claims

    By NBC News and msnbc.com staff

    If you’ve ever wanted a vial of Ronald Reagan’s blood, now’s your chance -- although this sale is being called unethical.


    A vial supposedly containing the late president’s blood is up for auction on PFCauctions.com, which is based in the United Kingdom. 

    The website claims the blood was taken from Reagan following the assassination attempt against him in 1981.

    See the original report at NBCWashington.com

    The vial is pictured on the website with a label of the president’s name. An included letter from the seller says his late mother worked at the lab that tested the blood for the George Washington University Hospital after Reagan was shot.

    The most recent bid on the site is a little more than $9,900.

    Some are outraged over the auction, calling it unethical.

    "If indeed this story is true, it's a craven act and we will use every legal means to stop its sale or purchase," John Heubusch, executive director of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, said in a statement.

    Dr. Joseph Giordano, who was head of the GW Hospital's trauma team in 1981, said the auction is outrageous.

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    “You don’t go selling people’s specimens or bodily fluids,” said Giordano. “You have no permission to do that. It’s unethical.”

    “Any individual, including a President of the United States, should feel confident that once they enter into the care of a medical system their privacy and rights are held inviolable,” Heubusch said.

    Reuters gives this account of the vial's origin:

    The seller wrote that the vial came from his or her late mother, who took it from her workplace at Maryland-based Bio-Science Laboratories, where blood work and testing were done for George Washington Hospital.

    The seller said he or she had contacted the California-based Ronald Reagan Library and Museum, which is run by the late president's foundation, months ago and had been told that Reagan's family would like to have the vial given to them.

    "I told him that I didn't think that was something that I was going to consider ... and that I was a real fan of Reaganomics and felt that President Reagan himself would rather see me sell it rather than donating it," the statement said.

    A spokeswoman for the foundation declined to comment on the seller's claim to have spoken to the library.

    Msnbc.com staff contributed to this report from Natalie Lopez of NBCWashington.com.

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  • Robber in Obama mask -- or was it Reagan? -- strikes Florida fast-food restaurants

    Was he Ronald Reagan or Barack Obama? Seems the people who witnessed a masked man robbing a Burger King restaurant in Lake Park, Fla., weren’t so sure.


    Employees initially reported that a man wearing all-black clothing with red gloves and sporting a Ronald Reagan mask held up a Burger King at gunpoint on Tuesday morning, Palm Beach County sheriff's office spokeswoman Teri Barbera told The Palm Beach Post News.

    The robber, who had a woman accomplice also wearing a mask (president not specified), demanded money from the cashier and made off with about $400, according to the Miami New Times.

    Detectives who reviewed the restaurant’s surveillance video determined the gunman was actually wearing a mask resembling Obama, the Palm Beach Post reported.

    There was no explanation for the presidential discrepancy.

    It’s not the first time a masked Obama bandit has struck a fast-food restaurant.

    On Jan. 28, a man robbed a McDonald’s in Riviera Beach, also in Palm Beach County, while dressed in black wearing an Obama mask, according to the Palm Beach Post.  This time, he had white gloves.

    Sheriff’s officials didn’t immediately return a call to msnbc.com about whether they think the same person is responsible for both holdups.

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  • Feds urge judge: Don't give Hinckley more freedom

    John Hinckley, the man who tried to assassinate President Reagan in 1981, asked to spend more time outside the Washington mental hospital where he's been treated for three decades. But prosecutors strongly object to his request. NBC's Pete Williams has more.

    By Pete Williams and Joel Seidman, NBC News

    WASHINGTON -- Urging a judge not to loosen restrictions on out-of-hospital visits by John Hinckley, who shot President Ronald Reagan in 1981, Justice Department lawyers on Wednesday said Hinckley browsed through books about Reagan and presidential assassins at a Virginia bookstore in July.

    Hinckley visited a Barnes and Noble store in Williamsburg, Virginia, where his mother lives, but later told his doctors that he went to see a movie, "Captain America," federal prosecutor Sarah Chasson said at the beginning of a court hearing on Hinckley's request to be allowed longer unsupervised visits to Williamsburg, his mother's hometown.

    "He has a long history of deceptive and secretive behavior," Chasson said. Secret Service agents watched him browse through the books, she told the court.

    Two years ago, a federal judge allowed Hinckley to make 12 visits to his mother's home, each lasting nine nights. Having completed that series of trips, both Hinckley and doctors at a Washington mental hospital are proposing more visits of longer duration.

    Such a plan would eventually lead to "the goal of fully transitioning Mr. Hinckley there," said his lawyer, Barry Levine of Washington, DC.

    "Lack of candor about attending a movie does not make him dangerous," Levine told federal judge Paul Friedman on Wednesday.

    Dr. Tyler Jones, the director of psychiatry at St. Elizabeths Hospital, testified that in July when Hinckley went to the bookstore instead of going to see the movie, he stopped in front of a shelf of books about the McKinley assassination, the Reagan assassination attempt, Reagan speeches and John F. Kennedy.

    Jones testified on cross examination from prosecutors that Hinckley looked at but "did not pick up or read" the books about Reagan or presidential assassins. Jones also testified that Hinckley initially lied about seeing the movie.

    But he said that when Hinckley's medical treatment team received a Secret Service monitoring report about the incident, they confronted Hinckley about his deception.

    Jones testified that Hinckley told the team he "understood that it was a big deal" but asked the team to "cut him some slack."

    As a result of Hinckley's deception, his medical team reduced the time he can spend with his mother in Williamsburg for Christmas and he will lose some unaccompanied time there as well.

    Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity for attempting to assassinate President Reagan outside a Washington hotel in 1981. Since then, he's been a patient at St. Elizabeths Hospital. At the urging of his doctors, Friedman granted Hinckley permission, beginning in 2003, to leave the hospital grounds for short visits. The judge has gradually approved longer visits with less supervision from Hinckley's doctors.

    The hospital is now seeking permission for him to make two 17-day visits to his mother's home and six more visits of 24 days each.  If those are successful, the hospital wants the discretion to place him there on convalescent leave permanently.

    Hinckley has been volunteering at a mental health hospital in Williamsburg and has obtained a driver's license, though he is under court orders to have a responsible custodian with him while driving.

    The Justice Department strongly opposes the request for expanded visits, arguing that his treatment record reveals behavior patterns "that universally have been recognized as risk factors for Hinckley's future violence."

    Government lawyers say he has been deceptive with his doctors, not only about his visit to the bookstore but also about his interest in women. He searched the Internet for pictures of his female dentist but falsely claimed she wanted him to see her photos, the Justice Department says, and gave conflicting responses about whether he wanted to marry his current girlfriend.

    John Hinckley Jr. in 2003.

    While the visits to Williamsburg were intended to aid in his therapy and allow him to gradually adjust to society, "After three years of regular visits to his mother's hometown, Hinckley has failed to show that he has integrated into the community or that he has taken the initiative necessary to complete the task," the Justice Department says.

    But, says Hinckley's lawyer, he has completed every one of his court-approved visits "without any adverse occurrence or risk of danger" and is entitled to pursue his "constitutionally guaranteed rights to treatment and to be held in the least restrictive environment consistent with safety."

    Hinckley, who is 56, is attending the federal court hearing. His mother was expected to attend later during the proceedings. Hinckley's father died in 2008.

    Pete Williams is NBC News’ justice correspondent. Joel Seidman is an NBC News producer.