Air Force One phone records subpoenaed

[Katie]

Air Force One phone records subpoenaed
Grand jury to review call logs from Bush’s jet in probe of how a CIA agent’s cover was blown

BY TOM BRUNE
STAFF WRITER

March 5, 2004


WASHINGTON -- The federal grand jury probing the leak of a covert CIA officer's identity has subpoenaed records of Air Force One telephone calls in the week before the officer's name was published in a column in July, according to documents obtained by Newsday.

Also sought in the wide-ranging document requests contained in three grand jury subpoenas to the Executive Office of President George W. Bush are records created in July by the White House Iraq Group, a little-known internal task force established in August 2002 to create a strategy to publicize the threat posed by Saddam Hussein.

And the subpoenas asked for a transcript of a White House spokesman's press briefing in Nigeria, a list of those attending a birthday reception for a former president, and, casting a much wider net than previously reported, records of White House contacts with more than two dozen journalists and news media outlets.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-usleak0305,0,2896503.story?coll=ny-top-span-headlines

[Zomby Woof]

1. hehehehe

Honor and dignitude! Bets on when Clinton will be blamed, anyone?

[historian]

2. sigh

I wish it meant something but bush will only stonewall then have scalia overturn the subpoenas. Still its good propaganda to show bush's arrogance and disdain for the average citizen.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

3. Drip, drip, drip

[KenLayedOff]

12. If I had a nickel for every drip,drip,drip comment made

I'd be rich and bush would still be untouched by it. The drip stopped with nixon and now it's time for another approach.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

19. You are wrong.

This lesson from history is entirely appropriate to this situation.


BTW, you say: "now it's time for another approach"

what approach is it that you are advocating.

[KenLayedOff]

20. The direct approach

Kerry needs to stay the course of liberalism...

Declare Gay Marriage is the way to go.
Bring the troops home as the first edict.
Stop hiding the charge of being liberal and embrace it.
Play the AWOL angle.
Admit he was wrong on the IWR vote.
Stand for SOMETHING!

[Feanorcurufinwe]

24. Sounds like you want a different candidate than Kerry

you should vote for that candidate.

Kerry stands for plenty, but I don't think he will ever win you over.

[Voltaire99]

32. Good advice for Kerry!

I say as much to the Democratic Party when it calls me to raise funds.

[RoadRunner]

44. Ken, 2 points

1. This is not about politics, it's about an act of treason. Criminal behavior must be punished, rule of law.

2. Kerry is not pushing this, a grand jury is. They seem to be close to indicting someone high up.

[PurityOfEssence]

84. You could buy a whole buncha toast...

n/t

[JoFerret]

72. Contrary to assertions

on the dupe thread of this story - it is everywhere. However - it may not be getting the attention it deserves.

[johnfunk]

4. Treason at 40,000 Feet!

"...records of White House contacts with more than two dozen journalists and news media outlets..."

And I will wager that four names turn up on that list: Robert "Dead Men Tell No Tales" Bartley, John Fund, Tony Blankley and Bill Sammon.

[osaMABUSh]

5. Air Force One? Hmm, we thought Cheney was as high it could go

This has been Cheney's gig as far as we could tell but who is on AF1? This could get very interesting...

"casting a much wider net than previously reported"

[OffWithTheirHeads]

17. Damn, I thought Rush was

as high as you can get.

[madrchsod]

6. looks like Fitzgerald

is doing his job...fitz got burned on his prosecution in the Chicago trials of the Saudi money connections to the funding of groups not "friendly" to the USA. all he got was a conviction on giving money to groups in the Balkans,i don`t think he wants to lose again.

[aquart]

7. Excellent. Now how about the records from 9/11?

I want to know every phone call to or from Bush that morning. Does the limo have a phone log?

[PartyPooper]

8. Good. Maybe they'll uncover even MORE sleaze that's been done

by this evil regime. Is that even possible?

And, I want to live to see the day when Novakula and his informant are both behind bars.

[UpInArms]

9. Eeewwweeee!

That subpoena also sought a complete transcript of a July 12 press "gaggle," or informal briefing, by then-White House press secretary Ari Fleischer while at the National Hospital in Abuja, Nigeria.

That transcript is missing from the White House Web site containing transcripts of other press briefings. In a transcript the White House released at the time to Federal News Service, Fleischer discusses Wilson and his CIA report.

something definitely stinks on that one!

and this line just out and out made me smile :D

What about Karl Rove?

Thanks for the post Katie!

[DoYouEverWonder]

43. There was also a gaggle on July 11th

Were Rice discusses SOTU, yellowcake claims and the forged documents.

The transcript is still up on the WH site and Rice is grilled by a foreign journalist about the claims Bu$h made in the SOTU. It also mentions briefly Joe Wilson's trip.



http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/07/20030711-7.html

<snip>

Q Dr. Rice, when did you all find out that the documents were forged?

