In the latest turn of events in L’affaire Plame, former Washington Post Executive Editor Benjamin Bradlee has rushed forth to defend his former “star reporter,” Bob Woodward, following Woodward’s belated admission that he was told by an unnamed government official (neither Karl Rove nor “Scooter” Libby) in “mid-June 2003,” that “Joe Wilson’s wife” worked for the CIA on weapons of mass destruction. Previously the first known mention of “Joe Wilson’s wife” by a government official to a member of the media was June 25th 2003 when Libby mentioned it to Judith Miller (belatedly revealed by Miller only after Fitzgerald discovered Miller had met with Libby on that date). The fact that Woodward learned of it even earlier from yet a third source further supports the case that the White House had begun its campaign to discredit Joseph Wilson as much as a month before he went public with a New York Times op-ed piece on June 10, 2003.
Woodward’s public admission in today’s Washington Post, like Miller’s, was motivated not by any commitment to the “public’s right to know” but rather by the fact that he was found out.
Referring to Woodward’s admission “that he waited more than two years before disclosing to current Post editors a conversation he had in 2003 with a White House official about CIA Agent Valerie Plame,” Bradlee tells Editor & Publisher: “I don’t see anything wrong with that.” “He doesn’t have to disclose every goddamn thing he knows.” Bradlee also disclosed that Woodward had shown him a copy of the story before it was published, suggesting, at least to me, that Bradlee, Woodward’s mentor before and during the Watergate days, remains a trusted confidante.
Editor & Publisher continues:
“People are surprised that they didn’t know this information sooner,” a Post newsroom staffer told E&P today. The person also said Woodward’s failure to reveal the conversation earlier is the result of his unusual relationship with the paper, as an assistant managing editor who spends most of his time writing books.
“There is this constant tension in the newsroom about Woodward’s role and that he does reporting for his books and has agreements with sources to use information for his books,” the staffer said.
Woodward did not return a call seeking comment this morning. Downie also could not be reached.
Bradlee, however, said it should not surprise people that Woodward had such a conversation about Plame with a White House official. “He’s got his finger in a lot of pies,” he said, adding, “Woodward never has ‘no involvement’ because he is who he is. He’s always poking around the White House because he’s always writing a book about the White House. So it doesn’t surprise me that he knows a lot about that.”
Bradlee also said Woodward had showed him the story about his testimony yesterday. “I felt it was interesting. He wanted me to read it and I read it,” Bradlee said. “He was showing it to the lawyers in the next office and he showed it to me.”
Glenn Kessler, another Post reporter who testified in the Plame case in 2004 about a conversation he had with White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, said those seeking to pounce on Woodward for his action should be careful. “People shouldn’t jump to any kind of conclusions. From my own experience in this matter, you don’t know the whole story unless you are right in the middle of it and have all of the facts in front of you,” he said.
This too simple attempt by Bradlee and others to shrug off Woodward’s role in Plamegate ignores the fact that Woodward has long insinuated himself into this story as a White House apologist without ever revealing his own role as a player in the unfolding drama. At best this is a breach of journalistic ethics, and Bradlee certainly knows better. Bradlee also ignores the fact that Woodward was told about “Joe Wilson’s wife” while researching “Plan of Attack,” a sycophantic book published in 2004 documenting the lead-up to the Iraq war as seen through the eyes of the Bush administration. Woodward was provided unprecedented access to Bush administration insiders while writing the book, and he was also given access to selected classified material that he probably lacked the clearance to see (or was he given a security clearance like Judith Miller had claimed she had been given?).
