'60 Minutes' to Include Clinton Camp's Denial of Freeh's Accusations

[cal04]

Under strong pressure from former president Bill Clinton's advisers, CBS's "60 Minutes" has agreed to read a statement denying an explosive charge being made on tonight's program by former FBI director Louis J. Freeh. In the statement, Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger, Clinton's national security adviser, challenges Freeh's assertion that Clinton failed to press then-Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah to cooperate with an investigation of the 1996 bombing of Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, and used the occasion to ask for a contribution to his presidential library.

The Saudis made such a donation last year -- six years after the 1998 meeting.
Berger, who was at the meeting, said: "The president strongly raised the need for Saudi officials to cooperate with us on the investigation into the attack on Khobar Towers at the time when the FBI was attempting to gain access to the suspects. The president did not raise in any fashion the issue of his library."

Clinton spokesman Jay Carson said he told CBS's Mike Wallace that he had supportive accounts from five other former officials who were at the meeting, including those briefed about a private conversation between Clinton and Abdullah.

Freeh was not there, and Carson said Wallace told him he had not spoken to the source upon whom Freeh relied for his account. Said CBS spokesman Kevin Tedesco: "We will continue to report on this segment until it is broadcast on Sunday night, at which time our audience will find it to be both fair to the former president and factually accurate."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/08/AR2005100801128.html

[BrklynLiberal]

1. They assume that since it is what * would have done, it must be what

Clinton did.

[Oerdin]

15. That's their standard response to everything.

"It is all Clinton's fault." No matter how long ago or what happens they Repuks always want to blame everything on Clinton because the alternative is admiting they're responsible for their own actions. They just won't do it.

[pinniped]

2. These pukes are running rampant trying to pin the blame on the last...

"real" president we ever had.

[OzarkDem]

3. They can do better

but I suppose they would prefer to live with sinking ratings and low profits.

I can't recall the last time I watched 60 minutes or any so-called news magazine show on the MSM.

Alas, I suppose they'll end up going the way of pet rocks and buggy whips.

[countmyvote4real]

11. I can’t vouch for pet rocks, but buggy whips are alive and well in the fet

I suspect that they are equally alive and well, metaphorically speaking, amongst the * regime as they seek to salvage their stinking sinking ship. Sunday morning will be full of denials and accusations against mythological liberal media. Potato head will trip all over himself to defend the * regime while pretending to ask hard questions. (OK. That was easy. That happens every time.)

The truth will not be discovered on the Sunday programs. It will only be uncovered by refusing to believe their redirect. Look elsewhere and particularly look into what they discount.

This is for lurkers and not for OzarkDem.

[Cha]

4. The Weasels are

coming out of the woodwork trying to pass the blame.

Clinton better come out and set his record straight..he wouldn't need "advisors" for that.

[pretzel4gore]

5. forget freeh, what about the dsm?

or the strange case of dr. david kelly....fukk cbs, Corporate Bush Sukkholes (shee, excuse the distemper, but damn them 2 faced rat bastards)

[journalist3072]

6. I sent an email to 60 Minutes the other day

I told them that in the interest of equal time, and fairness in media, they were duty bound to interview someone to rebut the claims of Louis Freeh.

I reminded them that when they interviewed Richard Clarke about his book, they had Stephen Hadley (then Condi Rice's Deputy NSA), on to rebut Richard Clarke's claims.

[cantstandbush]

7. Will do what they did to Rather about the Bush AWOL allegations?

I am glad the Berger is challenging this shit. i hope Freeh gets caught in a lie. He hated Clinton and actually undermined him on several major itel operations.

[barb162]

10. Freeh is a big POS. He hated Clinton and is still after Clinton!

Freeh was incompetent to boot

[serryjw]

71. Funny ...when I saw the heading to this thread

I said the same thing...he is a POS!

[Algorem]

8. Freeh's a big MBNA executive,Biden's Senator MBNA,maybe they want

President MBNA,Hillary's in way ,or something

[Catherine Vincent]

9. Louis Freeh

What a turncoat!

[ngGale]

12. What took *'s Saudi friend's so long...

(The Saudis made such a donation last year -- six years after the 1998 meeting.)

