GANNON/GUCKERT & PLAME - TIMELINE

[Zan_of_Texas]

This is a draft -- feel free to add or correct!


GANNON/GUCKERT & PLAME - TIMELINE

8/31/1999 to 3/30/2000
invoices for website from Paul to Gannon/Guckert to build the male escort websites http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/02/man-called-jeff...

Feb 2002
Joe Wilson is asked to go to Niger, and does so to investigate claims of yellowcake uranium. New York Times, "What I Didn't Find in Africa," by Joseph C. Wilson 4th
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0706-02.htm

January 2003
Bush makes reference to the famous "16 words" in his State of the Union address.

????
When was Gannon rejected for a Capitol Hill pass?

??March 2003??(or was it earlier?)
Gannon starts coming to White House press gaggles (some say he has been attending for 3 years, some say two)

May 19, 2003
"(CBS) White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, the public face of the Bush administration through two wars and a terrorist attack, said Monday he will resign in July to enter the private sector. "I love this job," Fleischer told reporters at his informal Monday morning briefing. "I believe deeply about President Bush as a man and I believe deeply in his policies, but it's my time to go."

He would not speculate on who would take his place, but presidential aides said deputy press secretary Scott McClellan was the likely successor, although there are other possibilities. Fleischer said he wanted to leave the hard-driving job before Mr. Bush's re-election campaign geared up. "I want to do something more relaxing — like dismantle live nuclear weapons," he quipped.

...Fleischer clashed at times with the White House press corps and had an uneasy relationship with some senior Bush aides, but he said the departure was his idea. He notified Mr. Bush of his decision Friday. The president ended the conversation "by kissing me on the head," the spokesman said. ...

Fleischer, 42, got married six months ago. He said he wanted to go on the speaking circuit and maybe do some writing.
"White House Spokesman to Quit," CBS News, May 19, 2003 http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/05/19/politics/main...

July 6, 2003
Joe Wilson writes a piece in the New York Times contradicting Bush claims of yellowcake in Niger. New York Times, "What I Didn't Find in Africa," by Joseph C. Wilson 4th
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0706-02.htm

July 14, 2003
One week after the Wilson piece is published, Novak outs Plame, writing: "Wilson never worked for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie Plame, is an Agency operative on weapons of mass destruction."
"Mission to Niger," Robert Novak http://www.townhall.com/columnists/opinionalert-popup.h...

September 29, 2003
Clifford May tries to provide cover for Novak, writing: "On July 14, Robert Novak wrote a column in the Post and other newspapers naming Mr. Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, as a CIA operative. That wasn't news to me. I had been told that — but not by anyone working in the White House. Rather, I learned it from someone who formerly worked in the government and he mentioned it in an offhand manner, leading me to infer it was something that insiders were well aware of." "Spy Games: Was it really a secret that Joe Wilson's wife worked for the CIA?" by Clifford D. May, National Review http://www.nationalreview.com/may/may200309291022.asp

Oct 6, 2003 - Gannon (Talon News) writes an article about Wilson
"It is still unknown as to the reason Wilson was sent on the February 2002 mission to Niger, but allowed that it could have been at his wife's suggestion. Some have suggested that his clear partisanship cast doubt on the findings in his report." THIS LINK NO LONGER WORKS <http://www.gopusa.com/news/2003/october/1006_wilson_bla... > QUOTED AT DAILY KOS, spiderleaf's chronology, http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/1/31/122222/689

October 28, 2003
Gannon (Talon) publishes his interview with Wilson. (Anybody have any ideas how Gannon would've gotten an exclusive like this?!?!?!)

"WASHINGTON (Talon News) -- Ambassador Joe Wilson, the man at the heart of the White House/CIA leak controversy, recently sat down with Talon News for an exclusive interview to discuss his mission to Africa to investigate Iraq's desire to purchase uranium for weapons, the leak of his wife's position within the CIA, the foreign policy of President Bush and his administration, and a host of other issues. ...

TN: An internal government memo prepared by U.S. intelligence personnel details a meeting in early 2002 where your wife, a member of the agency for clandestine service working on Iraqi weapons issues, suggested that you could be sent to investigate the reports. Do you dispute that? ...

TN: You have mentioned that you are not partisan. Doesn't that appear to be the case considering the candidates you've supported?

Wilson: Including Bush. When Ed Gillespie was running around doing his little schpiel, he knew that I contributed to the Bush campaign but decided he would selectively use information on candidates I have supported to bolster a case that simply cannot be made. I contributed to the Bush campaign, the Gore campaign, and I contributed to the campaign of Ed Royce on several occasions. He is a conservative Republican from Orange County, California, and I have contributed to a number of other candidates. I contributed to the Kerry campaign after I made my trip out to Niger -- well after that. Almost a year and a half after that. But I will tell you this: I reserve the right to participate in the political process of my country just like any other citizen.

I was named ambassador to Gabon by George Herbert Walker Bush. One of the highlights of my professional career was serving a charges d'affair in Baghdad in the run up to the gulf war. When I came back to Washington and was introduced to the war cabinet, President Bush introduced me as a true American hero, and I take great pride in that.