DR. RICE: Sometime in March, I believe. Is that right?

MR. FLEISCHER: The IAEA reported it.

DR. RICE: The IAEA reported it I believe in March. But I will tell you that, for instance, on Ambassador Wilson's going out to Niger, I learned of that when I was sitting on whatever TV show it was, because that mission was not known to anybody in the White House. And you should ask the Agency at what level it was known in the Agency.

Q When was that TV show, when you learned about it?

DR. RICE: A month ago, about a month ago.



edit: Corrected info posted. I should have read the rest of the thread before I jumped to conclusions.

[Point_n_click]

96. Here's something from this that sticks out to me ...

Quote
DR. RICE: The IAEA reported it I believe in March. But I will tell you that, for instance, on Ambassador Wilson's going out to Niger, I learned of that when I was sitting on whatever TV show it was, because that mission was not known to anybody in the White House. And you should ask the Agency at what level it was known in the Agency.
End Quote

Ok, so if I read this right Condi Rice seems to be implying that we have rogue ambassadors going out to other countries and doing intelligence work without approval?

Stunning. What do they do in the White house all day, play Nintendo? Who's running things?

The Democrats really need to start pointing out these sorts of inconsistencies by showing that either they're lying criminally or completely incompetent. Do we want either kind of administration in charge of our country?

[dae]

10. They better hurry, Wilson's book will be out in a few months.

[yellowcanine]

11. Holy cow - does Rove travel with Bush on AF 1?

Is it possible Bush himself was stupid enough to get caught up in this? Or learned about it after the fact and covered it up? If so this is grounds for impeachment. It's not even a close call. Some pubbie house members might have to decide between voting for impeachment or getting thrown out of office in November. Oh what a tangled web we weave.....

[Gman]

13. Bush stupid enough???

BWAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!

[dflprincess]

14. I thought it had long bee policy that the president and vice president

never travel on the same plane. Oh wait..these guys are Republicans, no reason to worry about their plane. :evilgrin:

[Virginian]

74. VP does not travel on Air Force One.

His plane is designated Air Force Two when he flies. He can't fly with the President for security reasons.

If Dubya is involved in this it is treason and is impeachable.

It is very important that we take back the house this year. A speaker of the House could ascend to the presidency if there are enough criminal charges brought against enough people.

I remember Dubya saying that the culprit may never be found because the press protects their sources. When he said that, I felt like he was telling the press that if they know what is good for them, they will keep their mouths shut.

[PartyPooper]

15. Yes, Karl Rove does travel with * on AF1.

I'm not sure how often. But, certainly, he travels with Junior when he is campaigning / fundraising...and, Condi tags along as well.

And, yes, Junior should be impeached...but, unfortunately, the repukes control the votes. In any case, try telling that to most of Junior's Bible-thumping constituents. They couldn't care less!

Isn't it nice to have a pResident selected by Jesus and God himself? <sarcasm/>

:evilfrown:

[gulfcoastliberal]

66. Even if Dems Controlled Congress

I honestly question whether they'd have the stones to impeach this blatantly criminal pResident. I hope they would.

[Trajan]

16. They CANT blow off a federal Grand Jury subpoena lightly ...

THIS one is gonna hurt ... They cant ignore this, and it will be hard to assert 'executive privilege' if they are gathering evidence for a criminal matter before a federal grand jury ....

I cannot see this one getting swept under the carpet ...

[AZCat]

18. They don't have to sweep it under the carpet for long...

The fight over Cheney's energy task force notes is now going on three(!) years. All Bush&Co have to do is string this out until after the election, then they can set up some schmuck to take the fall. Worst case for them, they pull a Nixon and let the president pardon everyone.

[drscm]

21. White House Iraq Group? To publicize threat by Hussein?

Has this stuff been published before? Who was on it?

I know Andy Card said that you don't market a war in August, but it's good they a got a group together a month before the boy king's vacation in 2002.

[wjittermoss]

52. THIS is the REAL story behind the story!!

Wow!! We need to keep this in front of the media and the public.
The fact that the WH is so uncooperative concerning the Wilsons may be their own undoing. In going after this info, investigators may uncover more of the cabal madness than through official commissions.

[snippy]

53. The WHIG may be the largest of all the Bush criminal conspiracies.

Or it may be tied with several others, but it is a big story.

Here is a lengthy post about the WHIG and the Wilson matter.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=142863#142952

[never cry wolf]

59. Great post snippy!

I don't know how I missed it originally. Now, how does the OSP tie in to WHIG? Was the OSP the research and development while WHIG acted as the marketing department? Or were the regular intelligence agencies the R&D, OSP acted as the production and WHIG as marketing?

Scooter Libby certainly was deep into both organizations.