Are the Saudi's slack on giving, or what?:sarcasm:

I'm SO sick of them blaming everything on Clinton.:nuke:

[Historic NY]

13. Thats interesting since Freeh praised the Saudi cooperation.........

http://archives.cnn.com/2001/LAW/06/21/khobar.indictments/

Thirteen Saudis and a Lebanese were indicted Thursday on charges of murder and conspiracy for the 1996 bombing that killed 19 American servicemen in Saudi Arabia. The indictment alleges that the suspects were directed by Iranian government officials.

The 46-count indictment alleges that all 14 men were members of the Islamic militant group Hezbollah, which federal officials said received support and inspiration from individuals within the Iranian government. No Iranian officials were named in the indictment.
<snip>

While some government sources have criticized the Saudi government for being less than cooperative, Freeh thanked the Saudis for "world-class cooperation."

Freeh acknowledged that in the early investigative stages there was difficult because the FBI and Saudi police had never really worked together.

"I think there was an estrangement between the two services precisely because we didn't know each other," he said. "I think it was a relationship that had to grow and now is a very strong one."

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

19. Pre-911 article.

Interesting. I see Freeh as coming from the O'Neil school.

[Missy M]

25. Maybe you should send this article to 60 minutes to refresh ......

Freeh's memory. I have always thought Freeh was nothing but a sleezebag who was incompetent at best. Now I read he is with MBNA a real sleezebag company.

[Historic NY]

33. I took your suggestion.......

and fired off an e-mail to 60 minutes. I think he is being disingenuous, mostly because he fumbled the case from the beginning and was sent to Saudi Arabia to get it on track.

[Missy M]

34. Thank you!!!! That's great. We can watch the 60 Minutes show...

and if they don't bring this up we can all blast them for it.

[AX10]

56. kick, kick, kick,

Freeh is a pig.

[Selteri]

14. I agree - they should have learned their lesson from the last time NT

[krkaufman]

16. Can't wait to see the Right Wingnuts pounce on this story....

... as the epitomy of quality investigative journalism and built on a solid foundation of evidence. Even though it's they'd be calling for the shutdown of CBS if it was another expose on the Boy Prince.

[bluestateguy]

17. How long has Bill Clinton been out of office now?

Just checking.

[aquart]

18. Freeh was the enemy from Day One. Ungrateful ass.

[cassiepriam]

20. Huh? Dems get airtime? What's up with that? A trap?

[pearl]

21. I think they got alot of emails on this

I know I zipped one off the other day too.

[fasttense]

22. Ever since I started reading and posting on DU, the number of news

sources I am able to trust have slowly dwindled. Not that I'm complaining mind you, I'd rather have the facts and the truth then be conned as the repukes are.

I use to watch 60 Minutes regularly. I thought they were the embodiment of true investigative journalism. Seriously I did. I have since sent them an e-mail telling them that they have lost my loyalty and viewer ship both to their program and their sponsors.

I miss the days when I was so naive.

[cassiepriam]

23. I read mostly the foreign press, I want the truth. Not propaganda.

I canceled my Time and Newsweek subscriptions years ago.
Don't read the local paper or watch TV.

[TomClash]

24. Louie Freeh = Ghouliani's bitch nt

[goforit]

26. Take him to court Bill

[goforit]

27. This is a Bush/Cheney/Rove diversion from indightments.

[chaumont58]

28. CBS is dumber than a bag of rocks

Why did they go though this stupid exercise? They should have allowed in the beginning what they are allowing now. Was it originally a fake ass attempt to get Clinton himself on the show? By gong this route, CBS has shown, to Dems, that Clinton bias in the MSM is still alive. They also shown to wingnuts that they will buckle to pressure, and, to the wingnuts, are nothing but Clinton toadies.
What the fuck can they do right? They sure as shit can't run a news organization.

[rocktivity]

29. If there was any truth to any of this

They NEVER would have settled for Monicagate.

:headbang:
rocknation

[formercia]

30. People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones

Louis Freeh should hope that his personal and professional relationship with Robert Hannsen isn't looked into to closely. I was detailed to the FBI for 9 months and had to work with Hannsen. The man was an asshole and tried to crush anyone that questioned his work. He was allowed free run of CIA facilities even after I took away his pass. Someone needs to be held accountable,for the damage done by Hannsen is far and above anything that occured as a result of Kobar.

[goclark]

31. Kick

[Larkspur]

32. Freeh is the guy who refused to use the $60 million Congress budgeted to

the FBI to improve the FBI's computer network, a network that would have greatly helped FBI agents to share information on terrorists. Freeh was an old school agent who didn't believe the FBI had to evolve it's computer system.

