A Short Rebuttal
Not that anyone cares, anymore, but just two sentences of Mapes’ letter contain an incredible fusillade of lies.
We carefully vetted their every detail, matched them with official records and corroborated their content with a former commander. Our document analysis has been completely misconstrued by reporters, pundits and the panel: two analysts validated the documents' typing and signatures and two others deferred to them before our broadcast, despite their later characterizations.
Careful vetting? They were in a mad rush to air, and didn’t have time for a thorough vetting. Burkett was not vetted as a source - he was an obvious nut as 15 minutes on Google would have shown; he asked for money as a quid pro quo, he asked to be hooked up to the campaign as a quid pro quo; he was a indefatigable litigant against Bush, and spent hours with Mapes explaining his “case.” More red flags than the Communist Party, and that’s just a drop in the bucket.
Her account of the experts is a total, knowing, intentional pack of lies, or the delusional fantasy of whack-job. The experts were shown only 2 of the questioned documents, not all of them. Thornburgh Report, p. 80. Only one of these had Killian’s “signature.” Id., p. 86.
Emily Will did not authenticate, she
disputed the signature on the 6/24/73 memo, and e-mailed a write up of the issue to Mapes’ production assistant, who forwarded the e-mail to Mapes. She then talked to Mapes on the phone and explained the problems. Will also talked to Mapes about the typography problems, including superscripted th, and proportional fonts. Id., p. 84-85. Will told Mapes specifically that she didn’t think the documents could have been prepared in 1972 and believed they must have been done on a word processor. Id. at 106-107. Will told Mapes that if she used the documents, “every document expert in the country will be after you with hundreds of questions.” Id. at 107. Folks, this was
before they went to air. Will typed the two documents in MS Word, and noticed the similarities. “Will strongly denied to the Panel that she had deferred to Matley.” Id. Mapes blew off these concerns by claiming the content had been verified, id., as she has blown off all contrary evidence.
Linda James refused to authenticate the signature on the 6/24/73 memo. She found “unexplainable differences.” Id. at 108. She also noticed problems with the typography, specifically pointing out the superscripted th to Mapes’ assistant. Id., p. 85, 108. Mapes’s reaction: “Enough with the [expletive] th!” Id. at 108. James specifically denied deferring to Matley. Id.
James Pierce did authenticate the signature on the 6/24/73 memo. Yet his opinion was qualified because he did not have originals. Id. at 85-86.
Marcel Matley also authenticated the signature on the 6/24/73 memo. But, and this is important, the signatures were the only thing Matley gave an opinion on. He did not give an opinion on the documents themselves, or their typography. Id. at 86, 98-99.
Three of the six documents had no signatures or handwriting. CBS used 2 of the 3. Id. 99. Matley also refused to opine on one that had only initials. Id. As to these, therefore, Matley had nothing to offer by way of support. Thus, they claimed Matley had authenticated all 4 documents they used on air. In fact, he had only authenticated the signature on one, and that was with qualifications,
and nothing else. Id.
Matley was the only document examiner shown more than the two documents. Id., at 98.
As for the other experts deferring to Matley, there was nothing to defer to on the subject of typography as Matley gave no opinion on that. As for the signature issue, Will and James insist they did NOT defer.
Col. Strong was shown to have no relevant personal knowledge of anything, and therefore not in a position to authenticate or confirm anything. Id. at 89.
The Thornburgh panel’s interview of Col. Hodges totally destroys the claim that he authenticated or confirmed the content of the memos. To the contrary, he refuted it. Id., 103. For example, he told her that Bush had Killian’s permission to go to Alabama and take his physical when he returned. Mapes hung up the phone from being told that and claimed to have verification of the documents. Id., 103-104.
Total Liar or Total Nut. Take your pick.