Can or will Fitzgerald contain this to the Plame affair if he runs into evidence of other wrong doing or is he duty bound to keep digging ala the Whitewater investigation leading to Monica. I hope this guy has the high sense of honor he purportedly does!

[snippy]

61. I think the decision to create the OSP may have been made in the WHIG.

At a minimum, it certainly would have been co-ordinated with the WHIG. The WHIG was responsible for creating as well as diseminating lies about the Bush invasion of Iraq. I am going to re-read the original article about the WHIG to check for references to the OSP. That article is here. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A39500-2003Aug9

[never cry wolf]

62. OSP preceeds the WHIG

The Wapo article says WHIG was established in August of 2002. From the Soldier for the Truth article about Karen Kwiatkowski:

With master's degrees from Harvard in government and zoology and two books on Saharan Africa to her credit, she found herself transferred in the spring of 2002 to a post as a political/military desk officer at the Defense Department's office for Near East South Asia (NESA), a policy arm of the Pentagon.


Kwiatkowski got there just as war fever was spreading, or being spread, as she would later argue, through the halls of Washington. Indeed, shortly after her arrival, a piece of NESA was broken off, expanded and re-dubbed with the Orwellian name of the Office of Special Plans. The OSP's task was, ostensibly, to help the Pentagon develop policy around the Iraq crisis.


http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17952

So the OSP was established in the spring or early summer of 2002. They started gathering info and then decided they needed a marketing department to sell it.

edited to expand on the corporate governance theory:
1. You start with an idea. (the PNAC blueprint.)
2. You garner support and backing for your project (9-11.)
3. You do your R&D and prototypes (Afghanastan)
4. You develop the product (OSP.)
5. You market and sell the product (WHIG.)
6. Product delivery (Invasion.)

They did say they wanted to run the country like a corporation, right?

[snippy]

86. Interesting. I like your corporate governance list.

The sequence and description of OSP and WHIG make sense.

[KoKo]

64. Yes, that was an interesting revelation in the article. Also Supoena Dates

are interesting, because they were supposed to reply to the last one by January 29th, from my read of the article.

[grasswire]

22. geez

They actually removed the transcript of a gaggle from the WH web site. As if that's going to make it go away. Plenty of people capture the transcripts as they become available.

He's got nothing to run ON and everything to run FROM!!

[AZCat]

23. I don't know if they removed it

I have noticed that press gaggle transcripts don't always end up on the WH web site. This may be because there is another press briefing later in the day.

Still- they SHOULD be up on the site. But I guess the Emperor doesn't care about what the 'people' think...

[grasswire]

25. the article says...

"That subpoena also sought a complete transcript of a July 12 press "gaggle," or informal briefing, by then-White House press secretary Ari Fleischer while at the National Hospital in Abuja, Nigeria.

That transcript is missing from the White House Web site containing transcripts of other press briefings. In a transcript the White House released at the time to Federal News Service, Fleischer discusses Wilson and his CIA report."

[AZCat]

26. OH MY GOD! Check this out!

I checked the WH site, because (as I said in above post) sometimes the WH won't post a transcript for a gaggle if there was a briefing later that day.

link to WH briefings archive list:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/briefings/

If you scroll down to July 2003, you can see that there is no link for a briefing on July 12, 2003.

But I'm a sneaky little bastard, and I just changed the url for the July 11, 2003 briefing (it took several tries) to see if the actual transcript was still on the site.

AND HERE IT IS!!!
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/07/20030712-11.html

Hahaha! Dumb Karl!

[bonemachine]

27. Excellent find!

Now who do we email this to, before it goes down?

[AZCat]

28. I don't know

I started a thread over in GD asking this same question. Hopefully someone will have an idea what to do.

[bpilgrim]

30. Dear Mr. Prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald

here's a link you requested...
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/07/20030712-11.html

then throw the media a bone, too and spam'm all ;->

anyone got his email?

peace

[AZCat]

31. Here's some info- I'll try this

http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/iln/patrickjfizgerald.html

His office phone number is [phone] but I doubt anyone is there at this hour. I will try to call tomorrow.

[JNelson6563]

39. Well done AZCat!

Good work! :toast:

Julie

[BR_Parkway]

41. They may have subpeoned this for a chain of custody situation

something emailed in could have been modified - they may already have a copy of it, now they want the "official" copy to use

[Renew Deal]

55. I made a copy of it for us down thread.

[PaDUer]

78. Better copy that transcript...

before one of the freepers emails them to remove it.

[Zhade]

34. DUDE! Nice work!

I've got it saved. Now, email the link and a copy of the page to the author of the Newsday article!

