wo Democrats in Congress are pressing for investigations into how a Washington reporter who used a pseudonym managed to gain access to the White House and had access to classified documents that named Valerie Plame as a C.I.A. operative.Posted on 02/10/2005 8:56:07 PM PST by conservative in nyc
wo Democrats in Congress are pressing for investigations into how a Washington reporter who used a pseudonym managed to gain access to the White House and had access to classified documents that named Valerie Plame as a C.I.A. operative.
The Democrats, Representatives John Conyers Jr. of Michigan and Louise M. Slaughter from Rochester, wrote yesterday to Patrick Fitzgerald, the independent prosecutor appointed in the Plame case, seeking an investigation into how the reporter, James D. Guckert, who used the name Jeff Gannon, had access to classified documents that revealed the identity of Ms. Plame.
Until Wednesday when he resigned, Mr. Guckert worked for TalonNews.com, a Web site operated by Robert Eberle, a Texas Republican. Mr. Guckert said in a March 2004 interview with his own news service, in which he was referred to as Mr. Gannon, that the classified document had been "easily accessible." The two Democrats questioned how a person with "dubious qualifications" had access to such a document. The Democrats also wrote to the Secret Service seeking an explanation of how someone using a pseudonym was cleared to enter the White House daily press briefings as well as a presidential news conference last month. They said in their letter that allowing such a person in "appears to deviate significantly from heightened security measures you have employed recently."
Mr. Guckert resigned from Talon saying he had been harassed by liberals on the Internet. Bloggers grew suspicious of him after President Bush called on him at the news conference and the reporter suggested that Democrats had "divorced themselves from reality." Spearheaded by a Web site called Media Matters For America, the bloggers discredited him.
Mr. Guckert told CNN yesterday that he had been receiving threats and hate mail. He said he used the pseudonym Gannon because it was "easier to pronounce and remember."
Scott McClellan, the White House press secretary, told reporters yesterday that Mr. Bush did not know who Mr. Guckert was. Mr. McClellan said that Mr. Guckert entered the White House under his real name and "like anyone else, showed that he was representing a news organization that published regularly, and so he was cleared two years ago to receive daily passes, just like many others are."
Mr. Guckert was denied credentials to cover Capitol Hill, where press gallery workers said that his application indicated Talon was not his main source of income and that they could not verify its legitimacy.
Karl Frisch, a spokesman for Ms. Slaughter, said: "This is a guy who could not get credentialed by the House or the Senate press galleries, and yet managed to get into the White House and question the president" and have access to a top-secret document.
He added: "To imply he has no connection to the White House is just not credible."
By the way, I'm still waiting for an article by one of their own reporters on Eason Jordan's comments. They posted an AP article with Jordan's clarification on their website in the "Arts" section at 8:00PM today.
Do we REALLY need two parties?
Probably trying to keep attention off that cameraman who was just convicted of selling military equipment to Iran.
I grow suspicious of "a Web site called Media Matters For America."
If the Democrats always had their way, all Congress would do is have investigation after investigation after investigation.
Say, maybe that's not such a bad idea.
They scream like five year old girls.
The liberal press is full of effing vampires.
PING
The desperation of the Democrats is beyond belief. Those people cannot win again with the way they are, it is an impossibility.
I don't think he's the first reporter to use something other than his birth name. Geraldo Rivera comes to mind.
Do we REALLY need two parties?
=======
Wow, the twisted libs are in major trouble -- talk about poor little sheep who have lost their way -- right into hard Socialism and obstruction. Their new profession. This country certainly does not need them, but they need the country to exist..and if it were not for the mind-numbed, lock-step DUmmies, they would have been history, long ago.
The Libs are having a field day with this story.
http://mediamatters.org/
Remember David Brock?
Actually, it wasn't a pseudonym at all -- Sandy Berger was his real name.
But seriously folks...Every reporter at the White House presents ID with the full name, the full REAL name that is. Did these idiots ever hear of a Nom De Plume?
Gee. I could easily tell by the way this article was written the Times has no ax to grind (hahhahohohohheehehehe).
We should put the list on this thread of all "journalists" who use "professional" names. Doesn't Jennings? I know Blitzer does. I'm sure there are many, many others.
Mark Twain was a fake name
HEY DEMOCRATS...
WE WANT AN INVESTIGATION OF KURTZ, HIS SOURCE-DAILYKOS/ZUNIGA, and the Fact that ZUNIGA WAS ON THE HOWARD DEAN PAYROLL.......
Oh...and throw in the fact that DAILYKOS had a post on its site today about raising money for the DNC.
Keep pushing it Dems....it's already been exposed that Gannon was not running porn sites and that he has been slandered.
Keep pushing it Dems.....Slaughter, Kurtz, Dean, and his pals will just get exposed more.
Its time to see if the Dean Coordination with dailykos violates any campaign finance laws.
When people got to meetings for planning purposes...that usually indicates coordination.
Did Dailykos raise solicit any money in the last campaign that went to Dean?
And the NBC correspondent who worked on a UN puff book while an active correspondent. And another network's cameraman involved in Iraq--can't quite recall the details right now (see! It's working!) And Rathergate. And the "Iraqi weapons stockpiles being used against our boys." I'm sure I'm missing a lot more.
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