Tim Russert and the CIA leak case.

[RSchewe]

firedoglake: Oh Russert, Where Art Thou?

(snip)

Tim Russert from Meet the Press: What sorts of conversations did he have with Libby and/or Rove and anyone else? Has anyone at the NBC news division asked him to account for that? Oh, that's right, Russert is the Washington news bureau chief -- what are the odds he's been asking himself to do a proper public accounting on this? What sort of accounting has he given to Patrick Fitzgerald? Why hasn't Timmy been asked abotu any of this on the air -- can't Katie Couric jab him with her Manolo's and get him to at least answer something on this one morning before his coffee has kicked in?

And now that Scooter Libby has fingered Russert as his source in this AP article, you really have to wonder how much longer Russert will be keeping his mouth closed on what he knows, consdering he works for a news division that, presumably, isn't as dysfunctional as the NY Times has been. Or is it.

more...


http://firedoglake.blogspot.com/2005/10/oh-russert-where-art-thou.html



Hullabaloo: Buying Into The Program

In a sane political world, Press The Meat this Sunday would be a very interesting show. This is because over the past couple of days it's become obvious that Karl Rove is selling the line that he found out about Plame from Libby and that Libby says that his source for the Plame leak was none other than Tim Russert. It's long past time that the King of the Kewl Kids got the kind of treatment that Judy Miller has received. He's up to his neck in this thing.

Here is what NBC released after Russert testified:

Mr. Russert told the Special Prosecutor that, at the time of that conversation, he did not know Ms. Plame's name or that she was a CIA operative and that he did not provide that information to Mr. Libby. Mr. Russert said that he first learned Ms. Plame's name and her role at the CIA when he read a column written by Robert Novak later that month.

more...


http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2005_10_16_digbysblog_archive.html#112983407688874999

I wonder if Russert will try to avoid the topic again this week.

[sinkingfeeling]

1. How would Russert have access to confidential CIA information on

his own? This whole line of defense that it was the reporters who told the WH and VP aides about a covert agent is bull.

[marylanddem]

2. I don't know how Russert would have such access

But in the D.C. area, so many people work for spy agencies of various kinds (CIA, NSA) that if certain folks are neighbors or acquaintances, they might deduce such things...It's not as airtight a situation as is sometimes thought, far as I can tell -- I wouldn't mind seeing
Tim "wholesome Catholic boy" Russert tainted by this mess, anyway.

[Jim__]

5. Of course it's bull, but ...

As long as the story was being pursued by the press, it would work. Anyone trying to follow the story just goes in circles; everybody says, I heard it from (someone else). The press can't get to the bottom.

Not so when it's a grand jury looking into it. You tell the grand jury, I herad it from x; and then x tells the grand jury, no he didn't - somebody is in serious trouble. In this case, it looks like libby.

[TahitiNut]

3. I'd LOVE to see Russert interrogated under oath on Press The Meat

C'mon, NBC News! Are you really a "news" organization or reichspropagandists???

[Hubert Flottz]

6. Meat And Taterhead!

He looks like a damned Jack-O-Lantern with a lumpy head.

[RSchewe]

4. BradBlog has video of Russerts story compared with Libby's and...

Arianna had a post on Russerts role recently.

THE BRAD BLOG: "Tim Russert's CIA Leak Accounts Don't Match Rove's & Libby's"

(video links at beggining of this post)

NBC Today reports that Rove and Libby were "comparing notes about what they were hearing from reporters" before Novak first exposed CIA officer Valerie Plame's cover in an article on July 14, 2003.

Sources close to the investigation say Rove told Libby that he learned about Plame from Novak and Libby told Rove that he learned about Plame from Tim Russert. By process of elimination, we believe that this "source" is probably Rove's lawyer who is known to have leaked other information to the media.

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http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001937.htm


The Blog | Arianna Huffington: Russert Watch: Let Me Count the Ways | The Huffington Post

(snip)

Well, the exact same conditions exist at NBC: Tim Russert is a participant. He was interviewed under oath by Fitzgerald. And, like Miller, he has an obligation to explain to the public just exactly what he knows as a result of his involvement in the story.

So now that Judy Miller and the New York Times have spoken (however incompletely), what about Tim Russert and NBC?

Here is how Russert handled the latest developments in Plamegate (the question is addressed to Michigan Senator Carl Levin):

"The New York Times today publishes a lengthy article about the CIA leak investigation. Judith Miller, the Times reporter, writes that she had at least three meetings with the vice president's chief of staff, Scooter Libby, in which they talked about Ambassador Joe Wilson's trip to Africa regarding uranium and also some discussions about Wilson's wife. What is your reaction?"

That's it. Not a single mention of his own conversation with Libby. What does NBC think about this? As Judith Miller herself might say, "I don't know."

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/russert-watch-let-me-cou_b_8983.html