[Zhade]

35. AHA! Caught in another lie!

Yet another lie, this one from the departed Ari "The Mouth" Fleischer:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/07/20030712-11.html

July 12, 2003 - MR. FLEISCHER: Let me explain to you the President's thinking on this. A greater, more important truth is being lost in the flap over whether or not Iraq was seeking uranium from Africa. The greater truth is that nobody, but nobody, denies that Saddam Hussein was seeking nuclear weapons. He was pursuing numerous ways to obtain nuclear weapons. The United States never said that he had nuclear weapons. We have said that he was pursuing them. It should surprise nobody that Saddam Hussein was seeking to acquire the means to produce from a variety of sources and a variety of ways.

LIAR! LIAR!

http://www.yellowtimes.org/print.php?sid=1177

March 16, 2003 - Cheney: "I disagree, yes. And you'll find the CIA, for example, and other key parts of our intelligence community disagree. Let's talk about the nuclear proposition for a minute. … We know that based on intelligence, that has been very, very good at hiding these kinds of efforts. He's had years to get good at it and we know he has been absolutely devoted to trying to acquire nuclear weapons. And we believe he has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons. I think Mr. ElBaradei, frankly, is wrong."

:grr:

[Judi Lynn]

37. We're green with envy! Very shrewd thinking.

It's damned interesting, too. :hi:

Ari was NOT in his finest form.

[Blue Gardener]

42. Good Job AZCat!

This is excellent. Printed it for future reference, and before it disappears.

[JoFerret]

47. Incontinent BS

e.g <<<<When people hear about the flap over whether or not Iraq did, indeed, seek uranium from Africa, the American people say, we didn't go to war because Iraq may or may not have been seeking uranium from Africa; we went to war because Saddam Hussein was a threat because of chemical and biological weapons and also because he was pursuing nuclear weapons, whether he did or did not seek uranium from Africa. So I think the American people have it in pretty good perspective>>>>

[Renew Deal]

54. I am pasting here for our records.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/07/20030712-11.html
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/07/print/20030712-11.html

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
July 12, 2003

Press Gaggle with Ari Fleischer
The National Hospital
Abuja, Nigeria



9:20 A.M. (Local)

MR. FLEISCHER: The President this morning is receiving a briefing at the National Hospital. There is a representative of the press in there, we arranged for a print pooler to be in there. And then there will be a demonstration of the laboratory equipment that the President will see, focused on important health care issues here in Nigeria. Then the President will have his meeting with the President of Nigeria to talk about U.S.-Nigerian bilateral relations. I anticipate regional issues involving regional conflicts will arise, as well.

We will try to have a background briefer give you a readout after the meeting. I'm not sure of the logistics on that one yet, but we'll do our best to get that done. It may involve logistics -- dropping tape -- but we're going to move quickly and try to get that done.

Q You brief the pool, then, you're thinking?

MR. FLEISCHER: I think that's the only way to do it, because there won't be an opportunity to get the backgrounder to the filing center.

Then the President will make remarks in a speech at the Leon Sullivan Summit, and then return to the White House.

Q Does the President anticipate asking Nigeria to take even more of a role in solving the Liberian crisis, or does he anticipate making any sort of announcement about what the U.S. role in that might be?

MR. FLEISCHER: Nobody should be on the lookout for an announcement today. It will be a topic that is discussed. The United States has worked closely with Nigeria to resolve regional conflicts throughout Africa. Nigeria has received considerable training in its peacekeeping efforts, and its military has received considerable training from the United States. They have abilities, and we have worked with Nigeria to help them to put those abilities to good use.

Q Ari, what's the President's reaction to Mr. Tenet's statement -- a rather long one -- what was his reaction?

MR. FLEISCHER: The President is pleased that the Director of Central Intelligence acknowledged what needed to be acknowledged, which was the circumstances surrounding the State of the Union speech. The President said that line because it was based on information from the intelligence community and the speech was vetted.

Q Does the President still have confidence in Director Tenet?

MR. FLEISCHER: Yes. President Bush has confidence in Director Tenet and President Bush has confidence in the CIA.

Q Ari, the President often speaks of accountability. Does he feel accountability is achieved in this circumstance? Or how do you address that issue?

MR. FLEISCHER: Let me explain to you the President's thinking on this. A greater, more important truth is being lost in the flap over whether or not Iraq was seeking uranium from Africa. The greater truth is that nobody, but nobody, denies that Saddam Hussein was seeking nuclear weapons. He was pursuing numerous ways to obtain nuclear weapons. The United States never said that he had nuclear weapons. We have said that he was pursuing them. It should surprise nobody that Saddam Hussein was seeking to acquire the means to produce from a variety of sources and a variety of ways.

He had previously obtained yellow cake from Africa. In fact, in one of the least known parts of this story, which is now, for the first time, public -- and you find this in Director Tenet's statement last night -- the official that -- lower-level official sent from the CIA to Niger to look into whether or not Saddam Hussein had sought yellow cake from Niger, Wilson, he -- and Director Tenet's statement last night states the same former official, Wilson, also said that in June 1999 a businessman approached him and insisted that the former official, Wilson, meet an Iraqi delegation to discuss expanding commercial relations between Iraq and Niger. The former official interpreted the overture as an attempt to discuss uranium sales.

