Untitled Document
Joe Conason has an article up at Salon
speculating that Fitzgerald may be casting his net wide with the 1917
Espionage Act - and that one fish that may be pulled in is our favorite fake
reporter, James Guckert/Jeff Gannon, former auto body manager/White House "correspondent"
for fake news outlet Talon News.
SusanG's diary :: ::
Another intriguing possibility in the leaks case brings back the
baroque personality of right-wing pressroom denizen Jeff Gannon, born James
Guckert.
The New York Times reported Friday that in addition to possible charges directly
involving the revelation of Valerie Wilson's identity and related perjury
or conspiracy charges, Fitzgerald is exploring other possible crimes. Specifically,
according to the Times, the special counsel is seeking to determine whether
anyone transmitted classified material or information to persons who were
not cleared to receive it -- which could be a felony under the 1917 Espionage
Act.
One such classified item might be the still-classified State Department document,
written by an official of State's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, concerning
the CIA's decision to send former ambassador Joseph Wilson to look into allegations
that Iraq had tried to purchase uranium from Niger. Someone leaked that INR
document -- which inaccurately indicated that Wilson's assignment was the
result of lobbying within CIA by his wife, Valerie -- to right-wing media
outlets, notably including Gannon's former employers at Talon News. On
Oct. 28, 2003, Gannon posted an interview with Joseph Wilson on the Talon
Web site, in which he posed the following question: "An internal government
memo prepared by U.S. intelligence personnel details a meeting in early 2002
where your wife, a member of the agency for clandestine service working on
Iraqi weapons issues, suggested that you could be sent to investigate the
reports. Do you dispute that?"
Conason points out that Guckert/Gannon has been "coy" when
asked directly about his access to the INR memo, and ePluribus Media
did an analysis of his various "evolving" stories regarding that crucial
memo here in
July. His main defense has been that he read about the memo in an October 2003
Wall Street Journal article.
Yet let me remind readers that on his current website, Guckert/Gannon claims:
I acquired knowledge of the memo and the Wall Street Journal reported on
it, but no other media outlet mentioned it. I confronted Wilson about it in
a September 2003 interview, for which I was rewarded by a visit from two FBI
agents.
Hmmm ... a September 2003 interview mentioning the INR memo, a month previous
to the WSJ publication.
Fitzgerald may believe Guckert/Gannon has some `splaining to do.
