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...

[Dog]

They heard it .....Brit looked shocked.

[LisaFab]

Seems to be splitting hairs though. Said nobody 'called to leak' the info, but did say the subject 'came up' in conversation with two administration officials. Hmmm.

[aristeides]

Fred Barnes on FNC now - WIlson's wife is NOT a spy and doesn't have a sensitive position in the CIA.

Note the present tense.

[Sacajaweau]

If the Dems have put a rope around their neck and kicked the stool, why dirty your hands by adding another rope? The first rope is working fine!!

[Dog]

Mara is spinning the RATS talking Points...

[LS]

I can't prove it, but someone has posted here that Novak is, and always has been, a Democrat.

All I know about the guy is he has bashed Bush from day one, and I don't think he has very good sources. Every story quotes "unnamed" Republicans as if they are inside the White House, and yet in reality they appear to be Lincoln Chaffee aides. You all can trust his stories, but I don't believe much of what he says anymore.

[Grampa Dave]

I'm starting to believe that Wilson is a compromised guy, who rolled over and barked for the DNC aka the Clintoons!

This reeks of a guy who has done bad things and has been caught by other bad characters. The other bad characters have threatened to expose him if he does not roll over, sit and bark for them.

He is starting to remind me of a certain UN inspector who changed his tune about $oddomite, and we know the reason why he changed his tune.

[Peach]

Fred just said that Novak denies anyone in the administration called him.

Mort says the Rats are trying to make this into Watergate. It will have to be investigated but the FBI is more than able to handle it.

Mora says the CIA wouldn't have referred it to the DOJ if something illegal had not happened. Journalists do not give out sources.

Fred says the name Karl Rove being put into the story is what whipped up the Rats.

[Just mythoughts]

Might be the polls, however, if Hillary is not running it is in her best interest that President Bush be re-elected.

The attempts made by her to discredit and accuse seem deeper than just campaign ploys if she is not running.

[alnick]

Mara's trying very hard to keep this "scandal" alive.

[Dog]

Mort is nailing the Post for two different versions of the same story..

[Peach]

It was discussed on a thread when Putin had a press conference, live, with President Bush on Saturday.

[aristeides]

Mort is nailing the Post for two different versions of the same story..

Please explain, for those of us without TV.

[river rat]

Let me be the first to suggest.....

That perhaps someone in the Bush administration has diabolically unreeled yards and yards of pretty new rope - tossed it into the midst of the struggling and desperate democrats, and they are hanging themselves in public..

This example of "rope the dopes" may prove to be a milestone on the roadmap to the graveyard for the left wing of the democrat party...

Think about it -- the Democrats are behaving as they if they sense some horror in the air: Kennedy's insane charges against Bush, Dean's pathological hatred of Bush, the 10 Presidential Dwarfs being laughed at by everyone, and horror of horrors - the economy is growing and the Iraqi people are learning to appreciate our actions and presence....

Leftists shrivel in an atmosphere of SUCCESS..
They thrive only in times of gloom and doom -- which for the most part, they create...

Semper Fi

[Peach]

That's too parsing for me. I don't think she EVER was a spy. One has to choose a tense and they chose the present tense.

[shoedog]

If you watch the Capitol Gang there is no way you would call Novak a Democrat. He is very big on tax cuts, probably bigger than Rush. He hates big governement. He spent 8 years blasting Clinton. He may not care for the Bush White House, but I believe most of those issues are based on his belief of the Mid East stance, and the expansion of government under Bush.

[ontos-on]

On Britt Hume on Fox just now they are repeating the Wilson claim about Rove but no one appears to know that Wilson backed away from it.

I can't believe how uninformed these supposed "pros" are. I heard on Rush in either the 1pm or 2pm hour about wilson backing off the Rove reference. These guys knew that this would be the topic in tonight's 6pm hour. How come they don't know this???!!!

[Dolphy]

What Novak said was that nobody in the Bush administration called him to leak this. Somebody in the Bush administration could have leaked this to Novak in an interview, and Novak's statement could still be true, if that official had not called Novak.

The Washington Post reported today that an administration official told them on Saturday that two White House officials leaked the information to selected journalists. Now that is interesting since the White House is denying any knowledge of a leak. The article goes on to say that the controversy erupted over the weekend when administration officials reported that Tenet sent the DOJ a letter. And then goes on to say CIA officials approached the DOJ within a week of Novak's column.

The timing of all of this is suspicious to me. These are a bunch of disjointed official events, there is no natural momentum except that created by administration officials. (I can't link at the moment but this is all from Mike Allen's article in today's WAPO.)

[Peach]

I think you, and others, are right about Wilson. We certainly know he's dirty. He's changed his story on Iraq. He's backtracked on Rove.

A Freeper on another Wilson thread today said that Wilson has an autobiography and in it makes mention of his wife's profession.