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."
Fitzgerald has multiple cases going in DC, Chicago and elsewhere. He probably has some deputy or deputies handling the day-to-day grunt work. It's pretty easy to kill two years worth of time when no one is holding you accountable.
Yes, and did you know what the State Dept's Bureau of I & R does? Why WMD anaylsis, of course. Which incidently, was the same job Valerie Plame did for the CIA!!!
But Pincus didn't know Plame was CIA???????
I get this feeling we are all going to enjoy watching the RATs and their sidekicks in the media trying to run away from this one now that their plan is starting to backfire. I love seeing Pincus on the hot seat and now Woodward had to testify.
That is quite odd that Pincus would be shocked to learn Joe Wilson's wife's name from a Novak column, when Pincus was at a BBQ only 10 days before Novak's "shocking" revelation.
I guess these people think that they can say anything and everyone will believe it.
Not anymore. See the badge. At least some of us aren't going to take it anymore.
Pinko Pincus is Wilson's "pal"...never forget that.
"Pinko Pincus is Wilson's "pal"...never forget that."
I never will. The Pinkos family and the Plameouts even hold family cookouts together. Pincus needs to be put on the stand and grilled til he's well done. Woodward too holds out all this time and where' the obstruction charge? Fitz is done.
'Nobody in the Bush administration called me to leak this. In July I was interviewing a senior administration official on Ambassador Wilson's report when he told me 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 Clinton 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 undercover operatives'...
Is this a case of perjury? How else do you read this?
Dems truly believe that we are stupid. Of course Pinko Pincus thinks that we'll believe anything he decides to say.
And this really makes Fitzy look like an inept, bumbling idiot. Look at how much info WE know and just how little he and his team gathered in two years. What the bloody hell were they doing...navel gazing?
Fitzgerald is obviously inept. He suffers from tunnel vision and apparently takes his investigation in the direction that the MSM was reporting it.
There is simply no excuse for this oversight. It is clear that he took the words of reporters at face value while digging for anything against an administration official.
It's gutterball prosecution and I think he should be investigated.
Ha,ha. I KNEW SOMEONE would pick up on it. Did you know there is a Festivus book out? Soft cover. Bought mine in Barnes. Forward by "George" and it's great!!!
Fitzgerald, or whoever is pulling his strings, has got to be very pissed off about this revelation. Fitgerald's currency just went down by facto of 10. It demonstrates he did an incomplete and shoddy examination of witnesses. Remember how on the day before the indictiment, Fitzgerald sent FBI agents to Plames neighborhood and asked a few neighbors if they knew she worked at CIA? What was that for,...but public consumption? He was showboating doing that. It was supposed to convince the public he was leaving no stone unturned. Except he left off principals like Woodward, Pincus, Corn. By the way, why is the sworn statement of Russert more credible than Libby? Is Russert the beasureing stick whereby others testify. The worn is slowly turning, I hope.
PINCUS LIONEL I
PINCUS WALTER H
How will Matthews run from it? He has predicated his entire public life on this one issue.
Thanks for putting that quote up -- this is getting more fun by the hour to watch this fall apart.
This also tells me that Fitz rushed an indictment on Libby.
Amateur hour. This guy is a clown.
LOL!!! Matthews is going to be going around with egg all over his face along with zero credibility which he so richly deserves. I would love to see the scumbag called to testify. He has banked everything on getting Rove -- this ia making my evening!
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