This is in Wilson's report back to the CIA. Wilson's own report, the very man who was on television saying Niger denies it, who never said anything about forged documents, reports himself that officials in Niger said that Iraq was seeking to contact officials in Niger about sales.

What did the President say in the State of the Union? He said: according to British reports, Iraq is seeking uranium from Africa. And the intelligence cited two other countries, in addition to Niger.

So, again, the larger truth, was Saddam Hussein a threat, in part because he was seeking nuclear weapons, in addition to what we know and have said about chemical and biological.

Now, if you ask, how is the President approaching this, what's the President's approach, the President sees this as much ado, that it's beside the point of the central threat that Saddam Hussein presented.

Q But doesn't that make it all the more important that some accountability be achieved that this flap over one fact can obscure his larger message?

MR. FLEISCHER: The President's larger message has not been obscured. The American people continue to agree that Saddam Hussein was a threat and --

Q You just said it was being obscured. You said there's a larger truth here that's being missed.

MR. FLEISCHER: Yes, but the larger truth -- the larger truth being missed this week, but it's not been missed by the country on a longer-term basis.

Q So this is just another press problem? The President has often thought we go overboard. Is that the case here? Is the larger truth being obscured just by the media?

MR. FLEISCHER: No, I'm not saying that, because there was a vetting issue on the speech, and that's a governmental issue. But I'm saying that this governmental issue needs to be put into a larger perspective, now that everybody has had one week's worth of chance to analyze this.

So, no, I can't say this is about the press. But I can say there is an important bigger picture here. And that bigger picture remains just as valid for the American people today as it was the day the President gave the State of the Union address.

Q On February 5th, Colin Powell did not have enough confidence in that statement to include it in his presentation to the U.N. There was some vetting that was done between the President's speech and Mr. Powell's presentation to the U.N. Why then, if that -- if at that point we knew, you knew, or the administration knew that the information was not good, why then was that very scary accusation allowed to stand through the through the war? I mean, we didn't get this corrected until after the war.

MR. FLEISCHER: It was corrected in March, when the part about yellow cake from Niger was looked into by the IAEA and that's when they reported it was based on forged documents.

But we still do not know whether or not Iraq was seeking uranium from Africa. According to the intelligence, there were two other nations that were cited for where Iraq may have been seeking or was seeking uranium.

So what we have said is it should not have risen to the level of a presidential speech. People cannot conclude that the information was necessarily false. After all, why would it surprise anybody that Saddam Hussein was seeking uranium. The more uranium you have, the fewer centrifuges you need to produce a nuclear weapon. So that, in and of itself, should not surprise anybody.

What is the issue here, in the President's judgment, is whether that information should have risen to his level and his giving the speech. And the administration, I think, to be fair to the administration, we did acknowledge that. We were the ones who were forthright and direct about it.

Q Well, after the IAEA brought up the forged documents. But on February -- if it wasn't substantiable enough to be presented in Mr. Powell's presentation, surely by then the White House realized that it wasn't substantiable enough to be put in the State of the Union. Why no public comment after February 5th? Why wait a month until the IAEA challenged the forged documents?

MR. FLEISCHER: Because this is the nature of intelligence information. This intelligence information was included in the NIE; it was part of the information that was being discussed widely in intelligence circles. There was a consensus agreement that supported the NIE with the footnoted objection from the State Department.

Q Does the President consider the matter closed now? With the President -- with Director Tenet's letter, does the President consider the matter closed?

MR. FLEISCHER: Yes, the President has moved on. And I think, frankly, much of the country has moved on, as well.

Q This is the last day of the President's historic trip to Africa. Has this overshadowed what he has hoped to accomplish?

MR. FLEISCHER: No, I think you have to ask the American people that. I think that if you look at America's newspapers and America's TV shows, there has been ample reporting on both. I am not in a position to gauge which report the American people pay the most attention to. I think people probably pay attention to both. But again, I think when people hear about the trip to Africa and the focus on AIDS, the impression people have is we are, indeed, a compassionate nation, our tax dollars are going to a good purpose.

When people hear about the flap over whether or not Iraq did, indeed, seek uranium from Africa, the American people say, we didn't go to war because Iraq may or may not have been seeking uranium from Africa; we went to war because Saddam Hussein was a threat because of chemical and biological weapons and also because he was pursuing nuclear weapons, whether he did or did not seek uranium from Africa. So I think the American people have it in pretty good perspective.

Q Ari, did Dr. Rice ask Director Tenet to put out the statement, or did anybody else from the White House ask him to put out the statement?

