In Friday's
Editor & Publisher article Gannon made a
lot of claims in an effort to put the entire story to bed. I know he's been all over the airwaves, but this seems to be the most complete airing of his post-quitting, pre-Americablog position I've seen in print.
We know he was being less than forthright about the extent of his involvement with the so-called "sex sites." However, everything else does flow into a kind of narrative that could almost work.
Two of his key assertions contradict what kossacks thought we knew:
- That he had been subpoenaed and appeared before a grand jury. (Intsead he claims to have been interviewed by two FBI agents last year.)
- That Talon News existed well before he joined on.
I haven't seen any conclusive evidence that he did receive a subpoena or appear before a grand jury, just a story or two from last year saying he was a possible target - such as this one (
http://www.navyseals.com/community/articles/article.cfm?id=2827).
and the Newsday article.
But I also haven't searched the diaries as thoroughly as I'd like.
He also claims no ties to the White House - other than going to the 2003 and 2004 Christmas Parties and sending McClellan a wedding card.
So I guess the question is - to swing this conversation back away from the escort angle - what do we know for SURE, with multiple backups, to establish the accuracy or inaccuracy or what Gannon said in E&P? One lie about sex is not as damning as three lies about different topics. And how does his interview compare with Scott McClellan's? What's the likelihood that they compared notes over the weekend?
Because frankly, I don't believe Scott when he said he didn't know Jeff Gannon, had no idea that wasn't his real name, and particularly that he had no idea of Talon News's connections to the Texas GOP. If he's telling the truth, he's an incompetent press officer. My god, he's said in the past that he takes it upon himself to contact reporters if he sees problems with their stories.
See Low-Key Player He has to read his own press. He knew who and what Jeff Gannon was.
Anyway, back to the topic at hand - if anyone knows what's true and what's not about Gannon's most recent interview with E&P, let me know!