As recently as October 27th, Woodward appeared on The Larry King Show and delivered a spirited and highly partisan defense of the administration’s role in Plamegate, never mentioning that he had himself been leaked information about “Joe Wilson’s wife,” by a previously unidentified official other than Karl Rove or “Scooter” Libby, and perhaps earlier than any other journalist had been given the information. Woodward repeated the GOP Plamegate talking points on The Larry King Show, suggesting that this all began as “gossip” or “chatter” after someone “learned” that Wilson’s wife worked for the CIA and got him the job (untrue). He implied that the outing of Plame involved “a lot of innocent actions.” He also implied that he had a leaked copy of the CIA’s damage assessment on the Plame leak, and that it had concluded that there had been negligible harm caused by it (that claim is also strongly disputed).
Even today’s Washington Post makes it clear that Woodward had staked out a highly partisan position long before his White House source outed him to Patrick Fitzgerald on November 3rd (a week after the Larry King performance):
“When the story comes out, I’m quite confident we’re going to find out that it started kind of as gossip, as chatter,” he told CNN’s Larry King.
Woodward also said in interviews this summer and fall that the damage done by Plame’s name being revealed in the media was “quite minimal.”
“When I think all of the facts come out in this case, it’s going to be laughable because the consequences are not that great,” he told National Public Radio this summer.
The New York Times “retired” Judith Miller after it became clear that she was just too much a part of the Plamegate story. Yet Miller never actually reported on nor publicly discussed the Plamegate story. Woodward hid the fact that he was also part of the story yet chose to publicly minimize the role the White House played in the outing of “Joe Wilson’s wife” and to downplay the notion that a crime had been committed. Why, one must now wonder, is Benjamin Bradlee rushing forward, before the ink is dry on Bob Woodward’s confession, to defend the highly dubious and unethical behavior of Mr. Woodward?
Bradlee’s defense of Woodward is even more puzzling given the fact that the new revelations raise more questions than they answer:
- Woodward’s revelations were largely pre-emptive. His own source (for reasons not yet clear) told Fitzgerald on November 3rd of this year about telling Woodward about “Joe Wilson’s wife” back in June of 2003. That led to Woodward having to give testimony before the grand jury this past Monday. It was by then inevitable that Woodward’s role would be made public.
- The timeline is crucial. Why is Woodward being so evasive as to when this conversation took place, saying only that it took place in “mid-June 2003?”
- Is Woodward telling the truth? He claims and testified under oath that he did not tell his editors about Valerie Wilson, but did tell Post reporter Walter Pincus. Woodward says Pincus does not recall the conversation. Pincus is rather forceful in denying he was told anything of the sort by Woodward: “Are you kidding?” Pincus said. “I certainly would have remembered that.” It should be noted that unlike Woodward, Pincus is not known for friendly reporting about the Bush administration.
- Woodward refers to “four pages of typed notes” from his June 27th interview with “Scooter Libby.” They contain no reference to Joe Wilson or his wife even though his list of questions suggest he planned to ask about “yellowcake” and “Joe Wilson’s wife.” Where are his handwritten notes? He indicated he recorded at least one of three interviews he testified about. Did he tape this interview?
Benjamin Bradlee cannot possibly believe that Woodward did “nothing wrong.” Is he simply flacking for his friend and protegé, or is he trying to put a lid on what is fast becoming the biggest media scandal in recent memory: the knowing participation of major figures in the mainstream media in covering up possible high crimes and misdemeanors by members of the Bush Administration in the outing of a CIA agent involved in attemptimg to stem the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction? The media role in both the outing of Valerie Wilson as well as in abetting the cover-up is a major story that the media would prefer not to deal with (not to mention the fact that the cooperation of elements of the media, including Woodward, executives of Time, Inc., and the upper management at The New York Times, in helping to keep knowledge of White House involvement in the leak from the public until after the election, very likely played an important role in the outcome).
Susan Hu has learned that the developing Bob Woodward story will be tonight’s lead story on Keith Olbermann’s Countdown (MSNBC, 8pm and midnight Eastern time). his guests will be Washington Post correspondent Jim VandeHei and former Nixon Counsel John Dean, author of “Worse Than Watergate.” it should make for interesting viewing.