He's baaack. The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama's controversial ex-pastor, threw a hissy fit in a letter to an African aid group, claiming that the president "threw me under the bus" and the White House views him as "toxic."
In a missive obtained by the Associated Press, Wright told Africa 6000 International that the Obama administration would likely ignore his efforts to release frozen funds for use in earthquake-stricken Haiti.
"No one in the Obama administration will respond to me, listen to me, talk to me or read anything that I write to them. I am 'toxic' in terms of the Obama administration," Wright wrote the president of the Pennsylvania-based group, Joseph Prischak, earlier this year.
"I am 'radioactive,' Sir. When Obama threw me under the bus, he threw me under the bus literally!" he wrote. "Any advice that I offer is going to be taken as something to be avoided. Please understand that!"
The White House didn't respond to requests for comment Monday about Wright's remarks.
Several phone messages left for Wright at his Trinity United Church of Christ were not returned. Wright's spokeswoman, his daughter Jeri Wright, did not immediately comment on the substance of the letter.
In the spring of 2008, a video of Wright denouncing American policies in a sermon at his Chicago church threw then-Sen. Obama's presidential campaign into turmoil.
Obama sharply denounced his former pastor's incendiary remarks.
But Wright continued to ignite controversy.
In a speech to the National Press Club in April 2008, he claimed the U.S. government could plant AIDS in the black community, praised Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and suggested Obama's shunning of his pastor was simply a PR move.
That rant prompted Obama to cut ties with Wright, whom he labeled "divisive and destructive," and leave his church.
Wright's letter was sent Feb. 18 to Prischak, the president of Africa 6000 International in Erie, Pa. Wright subsequently agreed to write a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on the group's behalf to try to get access to millions of dollars.
