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...

[Grampa Dave]

This is phase two of the Yellow Cake Scam that the POS Wilson and probably his wife have been involved in.

The left wing started blog this in July after their Yellowcake Scam ran out of gas and bit the dust.

[restornu]

yada yada yada!


one thing for sure is you will never be Awesome!

[Shermy]

Wilson is the leak, and a rabid peacenick clintonista liar

This Novak paragraph might confirm this. Maybe Wilson lied to wife, said he wasn't the leaker. As the CIA made noise, he got deeper, and deeper into the hole he dug himself.

Not the first husband to do so...

[NYC Republican]

So this is why Schumer called off his press conference. hahahah Both Novak and Wilson have backed away from the WHite House claim.

They tried to jump-start this story twice! Failed miserably!!!

[mewzilla]

I love the internet!

[Soliton]

ReRelease of Tripp's personnel file won't be prosecuted
By PETE YOST
Associated Press Writer

April 7, 2000
Web posted at: 9:55 a.m. EDT (1355 GMT)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon and another Defense Department employee didn't intend to break the law when they released information from Linda Tripp's personnel file, the Justice Department said in declining to prosecute them.

The department's decision disclosed Thursday prompted complaints from Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., that the Clinton administration is engaging in a "cover-up."

In the midst of the Monica Lewinsky scandal in 1998, Bacon and Clifford Bernath were involved in informing The New Yorker magazine that Tripp stated on a security clearance form she never had been arrested.

In fact, Tripp was arrested for grand larceny as a teen-ager, a charge later reduced to loitering in an incident Tripp's lawyers called a youthful prank. Lawyers for Tripp, whose secret tape recordings of Lewinsky launched the probe that resulted in President Clinton's impeachment, was part of a pattern by the president's supporters to attack his political enemies. Tripp is suing the Clinton administration for releasing the information.

Justice Department spokeswoman Chris Watney said the criminal division's public integrity section concluded there was insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Bacon and Bernath had the required willful intent and knowledge to violate the Privacy Act.

Bacon's lawyer, Bill Murphy, suggested the Pentagon information about Tripp was properly disclosed to a reporter under the Freedom of Information Act.

"In short, FOIA trumps the Privacy Act" in this instance, said Murphy. Bacon has said that he regretted answering a reporter's question about Tripp and not checking with Pentagon lawyers before doing so.

Inhofe, the Republican senator, said no one is being held accountable for a violation of Tripp's privacy.

"What does it say to citizens who want to serve in government that their most private confidential personnel file can be leaked to the press in clear violation of the law, the perpetrators can be caught, and yet nothing is done?" Inhofe asked.

Pentagon spokesman Navy Rear Adm. Craig Quigley said the IG's tentative findings in the matter have been provided to Bacon and Bernath, and they have 14 days to provide comment before the report is made final. The report goes to Defense Secretary William Cohen.

Last week, a federal judge found Clinton engaged in a criminal violation of the Privacy Act when he released letters from presidential accuser Kathleen Willey. The president's supporters said the warmly worded letters, released during the Lewinsky scandal, undermined Willey's contention that Clinton had made an unwanted sexual advance against her. The White House is appealing that ruling.

[clintonh8r]

bumpalicious.....

[livius]

They're trying to pull the same thing that was pulled on Tony Blair.

That's what I've thought from the beginning of this, too. It didn't work very well with Blair (although they're still trying to keep it bubbling), and it won't work with Bush, either.

But then, nobody ever said the Dems were bright. Liars, yes, but smart, no.

[Grampa Dave]

You were one of the first ones to alert Free Republic Freepers that Wilson is a fraud, and I would add a very big POS.

Did you notice how on the earlier threads today, how the phoney conservatives on Free Republic were calling for Rove's head and GW. Their involvement and timing on these issues is beyond that of coincidence. They are as involved in these attempted electronic lynchings as much as their rat buddies are.

[Mo1]

They're trying to pull the same thing that was pulled on Tony Blair. It's been the plan all along.

BINGO ... also if you read any of the Lib Blogs .. it looks like they are trying to make a riff between the CIA and the Bush Administration

[Wait4Truth]

Fox just showed Schumer on tape. Looks like he didn't hold a glitzy press conference, though.

[Peach]

I love it too; it helps expose the left in all their dirty linen.

[Dave S]

Isn't that what Rush predicted (or knew) just before he signed off today? Rush is awesome!

The fact that the ambassador was from the clinton administration has been publicized from the time the story was first printed. If you are referring to the wife, she is a civil servant.

[Just mythoughts]

"I think I was probably carried away by the "spirit" of the moment."

Sombody better put a sock in this guy's mouth he spilled the beans on them, could not have been a "good" spirit else he would not have lied.

[Peach]

It just shows us how ugly it's all going to get, though.

[ambrose]

Tom Daschle is saddened.

[Ben Hecks]

"...we don't think it's a federal crime to reveal analyst's names, although it seems exceedingly unwise."

If this was not a crime, it indicates to me that someone is seriously grasping to find issues to use against the Bush administration.

[zencat]

If Wilson and the lame Democrats don't have anything else on this issue, I think this whole thing may actually backfire on them and be exposed for what it is. Merely a fabrication by the Democrats, that is peddled by the sensationlist liberal media.

Didn't you see the media just just drooling all over this today? Disgusting.

[Peach]

Have you noticed all the phony conservatives on FR lately?

Being paranoid, I'm wondering how many of them signed up a year or so ago and now their true colors are coming out as we get closer to the presidential election cycle.

[joyce11111]

What an a$$h0le