Freeh is a dolt who is following GOP tactics to blame Clinton for his screwups.

[MetaTrope]

35. Did Freeh have anything to say about the witch-burning at Waco?

Or the months spent by the FBI digging up landfills for evidence against Lee Wen-Ho while Saudi airline passengers were taking flying lessons in Florida?

[lister666]

36. It doesn't seem to have occurred to anyone ....

..that Sandy Berger is just about the last person who should be involved
in the defense here,given the recent guilty plea that he recently entered
in court,and the nature of the accusations behind to that plea.

[Gyre]

37. Bubba's got a reputation to protect?

That's news to me. Whatta waste of airspace!

Gyre

[Name removed]

38. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[dsc]

43. replace Italian with black and mob with gansta

and I think people would have called your post what it is.

[Algorem]

44. you don't get it.i'm not a racist because you don't get it.got it?

[dsc]

46. My grandfather was an Italian

and frankly I am sick of hearing that kind of crap.

[Algorem]

47. like I said.

[dsc]

48. If you have a link post it

otherwise you are simply engaging in stereotypes.

[Algorem]

49. you don't know what I was engaging in.

[dsc]

50. Yes I do

You are saying he is mobbed up because he is an Italian from NJ. That is stereotype.

[Algorem]

51. There you go again.

[Jim Sagle]

57. Oh, he gets it. YOU don't get it.

[Algorem]

65. Thanks for your misguided opinion.

[Jim Sagle]

67. Not a damn thing misguided about it,

[Algorem]

68. That's your opinion,again.

[checks-n-balances]

39. Isn't Freeh scheduled to guest on The Daily Show this week?

Let's hope Jon stays on his toes during that one!!

[creeksneakers2]

40. CBS has a blog about the story that is open for comments

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/publiceye/main500486.shtml

[Gin]

41. Maybe CBS has allowed Freeh on the show...and now he is fair game

wherever he goes....could it be... that was their plan all along?

[struggle4progress]

42. Louis Freeh's federal campaign contributions:

http://www.newsmeat.com/washington_political_donations/Louis_Freeh.php

Surprise! Republican ...

[mps]

45. Freeh's disgust for President Clinton

Just saw 60 Minutes' Interview with Freeh. There was NO on-camera interview with anyone from the Clinton Administration debunking Freeh's comments about the Khobar Towers Bombing or about Clinton asking the Saudis for a donation for his library. There was only Mr. Wallace, off camera, telling the viewer that 2 former Clinton officials say Freeh's comments were not true.

As to Freeh's disgust for President Clinton being involved with all those investigations during his Presidency -- he pompously says he stayed as FBI Director so Clinton could NOT appoint another Director --, it is unbelievable to me for him not to say that these investigations turned out to be politically motivated. Any unbiased observer could not escape the stench of a Republican Coup d'Etat against a Legally Elected President. It seems that Mr. Freeh was part of this attempt. I wonder if one had 70 million dollars what would one come up with in Mr. Feeh's background that would put him in an unfavorable light.

[Olney Blue]

52. Hi, mps, welcome to DU!

I missed 60 Min tonight- was there anything "new" in Freeh's interview that hasn't been covered in the media?

[BiggJawn]

63. It was obvious. What a one-sided hatchet job.

I thought i was listening to Gush Pflegmball, not CBS...

And did you catch Andy Rooney's No-Ball drivel tonight?
Overhead utilty lines? F'Cricso's sake, Andy, you think you gotta look at wire NOW....

[Julius Civitatus]

72. I saw it too. The so-called "rebuttal" was a joke

It basically involved Mike Wallace saying off-camera that some Clinton officials deny Freeh's claims. That's it. No other counter-interviews, no other testimony. Shame on CBS for allowing this farce on the airwaves.

The show was a huge platform for Freeh to lash out against Clinton, unrestrained, and without any counter-balance. It was disgraceful. I thought Mike Wallace had more integrity than this. What a joke!

One thing that was evident all through the interview was the disdain, no, rather disgust that Freeh feels about Clinton. His face contorted in a sour grimace every time he mentioned Clinton's name. It was an atrocity. If one thing was clear was that Freeh was not qualified to serve his post. He made many of his decisions with a rabid political hatred for his president, and went out of his way to counter the presidential powers (including staying in his post until a Republican president could name his successor-- yes, he said that). And let's not mention the way he facilitated the never-ending investigations of the Clintons on flimsy evidence.