MR. FLEISCHER: Discussions with Director Tenet about the statement have been going on for days, have been worked out previously. It's appropriate for the CIA to speak out.

Q Did he bring up the notion of addressing a statement, or did the White House ask him to?

MR. FLEISCHER: It was mutual. The discussion was, the CIA needs to explain what its role was in this. And the best way for any entity in the government to explain its role is to issue a statement.

Q Why, if he was going to if it has been talked about for several days, did Dr. Rice come out and brief yesterday? Why not just wait for Tenet to put out his announcement? I mean, was there any reluctance on the CIA to put out a statement?

MR. FLEISCHER: Dr. Rice was always scheduled to brief yesterday, just as Secretary Powell was scheduled to brief at the filing center the night before. So we actually, literally the day before the trip or the week before the trip -- sit down. She was scheduled to brief on the flight to Nigeria. It was moved up to the morning flight. It was easier to do it that way, frankly, and to disseminate whatever she said.

Q Any postmortem briefing to expect on the plane back?

MR. FLEISCHER: No, there will be no briefings on the plane back.

END 9:31 A.M. (Local)

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/07/20030712-11.html
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/07/print/20030712-11.html

[PaDUer]

79. THANKS for copying

the transcript..As you will see above, I didn't read the comments after the post pertaining to it..Thanks again! :-) I'm certain you will send this to the "right" people. :-)

[DulceDecorum]

77. You made Buzzflash & Takebackthe Media

White House Cover-Up Uncovered on White House Website 3/5
http://www.buzzflash.com/

A Sharp Poster at the DemocraticUnderground.com site FINDS EVIDENCE Re: The Outing of CIA Agent Plame on THE WHITE HOUSE WEBSITE!
http://www.takebackthemedia.com/whitehousejuly12.html

Congratulations
:toast:

[Sparky McGruff]

92. I found the missing press gaggle on PR newswire

I found the missing press gaggle on http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m4PRN/2003_July_12/105268999/p1/article.jhtml">PR newswire (accessible via google search). I searched for ' "July 12" "press gaggle" (both phrases in quotes) and it came right up. It looks like other press briefings/gaggles are on the service, too.

I also checked the text of that search against the one uncovered on the WH website, and they appear to be the same. Always have to watch for post-hoc editing, it seems.

[TacticalPeek]

81. White House Web Scrubbing Thursday, December 18, 2003 WaPo (Milbank)

washingtonpost.com

White House Web Scrubbing
Offending Comments on Iraq Disappear From Site

By Dana Milbank
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 18, 2003; Page A05

It's not quite Soviet-style airbrushing, but the Bush administration has been using cyberspace to make some of its own cosmetic touch-ups to history.

White House officials were steamed when Andrew S. Natsios, the administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, said earlier this year that U.S. taxpayers would not have to pay more than $1.7 billion to reconstruct Iraq -- which turned out to be a gross understatement of the tens of billions of dollars the government now expects to spend.

Recently, however, the government has purged the offending comments by Natsios from the agency's Web site. The transcript, and links to it, have vanished.

This is not the first time the administration has done some creative editing of government Web sites. After the insurrection in Iraq proved more stubborn than expected, the White House edited the original headline on its Web site of President Bush's May 1 speech, "President Bush Announces Combat Operations in Iraq Have Ended," to insert the word "Major" before combat.


more dirty tricks
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A9821-2003Dec17?language=printer



Only the news that fits.

Leave it out, or change it. Or just lie.

[ConcernedCanuk]

29. Interesting acronym "WHIG" for White House Iraq Group

.
.
.

From dictionary.com search for WHIG

def'n 3: - -"A 19th-century American political party formed to oppose the Democratic Party and favoring high tariffs and a loose interpretation of the Constitution."

WOW - that fits Bu$hCo to a tee !! Scary or what ?

you think they came up with that name by accident ! - not me !

And I found a previous news reference to WHIG - yup - the Bush "group"

Depiction of Threat Outgrew Supporting Evidence

By Barton Gellman and Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, August 10, 2003; Page A01

His name was Joe, from the U.S. government. He carried 40 classified slides and a message from the Bush administration.

/snip/

Joe described the rocket story as a transparent Iraqi lie. According to people familiar with his presentation, which circulated before and afterward among government and outside specialists, Joe said the specialized aluminum in the tubes was "overspecified," "inappropriate" and "excessively strong." No one, he told the inspectors, would waste the costly alloy on a rocket.

In fact, there was just such a rocket. According to knowledgeable U.S. and overseas sources, experts from U.S. national laboratories reported in December to the Energy Department and U.S. intelligence analysts that Iraq was manufacturing copies of the Italian-made Medusa 81. Not only the Medusa's alloy, but also its dimensions, to the fraction of a millimeter, matched the disputed aluminum tubes.

