NOVAK: 'NOBODY IN THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION CALLED ME TO LEAK THIS'

Drudge Report ^ | 09/29/03

[Pokey78]

In July I was interviewing a senior administration official on Ambassador Wilson's report when he told the trip was inspired by his wife, a CIA employee working on weapons of mass destruction. Another senior official told me the same thing. As a professional journalist with 46 years experience in Washington I do not reveal confidential sources. When I called the CIA in July to confirm Mrs. Wilson's involvement in the mission for her husband -- he is a former Clitnon administration official -- they asked me not to use her name, but never indicated it would endanger her or anybody else. According to a confidential source at the CIA, Mrs. Wilson was an analyst, not a spy, not a covert operator, and not in charge of an undercover operatives...

[Sub-Driver]

I think the question is when Wilson wrote his piece in the NYT, was he an employee of the government? If so he should be covered by some national security oath to not voice his opinions, or devulge information....

[Cousin Eddie]

Peter Jennings on ABC radio news just totally ignored this 25 minutes ago and painted the picture as definitely a White House leak and possibly Rove. Typical scumbag

[Peach]

Little Rock -- General Wesley K. Clark (Ret.), Democratic candidate for President, has called for an independent investigation into an alleged violation of federal law by Bush Administration officials.

News reports say that the CIA has asked the Justice Department to investigate allegations that Administration officials violated federal law by leaking the identity of a covert CIA agent.

"The Administration should not play politics with this matter. This issue is too important for political gamesmanship or to be managed by the John Ashcroft Justice Department," General Wesley Clark said. "The investigation must be independent of the Justice Department - otherwise the investigation could be influenced by political considerations. That is why President Bush should immediately refer this entire matter to a completely independent body - a body with credibility both in our country and with our allies around the world."

Read it on FR now - Guess Clark didn't get the memo!

[Callahan]

Democrat blogger Josh Marshall has been plugging this story like crazy while reveling in all the wonkish details and supposedly spurious denials. Read his last post. He was convinced they finally had Bush by the short hairs. I'm sure this just breaks his little heart.

[MJY1288]

The biggest lie he told abouty this whole deal is that he claims he was sent to Niger because of that forged document the State Department had. The problem is, that forged document surfaced after he came back from Niger and to top it all off, Joe Wilson never gave a formal report to the CIA on his visit to Niger, therefore why should've the CIA reproted back to Dick Cheney on Joseph Wilson's trip. The fact is that CIA never did because there was nothing to report.

Now that the Justice Department is involved, we might just find Terry McAuliffe and James Carville in the NEWS very soon, and if they dig deep enough they will find Bill & Hillary under that last slmy rock they turn over.

JOSEPH WILSON IS A FRAUD

[Peach]

I saw that thread on FR and just posted another nail in Clinton's legacy coffin!

[Stultis]

Help me out here, as I haven't been following this story all along. Where did the claim come from that the story (about Wilson's wife engineering his selection for the Niger mission) had been shopped around to six (?) other reporters prior to Novak? That doesn't seem to jibe with this account of the matter having come up incidently during interviews.

[Havoc]

ROFL, The truth has been outed, The evening snooze departments at NBC, ABC and CBS probably look about like a crowd of 8 year olds that just got told the class trip to DisneyWorld was canceled.. lol. Guess the unified vitriol of the night will be that socks wet on the carpet or something

[Peach]

You've had that right (about Wilson) since day one.

May you also be right this leads to Carvile et al.

[mewzilla]

I've seen reports that date back to this past July.

[Diogenesis]

Pierre Jennings, High school grad maybe, cannot read.
He has however given troop positions during War leading to American deaths.

[Dog]

It was in the Compost this AM.....first anyone had heard about this story being shopped around..

[Callahan]

Democrat blogger Josh Marshall has been plugging this story like crazy while reveling in all the wonkish details and supposedly spurious denials. Read his last post. He was convinced they finally had Bush by the short hairs. I'm sure this just breaks his little heart.

[mewzilla]

Here's a link on Chuckie's letter from July. Wonder where Chuckie heard about the so-called reports?

[J_Bravo]

Here's the problem with what Novak said on CNN today: First, he admitted that the CIA asked him not to use her name. Here's a link to the story at msnbc: http://msnbc.com/news/973047.asp?0cv=CA01 (snip) "Novak said that when he called the CIA to confirm the information, a CIA official asked him not to use the name. That official, however, did not say there would be any danger to Plame or her sources if her name were disclosed, Novak said. Then he started this business of this Plame woman being an analyst and not an operative. At first I thought this was a good thing, but then I reread what he actually wrote about her: http://www.townhall.com/columnists/robertnovak/rn20030714.shtml Mission to Niger Robert Novak July 14, 2003 Wilson never worked for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie Plame, is an Agency operative on weapons of mass destruction. Two senior administration officials told me Wilson's wife suggested sending him to Niger to investigate the Italian report. The CIA says its counter-proliferation officials selected Wilson and asked his wife to contact him. "I will not answer any question about my wife," Wilson told me. He pretty clearly calls her an Agency Operative. So is she an operative or is she not? If she's not, no big deal. If she is, very big deal. I know one thing FOR SURE, there needs to be a quick and thorough investigation. This isn't the kind of story that goes away without one. It's better to get this over with ASAP then face questioning about it for weeks on end.

[piasa]

Maybe not on "behalf" of Wilson but definitely to verify what he was told, apparently by Wilson.

[Steve_Seattle]

"This issue is too important for political gamesmanship or to be managed by the John Ashcroft Justice Department," General Wesley Clark said."

Of course, using this bogus "scandal" for political gamesmanship is exactly what Clark himself is doing, complete with the obligatory snide reference to John Ashcroft.

[Peach]

Regardless of this new release from Novak, there will be an investigation, I think, with the Rats looking like, well, rats.

[Cobra64]

Schumer on now on tape saying the President doesn't care and is not looking into this and there should be an independent prosecutor.

How does Schumer-the-Schmuck know this? What a jerk.

[mewzilla]

What did Chuckie know and when did he know it?