Media Takes: Lawyer Turns the Tables on Tim Russert
Russert's claim Wednesday that he didn't recall much of the incident seemed disingenuous for a man so closely associated with the city and who volunteered on the stand that the Buffalo News had always treated his family kindly. (One of the newspaper's articles, offered by Wells as evidence, was headlined, "Tim, Don't You Remember?")
"Faulty recollection," Wells repeated. "Your memory failure." Russert responded that things are said and written about his performance on Meet the Press every week.
But, Wells said, the Buffalo News is your hometown paper: "You're an icon."
Responded Russert: "I'm a citizen."
Citizen Russert was also closely questioned about why he would speak freely on the telephone with an FBI agent about his conversation with Libby, and then some months later, citing source confidentiality, refuse a subpoena to testify about the same interaction before a grand jury. Russert, who eventually testified, said the two situations were different: With the FBI agent, he was responding to Libby's own version of what transpired between the two of them, and with the subpoena, he was concerned that the prosecutor might haved been conducting a fishing expedition that could have a "chilling effect" on his ability to report the news.
Wells wanted to know if Russert had told the judge hearing the NBC subpoena challenge that he'd already discussed with the FBI his conversation with Libby. "I did not," Russert replied.
Russert was to return to the stand today–"I'm gonna be awhile," Wells told Judge Reggie Walton at the close of the day Wednesday. And by the afternoon, the defense is expected to begin its case, and a new parade of media stars–from Bob Woodward to the New York Times's David Sanger–is expected to be called.
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