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."
...and just a lowly dry-cleaner.
"
Woodward's statement said he testified: "I told Walter Pincus, a reporter at The Post, without naming my source, that I understood Wilson's wife worked at the CIA as a WMD analyst."
"
"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"
Woodward says he testified that he told Pincus that Plame worked for the CIA. This occurred sometime after mid-June, 2003, but Woodward doesn't specify when.
Karma-gate
Woodward AS Deep Throat....BRILLIANT!
Woodward hasn't been a big fan of the Plamegate story, as is indicated here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1510686/posts
"He obviously doesn't want to testify, probably because he knows it will clear Libby."
Actually, Woodward probably doesn't want to testify because he is about as close-lipped as humans come, which is essential to his business and apparently compatible with his character.
The whole world knows that the man can keep a secret.
LMAO!!
Cover up! ;^)
So true. Did you see this?
The Washington Post reports that Bob Woodward was told of “Wilson’s wife” working for the CIA before Novak or Miller and by an Administration official , apparently not Libby nor Rove.
William Jeffress Jr., one of Libby’s lawyers, said yesterday that Woodward’s testimony undermines Fitzgerald’s public claims about his client and raises questions about what else the prosecutor may not know. Libby has said he learned Plame’s identity from NBC journalist Tim Russert.
“If what Woodward says is so, will Mr. Fitzgerald now say he was wrong to say on TV that Scooter Libby was the first official to give this information to a reporter?” Jeffress said last night. “The second question I would have is: Why did Mr. Fitzgerald indict Mr. Libby before fully investigating what other reporters knew about Wilson’s wife?”
Fitzgerald has spent nearly two years investigating whether senior Bush administration officials illegally leaked classified information—Plame’s identity as a CIA operative—to reporters to discredit allegations made by Wilson. Plame’s name was revealed in a July 14, 2003, column by Robert D. Novak, eight days after Wilson publicly accused the administration of twisting intelligence to justify the Iraq war.[/quote]
Oddly, Woodward says he reported this information to Walter Pincus who says he has no recollection of the conversation. Only Libby, it seems is held to the impossible standard of recalling the date, participants and content of all his conversations.
Clarice Feldman 11 16 05
"You'd think that it was about somebody travelling to our enemies and disclosing invasion plans or something."
You're getting warmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
IMHO : )
I wonder what all these leftist reporters are going to say when Libby's counsel puts them under oath and grills their asses on the stand--right there in public. I'll bet they can't wait. I wonder what other secrets they have (and have been allowed to keep quiet by Fitzmas) will come tumbling out between now and then so they can cover their sorry cans.
Never in the history of the MSM has so much been written about so little, with meaning to so few. He said, she said, I don't remember.... But it's interesting this comes out now. Personally, I am lost for the significance of it....
No, Berger got something gooooooooooooood.
Bet it leads right back to Joe and Val and Hill and Bill.
Here we go with round two.
Watch as the might Democrats once again call on a grand jury to be convened to go after Rove. Watch as the MSM jump all over this as another way to deflect criticism for their part in working with the DNC to harm America during wartime. Watch as Harry Reid asks to put off the Alito hearings indefinitely while they get to the bottom of this new attack on Karl Rove.
Watch how the libs heads explode as Bush, once again shows America that the Democrats are nothing more than whining wussies.
This, my fellow freepers is getting old fast.
The question, to me, is whether the lying would have occured in the first place if this news was discovered up front. Were the reporters holding back possibly exculpatory information in the hopes that someone would trip up during an investigation that would not have proceeded in the first place if they came forward like they should have?
-PJ
Selective listening is an innate skill of liberal reporters.
That is not what Woodward said .. he said she knew she was a CIA ANALYSIS
And if this is true .. Then Pincus lied to a grand jury
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