Presented here are two short timelines. The first is presented to assist readers in evaluating statements by Gannon and comments that surface at dKos. The second is an area that could use some further research in an attempt to assess the veracity of what the McClennan and Gannon assert about Gannon's status as nothing more than a daily pass attendee at WH briefings. Most of what is presented is found in previous Diaries, and therefore, may be of little interest to those who have been closely following this (and there are no wild and sexy speculations for those who prefer that sort of thing). However, it seems to me as if many of the solid facts in this case are easily lost and new readers may not be as clear on them as they need to be.
I. The "birth" of "Jeff Gannon" and "Talon News Service."
6/02 - registration of jeffgannon.com
11/12/02 - first article by Gannon appears at "Conservative Monitor"
1/1/03 - GOPUSA begins front page news coverage
1/15/03 - first Gannon byline at GOPUSA
3/29/03 - Talon News Service copyrighted
4/1/03 - Talon news coverage begins
Gannon obtains WH "daily pass"
6/03 - Gannon registers at Free Republic and begins contributing
Nov or Dec '03 - attends WH Christmas party for reporters
early 2004 - Gannon applied for Capitol press credential
4/7/04 - application denied (unanimous decision)
2/8/05 - identified as James D. Guckert at dKos
Now look at Gannon's E&P interview
Gannon said he began attending White House press briefings in March 2003, very shortly after he joined Talon News
Clearly not possible. But articles with his byline were appearing at GOPUSA, a GOP operative/activist website.
He said he sought the permanent "hard pass" when he first wanted to cover the White House, but after finding out he needed a congressional press pass -- which he'd been denied -- to get that far, he utilized only the day passes
He didn't even apply for a Capitol pass for at least eight months after he began showing up at the WH.
He said he had been writing op-ed pieces since 2001, when he was in Pennsylvania, and that he had them submitted to several Web sites and "advocacy groups," including MichNews and Frontiers of Freedom...(An E&P search of online archives at MichNews turned up no articles by Gannon, and a Google search turned up no Gannon articles at either MichNews or Frontiers of Freedom.)
DKos contributors/investigators turned up nothing either and we looked for days. One in 2002 was it.
Guckert said he first went to work for Talon News in February 2003 after writing several test stories for them, becoming a stringer at first and later a full-time salaried reporter.
Again, impossible for a faux reporter to work for a faux news service before it existed. On the salary issue, that issue we can look at the minutes from the SCOC consideration of Gannon's request for a press credential.
since Mr. Guckert's application was submitted, a stipend was arranged that would provide more than half of Mr. Guckerts [sic] income in an effort to comply with the gallery's requirement that correspondents be paid, full time employees of the organization for which they are applying.
From
mediacitizen
The application was made in early 2004; therefore, Gannon must not have had any income from GOPUSA and then Talon for a whole year after he began his association. From his E&P interview:
...he said, he lived off savings during his stringer stretch.
Must have been a mighty big nest egg he had socked away from somewhere. Seriously, this a place where Gannon's story completely breaks down. How does a forty-something year old single man live for years while being unemployed?
Guckert claimed that his family began being harassed a week ago.
Who could have been doing this? The only ones who seemed to know his real name a week ago were in the WH.
II. The 8/6/01 PDB
Under questioning from the 9/11 Commission, Condi Rice disclosed the title of the PDB as "Bin Laden determined to strike US." Public pressure mounted for the WH to release the PDB. On Saturday 4/10/04 AP reported that the WH would release the PDB at 6:15 EDT.
At 3:46 PDT Gannon posted a comment at Free Republic that the PDB was available at jeffgannon.com. A reader questioned why he had it when it was not on the WH website.
White House Press Office | 2/10/2004 | Jeff Gannon, White House Correspondent
Comment:
To: tonyinv
It's not on their website yet. because I am a White House reporter, it was emailed to me as a pdf file. It clearly shows what frauds the Dems on the 9/11 Commission are.
5 posted on 04/10/2004 3:50:33 PM PDT by Jeff Gannon
FP
From a comment at DU it was reported that Fox had received an advance copy sometime before 5:37 EDT. Can we find out who else in the media received advance copies? And what time they reported receiving it?
The press briefings immediately before and after the release of the PDB contain no questions of Scotty on this matter. The 4/7/04 briefing was before Condi's appearance before the 9/11 Commission. The 1/15/04 briefing aboard AF One was the first one after it, and again, no mention of the PDB. That eliminates the possibility that the WH press corps were promised a copy of the PDB during a press briefing. Therefore, whoever received advance copies either specifically requested them from the WH press office or were on a pre-existing WH e-mail distribution list. Perhaps the WH can explain how a news operation can get advance copies of press releases or be placed on a permanent e-mail distribution list, and if a "daily pass" would make an organization eligible for this benefit.
Please share any information related to these two timelines that will refine our understanding of this part of the Gannon story.