Now Bob Woodward Is Under Attack For His Role in Case of Valerie Plame

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

One of America’s best-known journalists, Bob Woodward of the Washington Post, is under attack for publicly opining on the ongoing investigation into the leak of the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame without disclosing that he was told of her employment there by a senior Bush administration official in June 2003, about a month before her name became public.


Mr. Woodward said in a statement that he discussed the conversation in a two-hour deposition he gave on Monday to the special prosecutor investigating the leak, Patrick Fitzgerald. Mr. Woodward said he was notified by Mr. Fitzgerald on November 3 that the source, whom the reporter has not named publicly, had come forward to prosecutors with details of the conversation.


Mr. Woodward apologized yesterday to the newspaper’s executive editor, Leonard Downie Jr., for waiting until last month to tell him about the early leak. “I apologized because I should have told him about this much sooner,” the Watergate veteran told the Post yesterday. “I explained in detail that I was trying to protect my sources. That’s Job No. 1 in a case like this…. I didn’t want anything out there that was going to get me subpoenaed.”


Mr. Woodward said he also testified Monday about his contacts with the only person charged thus far in the investigation, I. Lewis Libby, a former chief of staff to Vice President Cheney. Mr. Libby has pleaded not guilty to charges of obstruction of justice, perjury, and making false statements to the FBI.


Mr. Woodward said he spoke with Mr. Libby by phone on June 23, 2003, and met with him at his office four days later. The reporter said he remembers no discussion about Ms. Plame. However, Mr. Woodward said a list of questions he brought to the interview included the phrase “Joe Wilson’s wife.” Ms. Plame is married to Joseph Wilson IV, a former ambassador who was sent to Africa to investigate claims about Iraqi nuclear procurement and whose criticism of President Bush drew the ire of administration officials, including Mr. Libby.


An attorney for Mr. Libby, Theodore Wells Jr., hailed the development yesterday as a boon to the former White House official’s defense. “Woodward’s disclosures are a bombshell to Mr. Fitzgerald’s case,” Mr. Wells said. The lawyer blasted as “totally inaccurate” Mr. Fitzgerald’s statement at a press conference last month that Mr. Libby was the first government official to discuss Ms. Plame with a reporter.


Mr. Wells said Mr. Libby also stands to benefit from Mr. Woodward’s disclosure that he did not hear of Ms. Plame’s identity from the former White House aide. “That Mr. Libby did not mention Wilson’s wife undermines Mr. Fitzgerald’s key theme that Mr. Libby was involved in a scheme to discredit Wilson by telling reporters about Wilson’s wife’s employment at the CIA,” Mr. Wells said.


Mr. Fitzgerald issued no comment on the surprising developments. Other lawyers involved in the case said the disclosure about Mr. Woodward could weaken the case against Mr. Libby but did not seem to undercut the core claim that he lied to investigators.


In recent months, Mr. Woodward has held forth on the CIA leak story in a series of high-profile interviews.


In an appearance on CNN’s “Larry King Live” on October 27, Mr. Woodward was asked about rumors that he was about to publish a major story about a mystery source behind the disclosures about Ms. Plame. “I wish I did have a bombshell. I don’t even have a firecracker,” he said.


Mr. Woodward has been dismissive, even disparaging, toward the investigation. On CNN, he called Mr. Fitzgerald “a junkyard-dog prosecutor.”


In an interview on NBC in July, Mr. Woodward referred to the inquiry as “an assault” on the First Amendment. In another appearance on CNN, he said the outing of Ms. Plame resulted in “no harm to national security.” Mr. Woodward also volunteered to serve jail time on behalf of a New York Times reporter who was incarcerated for nearly three months for refusing to testify in the case, Judith Miller. “I suspect the judge would not permit that, but if he would, I’ll be first in line,” Mr. Woodward said.


Mr. Woodward faced a torrent of criticism yesterday for engaging in public punditry on the subject while saying nothing about his role in the story.


“This is a serious ethical breach, both premeditated and prolonged,” a law professor closely following the investigation, Jonathan Turley, of George Washington University, said. “This was not some momentary lapse of judgment. I can’t imagine what Woodward was thinking.”


“It’s deeply duplicitous of Woodward to do this,” a liberal blogger and former Senate staffer, Steven Clemons, said. “He should have recused himself from any commentary. This is really outrageous.”


In his recent statements, Mr. Woodward did not address his television appearances. However, the Post editor, Mr. Downie, said in a story posted on the newspaper’s Web site that the episode left him “concerned that people will get a misimpression about Bob’s value to the newspaper and our readers because of this one instance in which he should have told us sooner.”


The identity of Mr. Woodward’s original source remains unknown to the public, though under legal rules prosecutors will have to disclose the name to Mr. Libby’s lawyers. Some speculated that it might be the same person who told columnist Robert Novak about Ms. Plame, but lawyers close to the investigation said they believe it is unlikely the two journalists had the same source. The identity of Mr. Novak’s source has been known to Mr. Fitzgerald for some time. “Presumably, Fitzgerald has scrubbed that ‘alpha’ source eight ways to Sunday,” one lawyer involved in the case said.


A White House official who is still under investigation, Karl Rove, said through his attorney yesterday that he was not Mr. Woodward’s source. Mr. Downie also said yesterday that the White House chief of staff, Andrew Card Jr., spoke with Mr. Woodward at about that time, but did not mention Ms. Plame.


Mr. Downie indicated in a CNN interview yesterday that the source was male and gave Mr. Woodward a series of interviews for his books about the Bush administration.


Legal experts said yesterday that Mr. Woodward’s source could well be charged with a crime. “If the official was interviewed by the FBI and did not reveal this discussion, an indictment could be in the works,” Mr. Turley said. “This has just become a saga without a single redeeming character.”


The New York Sun

© 2025 The New York Sun Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. The material on this site is protected by copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used.

The New York Sun

Sign in or  Create a free account

or
By continuing you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use