He should have never been in that position. If there's something to bash Clinton about, is the fact that he nominated this imbalanced partisan to such an important post.

[drummo]

76. Freeh had the same feeling about John O'Neill

O'Neill, just like Clinton, was fairly flamboyant. Not exactly a straight-laced guy. He had a girlfriend while he was married and he didn't told her girlfriend about it.

The PBS documentary about O'Neill discussed the rift between Freeh/Pickard and O'Neill.
I'm sure O'Neill left the FBI because he had enough of the HQ.

Watch the doc here:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/knew/view/

[AnnieBW]

53. Did they ask about 9/11?

Hey, Louie... why did you happen to resign a month before 9/11? Did you know something big was gonna happen, and wanted to avoid getting blamed for the FBI's biggest fuck-up ever?

[mps]

54. Interesting History On Freeh and his tenure at the FBI

From Jon Perr at his Perrspectives Blog:

"Freeh at Last: Revenge and Revisionism at the FBI

On Sunday night, former FBI head Louis Freeh will introduce his salacious new Clinton tell-all book, My FBI, on CBS 60 Minutes. For Freeh, the book is an opportunity not only to cash in, but to lash out. Scolded by the 9/11 Commission and savaged by the critics of his tenure at FBI, Freeh is now getting a chance to tell his side of the story. It's too bad he doesn't seem to be telling the truth."

Read the rest of the article at

http://www.perrspectives.com/blog/archives/000264.htm

Had CBS had the foresight to put Richard Clarke on as a Rebuttal Witness to Freeh's machinations, it would have been a real great television moment!

[nvliberal]

55. Freeh obviously can't spell.

The title of the book should be "My FIB."

[BrightKnight]

58. Twisting political spin into "news"

It is made of hot air like a clown's balloon animal. It is troubling that CBS would air this kind of sensationalized pseudo-story.

[jarnocan]

60. Didn't Bush withold

like 75% of official records concerning the Clinton admin. from the 911 commission, even though Clinton had OKed turning them over?
We need the truth to come out in so many ways.

[Inland]

59. Too bad Berger is the guy who was there.

Being a convicted criminal re: those stupid papers.

[Catherine Vincent]

61. convicted criminal? Berger?

When did this happen?

[Inland]

62. He plead guilty to

removing classified documents from, I believe, the materials gathered for the 9/11 commission. I think he lost his security clearance and paid a $50,000 fine.

[marshall]

77. Couldn't they get somebody else?

I understand that Clinton didn't want to respond personally, and that Berger admitted to something less than earth shattering, but couldn't they have got somebody who isn't embroiled in his own scandal to be the point man for this?

[Inland]

78. Well, Berger was THERE at the conference in question

so you woul have to trade one credibility for another. You could have the pope out front, but he wasn't there; the guy who was there wasn't the pope. So you're stuck.

[napi21]

64. Why did Clinton nominate Freeh in the first place? THEN, why

didn't he just fire him? I thought all these people serve at the pleasure of the President?

I know it's probably a bit wrong to compare the actions of Corp. American with Gov't, but Corp. America is all I know. If someone is hired in a senior mgmt position, and there's a personality problem with the top guy...THAT MGR. IS GONE!

[Carolab]

70. Yup. I was wondering the same thing.

Why did Bill not fire him?

[Festivito]

75. I recall Freeh was a Clinton olive branch to the CONs.

Clinton also stopped the Iran/Contra investigation.

I hope we learn from the CON response, just how worthwhile the CONs really can be. That is, CONs are not worth any trouble at all.

[mitchum]

66. How about an expose on Freeh's crazyass Opus Dei while they're...

at it?

[girl gone mad]

69. Freeh's trying to sell a book.

I guess he thinks he'll have better sales if he rehashes Monicagate one more time.

Most people see the Clinton investigations for what they were - law enforcement and partisan politics run amok.

[MattP]

73. Making Sandy look bad

The dumbest thing I heard the other day while I was checking in on Gop tv was Hume saying they caught Beger doing 88 on the freeway and the judge in his case said he might do time for it, the same judge ignored prosucuters suggestion of a 5000$ and gave him a 50000$ saying how serious it was, what bullshit I do 90 every damn day.

[Historic NY]

74. Humm.....Freeh wouldn't comment for Frontline

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/knew/view/3_hi.html

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/knew/view/