/snip/

• In the weeks and months following Joe's Vienna briefing, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and others continued to describe the use of such tubes for rockets as an implausible hypothesis, even after U.S. analysts collected and photographed in Iraq a virtually identical tube marked with the logo of the Medusa's Italian manufacturer and the words, in English, "81mm rocket."

• The escalation of nuclear rhetoric a year ago, including the introduction of the term "mushroom cloud" into the debate, coincided with the formation of a White House Iraq Group, or WHIG, a task force assigned to "educate the public" about the threat from Hussein, as a participant put it.

Two senior policymakers, who supported the war, said in unauthorized interviews that the administration greatly overstated Iraq's near-term nuclear potential.

/snip/

............................................................

A VERY interesting read, lots more

[grasswire]

33. did someone capture the gaggle?

I saved it to my hard drive, but maybe someone could save a screen shot of it? Just in case?

[R Hickey]

36. I printed it. I'll read it later.

...

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

38. I saved it ...

... and also had some friends chatting online at this time save it. They sent it out to people in their addressbooks, too. :smoke: :dem:

[Nlighten1]

40. How about getting AF1's phone records for 9/11?

Pretty please wif sugar on top?

[Dudley_DUright]

45. Josh Marshall suggests some interesting questions that

someone in the press with guts (paging Helen Thomas) can ask Scotty about Plamegate at the next press gaggle.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2004_02_29.html#002644

see also

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2004_02_29.html#002642

[PaDUer]

80. Great...Helen Thomas is awesome...

someone have her email addy or phone?

[Khephra]

46. kick

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

48. I know I already did this. Please forgive my lack of originality but,

HAAA HAAA

[Beetwasher]

49. Here's An Intersting Part Of This Story:

"Finally, the subpoena requested a list of those in attendance at the White House reception on July 16 for former President Gerald Ford's 90th birthday.

The White House at the time announced the reception would honor Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan, but said the event was closed to the press.

The White House Thursday declined to release the list and the Gerald R. Ford Foundation, which paid for the event, did not return phone calls."

This tells me, SOMEONE is talking. Why would they ask for this info unless somone spilled some beans that it was important to do so? They are following NEW leads...Very important...

[underpants]

50. That kinda narrows down the possible leaks huh?

WE still need a name.

[Just Me]

51. What an awesome development!!!

Freakin' sensational!!!

Fitzgerald obviously means business!!!

[havocmom]

56. When the subpoenas start going out for people to testify

we will have much to celebrate. Would guess the case will be pretty tight by then.

No more of this "I'll visit with them..." bull$hit. Haul 'em in, swear 'em in, make 'em talk, after you have the torpedoes sighted in to sink them if they lie. Lying under oath is a bad thing, right? Even the GOP would have to impeach for that offense.

[AZCat]

57. Update regarding WH Press Gaggle Transcript

I left messages this morning at the offices of Patrick Fitzgerald and Tom Brune with my phone number and the URL of the document. I have yet to hear back. A poster above (BR_Parkway, post #41) mentioned that the Attorney's office may want to establish a chain of custody, so nothing may come of this.

As of 8:50 AM Mountain time, the document is still on the WH web site.

[AZCat]

60. Second Update...

A poster over at www.atrios.blogspot.com found a second copy of the transcript, at
http://usinfo.state.gov/regional/af/potus2003/a3071203.htm

I have compared the text of the two (WH and State Dept) and they are the same.

[KoKo]

65. AZ, thanks, keep us posted for any other new developments with your

find.

[AZCat]

69. Update 3

The White House press briefing archive page now has a link to the July 12, 2003 transcript

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/briefings/

I guess someone has been paying attention to what we are doing!

Note: I took a quick look at the transcript, and it appears to be the same one that was there earlier.

[AZCat]

85. Update 4

The WH press gaggle today (March 5, 2004) has lots of questions about the subpoenas, but little information from Scott McClellan (not surprising).

Once again, the WH does not have a link to the transcript on the archive site (although they may just be slow) but the document is there at this address:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/03/20040305-7.html

No questions about the July 12 transcript, but Newsday reporter Tom Brune has a NEW article that talks about it here:
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-usleak0306,0,2962040.story?coll=ny-nationalnews-headlines

[AZCat]

91. Update 5

The Washington Post has an article on this with a paragraph about the missing transcript...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34911-2004Mar5.html

Leak Investigators to Get Phone Log

By Mike Allen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, March 6, 2004; Page A02

<snip>
The grand jury subpoenas, first reported by Newsday, also ask for the text of a White House briefing that referred to the controversy but was missing from the White House Web site. Officials posted it Friday and said it had been omitted inadvertently.
<snip>

Inadvertently, huh? :eyes:

[bushisanidiot]

58. AF1 Transcript - September 11, 2001: "Hide Me!! Hide Me!! "

president pussy did NOT lead us in our most desperate hour of need. He fucking ran and HID his sorry ass! How many days did it take for President ScaredyPants to address the nation??

