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White House Press Briefing by Dana Perino 9/21/07 (Dan Rather)
— Friday, September 21, 2007 — MS. PERINO: Suzanne. Q I want to revisit a subject, because Dan Rather, obviously back in the news, suing CBS. He told Larry King that he stands by the authenticity of the document that was taken from Bush's former commander, Colonel Killian, that states that during Mr. Bush's time at the Air National Guard in May of 1972, he writes that Lieutenant Bush called in to talk about "how he can get out of coming to drill from now through November." "He's working on a campaign in Alabama and may not have time to take his physical." First, is this true? MS. PERINO: Look, I'm not going to go back and revisit all these questions that have been asked and answered. There was an independent panel set up by CBS and led by former Attorney General Dick Thornburgh and Louis Boccardi, the retired president and CEO of AP. They determined that there was misconduct on the part of CBS in their authentication of the documents and the production of the story in general. And I think that story speaks for itself. It was a sad day for that particular network in terms of -- and a sad day for journalism in general. And we are not going -- I'm just not -- I'm just going to let that stand for -- let that independent panel stand. Q Is the White House saying unequivocally that back then, he did not ask for any specific favors, nor did he receive them in the fulfillment of his duty in the area -- MS. PERINO: I refer you to all the previous public comments that we've made on this before. Q And has Rather's attorneys reached out to anybody at the White House? MS. PERINO: Not that I'm aware of. I mean, I could find out. I have no idea. Q And has the White House made any effort to authenticate this document? MS. PERINO: I think that the independence -- independent panel, led by a former Attorney General and former -- and retired CEO of Associated Press, when they come down, when they make their decision and they come out with a report, I think that that speaks for itself, in addition to the remarks that we've made before. And look, if one of the -- look to the motivations about where this is coming from. This is a person who has filed a $70 million lawsuit. I'm just not going to comment any further on it. Q So you are saying, though, that there were no -- he never asked for any favors, nor did he receive them in fulfilling his six-year duty for Air National Guard? MS. PERINO: Look, I'm going to refer you to all the previous statements on this. Obviously, I'm not steeped in all the history of this issue, and many other people have been at the White House. Q We could bring you up to speed. (Laughter.) MS. PERINO: Look, I'm not going to comment any further. I think you need to look at the motivations of why someone would say these things. Labels: Dan Rather, Dana Perino, Press Briefing, White House Press Corps
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 7:25 PM
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