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Robert Novak's Version Of the Plame Leak

By Jeralyn, Section Valerie Plame Leak Case
Posted on Sun Jul 10, 2005 at 10:39:36 AM EST
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Back in September, 2003, Robert Novak wasn't as close-mouthed as he is today. This appeared on Drudge's site and was attributed there to Novak:

'Nobody in the Bush administration called me to leak this. In July I was interviewing a senior administration official on Ambassador Wilson's report when he told me 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 Clinton 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 undercover operatives'...

I found this in the TalkLeft archives, here.

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    Robert Novak's Version Of the Plame Leak | 2 comments (2 topical)
    Re: Robert Novak's Version Of the Plame Leak (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:52:01 PM EST
    In other words, two senior admin officials told him. He just didn't call them first. That still means he cooperated in publishing the name of a spy. As noted on TPM cafe, ""Here is the key quote from the Pincus piece in Niemanwatch...  "On July 12, 2003, an administration official, who was talking to me confidentially about a matter involving alleged Iraqi nuclear activities, veered off the precise matter we were discussing and told me that the White House had not paid attention to former Ambassador Joseph Wilson’s CIA-sponsored February 2002 trip to Niger because it was set up as a boondoggle by his wife, an analyst with the agency working on weapons of mass destruction." So in July 03 the admin was busily passing this information to everyone who might spread it. "Nobody in the Bush administration called me to leak this" -- they told me to my face.

    Re: Robert Novak's Version Of the Plame Leak (none / 0) (#2)
    by Dadler on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:03 PM EST
    What a lying sack of sh*t. As if he couldn't figure out for himself that simply identifying her as Wilson's wife wouldn't be naming her. He didn't like Wilson, he didn't like his report, and he participated in this outing fully and consciously. That now he's trying to spin his way into innocence is just more proof of what a completely worthless human being this guy is. Is there anyone in the MSM press who has even one testicle left? Bunch of egomaniacal cowards.

    Robert Novak's Version Of the Plame Leak | 2 comments (2 topical)