He is the weakest, worst president in th HISTORY of this great nation!

[anarchy1999]

63. All I can say is, SWEET!!!

n/t

[grasswire]

67. big fat old kick

Huge, huge story. I haven't heard it reported on television yet.

Has anyone?

[kiahzero]

68. Was just reported on MSNBC

That's how I knew to go looking for the story

[TacticalPeek]

70. "according to documents obtained by Newsday"

Hmmmm.

I have been VERY impressed at how tight Fitzgerald has kept the investigation and grand jury process. I would hate for these jokers to walk, based on legal technicalities like North and Poindexter did. Or for anything to happen that could be used to discredit the investigation.

Aren't subpoenae routinely filed with some court clerk's office prior to service? Is this ALWAYS the case? Can't journalists (or anyone) just monitor the clerk's office for whatever court is involved here? (I think Woodward and Bernstein were just covering the police blotter when they stumbled on to the Watergate burglars.) Or would they be 'sealed' in a case like this?

Also, the persons who have been named as appearing before this grand jury: did they disclose this themselves, which is allowed, or is there a stake-out of the grand jury?

I wonder: was Newsday handed this somehow, or are the rest of the press pack just not doing basic legwork? Or both.

Just curious if anyone knows.

[pinto]

71. kick

[NashVegas]

73. double kick

..

[abracadabra]

75. kicketh

:kick:

[robertpaulsen]

76. Awesome! This brings me a sense of hope.

Even if Dubya steals the election again, I'll stick around to see the trial of the century. How the hell could Hastert grant a pardon on this? God, I hope this is the beginning of the end for these criminals.

[PaDUer]

82. A well deserved .....

KICK! :-)

[AZCat]

83. We did it!

Tom Brune, the author of this article, wrote a story here
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-usleak0306,0,2962040.story?coll=ny-nationalnews-headlines

about the transcript!

It's in the news, folks! Congradulations, and thanks to everyone who helped!

:party:

[NashVegas]

87. kick

..

[Judi Lynn]

88. Here's another well deserved kick!

:dem: :kick:

[robertpaulsen]

89. YEAH! One more kick!

It was on CNN tonight. This investigation could be the real deal.

[johnfunk]

90. Here's the list of subpoenaed journalists and pseudojournalists

Courtesy Newsday:

Robert Novak, "Crossfire," "Capital Gang" and the Chicago Sun-Times

Knut Royce and Timothy M. Phelps, Newsday

Walter Pincus, Richard Leiby, Mike Allen, Dana Priest and Glenn Kessler, The Washington Post

Matthew Cooper, John Dickerson, Massimo Calabresi, Michael Duffy and James Carney, Time magazine

Evan Thomas, Newsweek

Andrea Mitchell, "Meet the Press," NBC

Chris Matthews, "Hardball," MSNBC

Tim Russert, Campbell Brown, NBC

Nicholas D. Kristof, David E. Sanger and Judith Miller, The New York Times

Greg Hitt and Paul Gigot, The Wall Street Journal

John Solomon, The Associated Press

Jeff Gannon, Talon News

...gotta especially love that last one, a phony-baloney proto-FReeper "news" service... but shame on me, I digress

As I pointed out elsewhere, there are a few names conspicuous in their absence, the type that show up on any "usual suspects" list when it comes to propagating GOP lies:

Tony Blankley, an editor of the Moonie Times

John Fund, OpinionJournal.com's known dirty trickster

anyone from the New York Post

There had been a lot of talk in NY media circles that the appempted leak was far more widespread than first reported -- and that a number of NY-based journalists were paid a visit by the FBI.

[HootieMcBoob]

94. The journalists haven't been subpoenaed

at least not yet they haven't.

What was subpoenaed was the white house records of contacts with these journalists. Not the journalists themselves.

[goforit]

93. Hmmmm...................I'd love the NY AG Spitzer to step in on this one.

Go..........Wilson!!!!

[Just Me]

95. I want to hear the words, "impeachment",...

,...I want this evil man impeached and him and his whole damned crew charged with treason and thrown in prison for the rest of their natural lives. I want their bank accounts emptied and their shares and assets sold to reimburse the American people whose lives and resources they usurped!!!

[Catherine Vincent]

98. You know that nothing will ever happen to Chimpy or anyone

from his administration. As long as there was no sex involved, they're home free.

[TacticalPeek]

97. Kick for nightizens. n/t

[opihimoimoi]

99. Opi's night kick

:kick:

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

100. And give it another kick from Texas

and a hell of a lot of people who DON'T want Chucklenuts back here, but we'll take him if he'll promise not to leave his little pig farm and be a good boy and leave everyone the hell alone.

KICK!

:kick: