ABCNEWS TELLS WHITE HOUSE OF 'INDICTMENT' (White House source: ABC bluffing)

Drudge Report ^ | 25 OCT 05 | DCBRYAN1

[DCBryan1]

ABCNEWS TELLS WHITE HOUSE OF 'INDICTMENT' Tue Oct 25 2005 19:08:02 ET

"We have double sourced that the vice president's chief of staff has been indicted," a reporter for ABCNEWS claimed to a White House press spokesman this afternoon.

The White House refused to comment on the claim. The network said they didn't need comment, they were preparing to run with the development on this evening's network news broadcast, sources tell the DRUDGE REPORT.

ABCNEWS claimed to the White House that it had double sourced how an indictment against vice presidential chief of staff I. Lewis Libby was set.

A senior White House source quickly determined ABC was bluffing; the report did not run on the East coast feed of the program.

Developing...

UPDATE

ABC NEWS spokesman Jeff Schneider tells the DRUDGE REPORT: "There is nothing at all true about us having double sourced anything" regarding indictments.

More from Drudge:

CBS’ JOHN ROBERTS: Lawyers familiar with the case think Wednesday is when special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald will make known his decision, and that there will be indictments. Supporters say Rove and the vice president’s chief of staff, Scooter Libby, are in legal jeopardy...

Another update from Drudge:

Indictments in CIA leak case ‘about to be handed down’

[clawrence3]

Yeah - I'm pretty sure now - Google search on "President Kennedy's chief of staff" came up with 2 mistakes (nothing authoritative): Ted Sorensen and Kenneth O'Donnell ; )

[Ann Archy]

Kristol was Quayles Chief of Staff.....and my guess is that he sabotaged him a lot....just a guess.

[TheRedSoxWinThePennant]

Just breaking right now 19:50 est

Karl Rove indicted for taking a leak on abc reporter

[Rudder]

Nicoll Wallace

[hole_n_one]

Frankin on Olbermann, next.

[Dilbert56]

"Double Sourced"

[Howlin]

Jeffrey Schneider, Vice President of Communications for ABC News, denied a claim from the conservative Drudge Report that any reporter had called the White House to say that Dick Cheney's chief of staff "Scooter" Libby had been indicted, RAW STORY can report.

"Absolutely not true," Schneider said from his cell phone Tuesday evening.

"We have no such reporting," he added.

[kabar]

I don't recall a senior staffer being indicted during either Ford or Carter's Administration. Nor Bush 43's until possibly now.

Bert Lance resigned from OMB because of allegations of unethical behavior within the National Bank of Georgia. No indictment however.

[petitfour]

lol

[advance_copy]

If this were 1974 instead of 2005, the lefties in the MSM would get away with their treachery. Today, they get exposed for the slugs they have always been.

And, BTW, that the WH was able to confirm that ABC News was "bluffing" (translate: lying), likely means that Libby has not received any target letter. That would be the only way the WH could confirm that this was an ABC News fishing trip.

[Ann Archy]

Caspar Weinberger was indicted right before the 1992 election!!

[Mo1]

So he is calling Drudge a liar???

Oh this should get interesting ..

[Crawdad]

I believe there will be a few Dem/MSM suicides tonight. Real ones, not "arranged". Lot's of nervous breakdowns, too.

[FreedomNeocon]

GAME OVER MAN... GAME OVER!

(ironically voiced by Ellis Henican)

[ex-snook]

"The President is spending this week talking about the #1 issue for this administration: The War on Terror. I think he's focused."

He's off in dreamland. The war on terror is in Afghanistan. Iraq is a revolution.

[lawnguy]

Yes, Cheney would be a big deal. Libby is a senior staffer

Don't the normal rules of discovey apply in this case? Am I the only one here looking forward to Scooter's lawyer getting Wilson and his wife, and Miller and Russert on the stand?

I also think it would be wise for the President to tell the MSM that all the irresponsible reporting on this story has forced him to give Scooter the benefit of any doubt, and if they don't like it in the press room or the blogosphere, they can kiss his butt.

I think he would get a spike in approval ratings that would push the mid 50's. Please Mr. President, stand up to these guys and fight them for the first time in your administration.

[advance_copy]

Story moving fast and furious right now.

[Rudder]

I got "Nicoll Wallace" as the name from Drudge's initial post (which has been pulled from his site.)

[clawrence3]

So was William Krystol. I didn't recall Spencer, so maybe he was just a short time. The original question, though, was about Administrations with NO senior staffers indicted. It does seem modern era 2 term POTUS have that problem.

[Cedric]

It's starting to smell like the Libs/MSM have been kicking up as much dust as they can {leaks, rumors, false "super-secret-double-dog-dare-sourced indictment reports} during the past few days precisely because they've concluded there will be no serious indictments.

My theory holds that {a} they're trying to implant the impression of guilt in the publics' mind before Fitz comes along and bursts the bubble by exonerating everyone and {b} setting-up a backdrop for sreaming "whitewash!" when no indictments come down. {"Everyone knows there were serious indictments, we've been reporting it for days!!}