Posted on 11/16/2005 11:20:59 AM PST by Pikamax
Pincus: Woodward 'Asked Me to Keep Him Out' of Plame Reporting
By Joe Strupp
Published: November 16, 2005 12:45 PM ET
NEW YORK Walter Pincus, the longtime Washington Post reporter and one of several journalists who testified in the Valerie Plame case, said he believed as far back as 2003 that Bob Woodward had some involvement in the case but he did not pursue the information because Woodward asked him not to.
"He asked me to keep him out of the reporting and I agreed to do that," Pincus said today. His comments followed a Post story today about Woodward's testimony on Monday before special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, in which Woodward reportedly disclosed that a senior White House official told him about Plame's identity as a CIA operative a month before her identity was disclosed publicly.
In today's Post story, by reporters Jim VandeHei and Carol Leonnig, Woodward is quoted as saying he told Pincus that he knew about Plame's true identity as a CIA operative in 2003. Pincus said, in the same story, that he did not recall Woodward telling him that, but believed he might have confused the conversation with one they had in October 2003 after Pincus wrote a story about being called to testify.
"In October, I think he did come by after I had written about being called and said I wasn't the only one who would be called," Pincus said, adding that he believed Woodward was talking about himself, but did not press him on it. "Bob and I have an odd relationship because he is doing books and I am writing about the same subject."
Pincus said he did not believe Woodward had purposely lied about their conversation, saying, "I think he thought he told me something." Pincus declined to comment on the other revelation in today's story, namely that Woodward had waited until last month before revealing his conversation with the White House official to Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr. "I don't talk about what other people do, other reporters," he said. "Everybody does in this business what they think is the right thing to do."
Pincus also declined to comment on what reaction there has been in the Post newsroom to Woodward's testimony. "I'm not listening," he said.
Woodward did not return calls seeking comment.
Pincus gave his deposition to Fitzgerald in September 2004, in which he spoke about a conversation with a source related to the Plame case, but has never disclosed the identity of the source.
When asked if Woodward's unusual arrangement with the paper, in which he often withholds information and source identities for use in his books, is a problem for the Post, Pincus defended Woodward and said the situation is often a help.
He cited as an example a story Pincus wrote in 2003 just before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, which doubted the existence of weapons of mass destruction. "Bob helped to get it in the paper," Pincus said. "He had been hearing the same thing and actually wrote a couple of paragraphs that I adapted into the story."
Concur for the scenario I described in #278 -- no way will Pincus attorney ever allow him on that stand now, particularly given that Walter never saw it as a crime in the first place ( "I did not think the person who spoke to me was committing a criminal act, but only practicing damage control..." ); no way is he sticking his neck out for Fitzgerald, thus say goodbye to Counts 1 and 3, and when they go, the raison d'etre for the rest makes a hasty exit....
Stay tuned.....that could be what Bill and Hillary are up to.
"Retired Army General and FOX News contributor Paul Vallely says he knew former ambassador Joseph Wilson's wife Valerie Plame was a CIA agent long before she was outed in a newspaper column in 2003 because Wilson told him so. Vallely says Wilson volunteered the information in at least three separate conversations while both men were waiting to appear on FOX News programs during the fall of 2002." -- Brit Hum
ping
Woodward and every media person involved should be fired. Bob Woodward is a scumbag.
That said --- there is still more to the Wilson story and the fake docs. I think it goes back into the clinton administration and I think someone is pretty close to exposing the whole story - and out of the gutter crawls Woodward and others!!!! Is it to divert attention for them.
You nail the scene exactly. Libby's legal team will chew up and spit out every one of the reporters who even got close to this. I expect they will also subpoena all the NYT and WAPO records, phone, email etc., that show any contact reporters had with anyone on this topic, including the DEMORATS who are part of this conspriacy to get Bush.
I think you are right. Apparently Joe went around telling lots of people. That is pretty unusual. In DC - at least when I lived there - everyone sort of knew that a person was a 'consultant' or whatever but it was never stated explicitly and certainly not by the person's spouse.
However, the heart of his perjury theory was predicated upon the proposition that Mr. Libby learned of Valerie Plame's identity from other government officials and not from NBC's Tim Russert, as claimed by Mr. Libby. Indeed, Mr. Fitzgerald seemed to have a reasonable case because Mr. Russert, a respected and admired journalist, with no vested interest of his own, denied that he discussed the Mr. Wilson's matter with Mr. Libby.
However, given Mr. Woodward's account, which came to light after the Libby indictment was announced, that he met with Mr. Libby in his office -- armed with the list of questions, which explicitly referenced "yellowcake" and "Joe Wilson's wife" and may have shared this information during the interview -- it is entirely possible that Mr. Libby may have indeed heard about Mrs. Plame's employment from a reporter. Given the fact that the conversations in issue -- the one with Tim Russert and the one with Bob Woodward -- were separated by less than two weeks, and that officials like Mr. Libby juggle literally hundreds of matters on a daily basis, it is entirely plausible that he confused the two reporters. There certainly was no possible reason for him to mislead Mr. Fitzgerald on this issue, since the point he was trying to make, originally to the FBI investigators in October 2003, and later on to the grand jury, that Valerie Plame's identity was known to a reporter who imparted it to him was equally compelling, no matter what the identity of that reporter.
In light of these facts, it is at least doubtful whether a reasonable jury would find Mr. Libby guilty. Moreover, as argued by Washington lawyers David Rivkin and Lee Casey in an article appearing on today's op-ed page, under the U.S. Attorney's Manual provisions, no prosecution should be commenced unless the attorney representing the government believes that he has evidence that will probably be sufficient to obtain a conviction. Accordingly, Mr. Fitzgerald should do the right thing and promptly dismiss the indictment of Scooter Libby.
I really doubt that Fitzgerald will just drop the indictment at this point, but he will have a much harder time winning a conviction now.
Just like at the NY Times... LOL love the implosions!
The NY TIMES said this?? *passes out*
What the HELL are they hiding????
Not NY Times, it's the Washington Times.
LOL!
That's exactly what Dallas' Mark Davis is saying this AM, on WBAP.
The New Yorker's Seymour Hersh wrote a big fluffy butt-kissing piece on Greg Thielman, BTW. And judging by the PPIncus article on Joe Wilson's July 4th party, I don't think Pincus was the only reporter present.
Didn't Ann Pincus and Bill Clinton start their careers around the same time back in Arkansas? Seems I remember reading that she worked for the Arkansas Gazette (liberal newspaper that was eventually bought by the owner of the Arkansas Democrat - now the Arkansas Democrat Gazette). Bill Clinton was Arkansas' AG, before being elected Governor.
The question is: Did Pincus keep Woodward out of his grand jury testimony?
Fitzgerald's case against Libby is toast. Burned toast, beyond saving.
No, that would be Senator Rockefeller...
Thanks for digging that out, piasa. Your archival and retrieval capability is amazing. I had forgotten about the lost laptop with the classified information - as I recall, it was supposedly left in an unsecured conference room. Others have pointed this out on numerous occasions but it's interesting how the cast of characters is intertwined.
Chrissie sure looked funny yesterday on Softball! He looked like someone had just told him his dog had died.
Too bad. He's been so excited for weeks now (I've been keeping an eye on him via my TiVo), that he's been spitting clear across the room. No one is safe on his program. YUK.
[...Matthew spitting and spewing across the room...]
I hope his guests have had their shots. Could be first ever transfer of liberal bias through bodily fuilds.
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