Tom Maguire of Just One Minute Fame has made the case that Tim Russert could have lied (OK, just let his memory go dim) in the Scooter Libby perjury case because he was covering for prior less than the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth statements. Frequent commenter, Barney Frank, claims he should get credit for the white lie leading down a slippery slope of further cover up possibility. I’m sorry to tell both Mr. Frank and Mr. Maguire that there is a very fine movie that pre-dates Mr. Russerts legal entanglements, The Talented Mr. Ripley, that starts with a far more innocent misdirection and ultimately ends up in a far darker place than perjury. The movie is well worth seeing. The Libby Trial, not so much.
I have no idea if Russert was telling the truth about his conversation with Libby (Don Imus thinks he wasn’t), although his actual testimony was that while he doesn’t remember discussing Mrs. Wilson (which I can believe) with Libby, it was impossible that he told Libby about Mrs. Wilson. However, I can’t believe Mr. Russert couldn’t remember whether or not he told his boss he had cooperated with the FBI while NBC was fighting the grand jury subpeona. That I just simply can not believe. Nor can I believe that the FBI lost the notes from that initial conversation with Mr. Russert. Oddly enough, I haven’t seen either mentioned in conventional news outlets.
