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...

[Merovingian]

As I said, he was reading from an Esquire article, I almost fell on the floor....
If it is untrue, someone needs to contact msnbc/Keith Olbermann and have him retract it..

[Mo1]

BULL ... You don't like George .. afraid you outed yourself

[Miss Marple]

OH, CARTER!!! Who ALSO asked the Soviet Union to help him defeat Reagan!! I forgot about that little weasel!

This sounds JUST LIKE Carter (and Clinton as well).

[cwb]

The radio newsbreaks are heating up. My last broadcaster said that the release of Wilson's wifes name by the WH was in retaliation to silence Bush's critics on the Iraq war. He continued, by saying that government officials were tracking down all the agents she had come in contact with over the last 5 years, to make sure none of them are in danger. This is getting way blown out of proportion. I don't believe this "outing" was so much in retaliation, but rather to show the conflicts of interest with Wilson and his wife...and his past record. So much credibility was being given to Wilson (and his report) while nobody was looking at his motives and his wifes connection to getting him this assignment. This will not be over soon, I fear.

[Dolphy]

I am watching Wilson on CSpan from earlier today. This crap about the leak isn't the deal at all, what it does is give him some amount of credibility among the anti-war crowd. He wants Bush advisors (I missed which ones) to be fired, the Congress to say know to the 87 billion dollar request and the UN to take over in Iraq. He wants the robust debate on Iraq that the "less than forthcoming" Bush administration has failed to conduct.

[Merovingian]

LOL

I don't LIKE Georgie, and I don't DISlike him, I do not KNOW him, NOR do YOU!

I DID VOTE for him.

[Wait4Truth]

Your post is just awful and probably very true. What on earth has this country come to???

[BushisTheMan]

Let's start a call for the publication of the Wilson report. Then we can have a REpublican toss the report into the air and call it a big LIE -- just like some DEM loser did with the report from Bremer on Iraq. That was one of the most disgusting things I've ever seen!

[Peach]

The statement that Rove was fired by the first Bush administration was disproven today by PhiKapMom on another thread regarding this matter.

[Merovingian]

Fine, peach...phikapmom needs to contact msnbc with her proof so that Keith retracts it tomorrow night...

[Peach]

Thanks for finding those exact comments of Putin from Saturday. Another Freeper thought there may be a tie in to this matter and Putin's most curious comments.

[alnick]

Wait a minute. The headline says Novak says no one at WH called him. But the story says that he was interviewing a an administration offical.

The accusation against the White House was that a WH official was calling journalists leaking the identity of a covert CIA operative. The implication was that the WH shopped this info to six journalists, and Novak printed it.

Novak says that the WH didn't contact him, that he contacted them and that the woman was not a covert operative but an analyst.

[Republican Red]

Anyone have the telephone numbers of NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, PBS etc... I remember seeing a list before with all the numbers.

Email just doesn't cut it. I think we should phone in mass and get them to set the record straight.

Sue Wilson for libel Karl, sue him for every penny he's got.

[BushisTheMan]

Personally, I think Wilson's wife should be questioned as to why she would recommend someone (i.e., her husband), WHO HAS NO CIA TRAINING, to go to Niger in the first place? If the CIA is so stupid as to agree with it, then the CIA should be investigated also.

[PhiKapMom]

I am right here -- Texas Monthly had the article about Rove only being in Texas politics!

[cyncooper]

Thank you for highlighting Putin's statement. I'm scatterbrained these days and did not follow his visit as closely as I would have liked.

Food for thought, there.....

[Peach]

So you are believing the lamestream media? Speaks volumes.

[dogbyte12]

I just googled Robert Novak himself. Rove was fired in 1992, but not from the national campaign, and not about Robert Mosbacher senior. Rove was fired from the Texas committee, about a leak regarding Robert Mosbacher Jr the son. The committee was called Victory 92. However, Novak denied that Rove was the one who leaked.

Novak says it was Bob Mosbacher Jr who fired him, not Senior, and that Rove continued to work for the National Bush campaign as an operative.

I hope that clears everything up for everybody. From Novak's mouth himself. Novak Column P.S. Novak says it was a Senior Bush aide who leaked about Mosbacher Jr, and Rove wasn't involved. However Mosbacher Jr was convinced it was him, and canned Rove from the Texas committee period.