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Secret Service records raise new questions about discredited conservative reporter |
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by John Byrne Raw Story Entered into the database on Monday, April 25th, 2005 @ 23:14:15 MST |
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The documents, obtained by Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) and Rep. John Conyers
(D-MI) through a Freedom of Information Act request, reveal Guckert had remarkable
access to the White House. Though he wrote under the name Jeff Gannon, the records
show that he applied with his real name. Gannon’s ready access to President Bush and his work for a news agency
that frequently plagiarized content from other reporters and tailored it to
serve a conservative message may raise new questions about the White House’s
attempts to seed favorable news coverage. Democrats have sought to paint Guckert
in the context of other efforts by the Administration to “plant”
positive spin by paying for video news releases and columnists to espouse their
views. Guckert made more than 200 appearances at the White House during his two-year
tenure with the fledging conservative websites GOPUSA and Talon News, attending
155 of 196 White House press briefings. He had little to no previous journalism
experience, previously worked as a male escort, and was refused a congressional
press pass. Perhaps more notable than the frequency of his attendance, however, is several
distinct anomalies about his visits. Guckert made more than two dozen excursions to the White House when there were
no scheduled briefings. On many of these days, the Press Office held press gaggles
aboard Air Force One—which raises questions about what Guckert was doing
at the White House. On other days, the president held photo opportunities. On at least fourteen occasions, Secret Service records show either the entry
or exit time missing. Generally, the existing entry or exit times correlate
with press conferences; on most of these days, the records show that Guckert
checked in but was never processed out. In March, 2003, Guckert left the White House twice on days he had never checked
in with the Secret Service. Over the next 22 months, Guckert failed to check
out with the Service on fourteen days. On several of these visits, Guckert either
entered or exited by a different entry/exit point than his usual one. On one
of these days, no briefing was held; on another, he checked in twice but failed
to check out. “I’d be worried if I was the White House and I knew that a reporter
with a day pass never left,” one White House reporter told RAW STORY.
“I’d wonder, where is he hiding? It seems like a security risk.” Others who have covered the White House say not checking in or out with the
Secret Service is unusual, especially in the wake of Sept. 11. The Secret Service
declined to comment. “We responded to the FOIA request and can provide no further information,”
Service spokesman Jonathan Cherry said. Guckert declined to comment, directing all questions to the Service. The records furnished by the Service are unlikely to finally answer who approved
Gannon’s “temporary” day passes into the presidential residence.
The Service keeps a record of who approved passes only for the last sixty days;
previous records are kept by the White House. Since December 2004, all but one of Gannon’s forty-eight temporary appointments
were requested by Lois Cassano, a White House Press Office media assistant.
One additional request was made by Peter Watkins, a press assistant who now
works as deputy press secretary to First Lady Laura Bush. Guckert sometimes stayed for an extended period of time before and after press
conferences, particularly early in his tenure. This was especially common during
his first few months, when he might be in the White House for as long as six
hours. A White House reporter dismissed this as insignificant, noting that sometimes
reporters stay between events. “You could probably find people who stayed there for nine hours,”
the reporter said. Occasionally, the former Talon News reporter visited the White House twice
on the same day. This was also most common in the early months. The Secret Service furnished the records after a Freedom of Information Act
request from Reps. John Conyers (D-MI) and Louise Slaughter (D-NY). Guckert drew fire from liberals after asking a question of President Bush earlier
this year in which he misquoted the Democratic Senate Minority Leader Harry
Reid (D-NV). Investigative bloggers at Daily Kos and AmericaBlog.org discovered
that Guckert owned male escort sites, and was himself a male prostitute. The now-blogger has also been accused of lifting copy from press releases and
other reporters. A Massachusetts editor and reporter have accused Guckert of plagiarism, which
RAW STORY reported in March. The watchdog Media Matters for America has also
found that many of Guckert’s stories lifted directly from White House
press releases. Talon News, which shut down after the fracas over Gannon erupted, was self-avowedly
Republican. Bobby Eberle, the site's founder, told the Washington Post, "We
make no bones about it: It's a partisan site." In a February letter to President Bush, several Senate Democrats raised concern
about Gannon in connection with what they believe is an attempt to “buy”
coverage. “The Gannon/Guckert affair is disturbing because of what we have recently
learned about apparent efforts by some in your Administration to try to "buy"
favorable news coverage,” the Democrats wrote. “These other efforts
include paying news personalities … large sums of money to promote your
Administration's education and marriage initiatives, and using taxpayer dollars
to produce video news releases promoting the new prescription drug benefit for
Medicare beneficiaries and other policies the Administration regards as accomplishments.” The Administration has defended such efforts, and has sought to downplay their
significance. The first set of times for each date is Guckert's login and logout. The second
set is the briefing time. Research conducted by Raw Story researcher Muriel
Kane. No briefing does not necessarily mean no briefing took place, only that
none was scheduled by the White House press office. We have tried to make note
of other briefings held on the dates there was no White House press briefing. *ANALYSIS UPDATED -- 12:24 A.M. Dates without briefings reduced to thirty. 2/25/03 11:46 - 1:25 (briefing 12:26-1:03) 3/3/03 9:51 - 1:32 (unusually long) (briefing 12:21-1:00) 4/4/03 12:18 - 1:31 (12:20-12:59) 5/6/03 11:27 - 12:56 (11:50-12:30) 6/10/03 12:13 - 1:19 (12:33-1:12) 7/1/03 11:25 - 1:42 (12:50-1:26) 8/1/03 12:18 (no exit) (12:24-12:54) 9/2/03 12:37 (A4 HC Entry Lane, no exit) (12:42-1:23) 10/1/03 11:51 - 1:37 (12:44-1:30) 11/6/03 12:09 - 1:09 (12:35-1:04) 12/2/03 2:08 - 3:29 (no briefing) 1/14/04 12:30 - 1:33 (12:41-1:15) 2/2/04 12:32 - 1:35 (12:48-1:28) 3/1/04 12:50 - 2:04 (1:20-2:00) 4/1/04 12:42 - 1:57 (1:25-1:53) 5/5/04 12:02 - 2:25 (1:38-2:16) (arrives unusually early) 6/1/04 9:20 - 12:03 (Condi Rice briefing, 9:45) 7/1/04 12:22 - 1:36 (1:01-1:37) 8/2/04 10:59 - 1:47 (1:02-1:39) (there 2 hours early) 9/10/04 11:19 - 12:55 (no briefing) 11/2/04 1:31 - 2:20 (no briefing) (Election Day) 12/6/04 12:37 - 1:59 (1:03-1:36) 1/18/05 12:05 - 1:36 (12:28-12:57) 2/1/05 12:11 no exit (12:18-12:47) |
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