PRESS PATTERNS
MSNBC Reporter Fuels False Rumor That Libby Destroyed Evidence [Stephen Spruiell]
Earlier today, MSNBC's David Shuster reported:
According to prosecutors, the evidence will show that Scooter Libby destroyed a note from Vice President Cheney about their conversations and about how Vice President Cheney wanted the Wilson matter handled.
But according to an MSNBC/AP report* posted on MSNBC.com, that's impossible: The note still exists:
Fitzgerald also alleged that Libby in September 2003 “wiped out” a Cheney note just before Libby's first FBI interview when he said he learned about Wilson and his wife, CIA operative Valerie Plame, from reporters, not the vice president.
It was not clear if Fitzgerald meant that an attempt was made to destroy the note or that Libby had forgotten about it. In any case, the note was recovered and is part of the evidence.
At the bottom of the story, the report is credited to, "MSNBC's David Shuster and The Associated Press."
Shuster went on the air and deliberately distorted his own report, which is fueling a "LIBBY DESTROYED EVIDENCE" meme that is spreading rampantly throughout the blogosphere. According to Shuster's own report, it is not clear what Fitzgerald meant by "wiped out"; it might mean that Libby failed to tell investigators about it and later claimed to have forgotten that it existed, or that he legitimately forgot about it. In any case, Libby could not have destroyed the note — it still exists and has been entered into evidence! In other words, and as usual, what Shuster reported on the air was false.
* UPDATE: The MSNBC/AP report has been updated and no longer contains the passage excerpted above. I'm looking for the original now.
UPDATE II: E&P has the original.
01/23 03:26 PM
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