TN: Your activities of late have some suggesting that there's certainly a partisan motivation.
"Wilson Talks about Niger Mission; Blasts Bush Foreign Policy," by Jeff Gannon, Talon News, October 28, 2003
<http://mensnewsdaily.com/archive/newswire/nw03/talonnew... >

Thanks to spiderleaf at dailykos for some of these leads, compiled in January 2005! For more, go there: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/1/31/122222/689

~~~~~~~~~
Let's add the chronology daily kos did on GOPUSA
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/2/16/05241/0536

GOPUSA TIMELINE

* September 27 1999
GOPUSA3-DOM Created

December 1999
GOPUSA (according to Bobby Eberle, see interview) started as a Web-design company for Republican candidates. Not much activity and lacking success they reevaluated direction in Spring 2000.

September 2000
GOPUSA became Internet news/information/commentary company.

November 2000
Following election, Bruce Eberle, starts Election Integrity 2000 (later known as MillionsofAmericans.com). In the following two weeks, 335,656 petitions delivered to Sec. of State Katherine Harris in support of Bush. In later articles, they claim that 600,000 petitions were gathered. (more on activities in box below)

March 29, 2003
Talon News registers its domain name

April 1, 2003
The site goes live

April 3, 2003 {ARE WE SURE?- Zan}
Guckert goes to work at White House.

September 2003
GOPUSA Conference

March 24, 2004
Merger of www.millionsofamerican.com with www.gopusa.com (see letter below)

[madhat]

1. Great work!

So has Drudge covered Plame much at all lately?

[Stephanie]

2. KOS timeline is here >

They have a pretty complete timeline:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/2/9/191334/0754

<excerpt> As the Iraq war raged and as the truth surrounding the forged documents that claimed Saddam attempted to buy yellowcake uranium from Niger emerged, a website and news organization came into being... Talon News (March 29, 2003)... owned by GOPUSA.com. Within days `Jeff Gannon', a man with no journalism experience secured White House briefing room press credentials (April 3, 2003).

[Zan_of_Texas]

9. Wow, thanks, Steph!

<smacks forehead> So, I could have been sunning myself this morning, instead of banging on this keyboard!

Anyway, yeah, read that one, folks, for the in-depth stuff. Mine is just bare bones.

[Stephanie]

11. Your format is easier to read

and gives a clearer picture - keep going with it. The narrative format at KOS is more confusing.

[qanda]

3. On October 3, 2003

Jeff wrote an article entitled, "White House Cites Partisanship in Furror Over Alledged Leak"

http://web.archive.org/web/20031206022212/www.talonnews.com/news/2003/october/1003_wh_partisanship.shtml

There is an interesting paragraph in this story that has me wondering about its meaning.

"On Wednesday, the White House told Talon News that they were unaware of Ambassador Wilson being selected by the CIA and did not comment on whether anyone in the administration asked the CIA why a partisan would be sent on the mission to Niger."

Well, I looked at the transcript for the press briefing on Wednesday, October 1, 2003 and cannot find the response he attributes to the White House here. It makes me think that Jeff or someone from Talon News spoke to the White House after the press briefing. I'm not sure, but maybe someone else can take a look and try to figure it out.

Good work on your timeline.

[MADem]

8. It didn't happen at the Presser, probably, but at THE GAGGLE

When they have the press conferences on TV, those are not the only interactions with the press--they are just the televised ones. They have what is called "the gaggle" in the morning, it is not televised, it is informal, it is TOTALLY, ALWAYS OTR--OFF the record.

During the gaggle, someone gets up and reads the official schedule of the dunce and crew--eg George to go jogging at ten, Laura to cut ribbon at family planning clinic (HA!! Joke!) at 11:30....that kind of thing. After they read the schedule, there is a lot of give and take, you aren't supposed to quote anyone, but you can use the stuff on DEEP BACKGROUND.

Sometimes other cretins (Rove, Card, e.g.) from the WH come in and field a few questions or put out their spin--again, all is on deep background, no attribution allowed--break the rule, your pass is pulled.

Whenever you see the phrase "senior administration official" with an unsourced comment or quote, the odds are better than 50/50 that the gems that were dropped were dropped at the gaggle.

[Warpy]

4. It seems likely that Gannon was the gofer, or at least

they may be setting him up to look that way.

However, he still needed somebody to get him past the CIA and Secret Service, because there is no way a rough trade gay hooker could have passed even the most cursory background check. He needed somebody to give him the info on Plame and tell him how to shop it around.

Find his sugar daddy, and I'll just bet you'll find all those answers.

Playing fast and loose may just be catching up to some of the inner circle. I sincerely hope so. I hope Gannon/Guckert is leaned on hard enough by a judge that he starts to squeal.

In any case, I'd love to know why Nofacts seems to be off limits. He published the information. His mewling that "everybody knew" is no excuse. Everybody in the junta inner circle must have known, but the general population did not until he told them.

Nofacts should be cooling his heels in Leavenworth and should be there to welcome Gannon/Guckert and his sugar daddy.

[diamond14]

5. PHOTO: bush* rubbing ari's bald head.....

might be a nice addition to your time-line...and THANKS for all your hard work....IMO, PHOTOS and graphs to break up narrative give more interest....but it's up to you...thanks again...your work is VERY VALUBLE to this exploding news story....

[MADem]

6. You know, Ari's departure always seemed a bit surprising to me

I know his family is full of Democrats, but he seemed, initally, to have enjoyed the refreshing taste of the kool-aid. Then, as time progressed, he seemed more and more bummed out, more short-tempered, and it was hard to understand why--everything seemed to be going so well for the "team."

I'll bet, if he has a mind, he could shed a GREAT DEAL of light on all this. Remember, ARI was the NEW KID IN TOWN, his deputy, Scott McClellan, on the other hand, was an insider/old-timer who was on the weecowboy's gubernatorial staff in TX.

I have to believe that Ari got tired of being the front man, the window-dressing, and decided to get while the getting was good. Notice how message control has gotten way more sloppy since he left? The discipline is gone. It's what happens when all of the adults leave. He must have been fed up to past here! Or maybe he was seeing things he just couldn't condone....

Ya gotta wonder! Which great reporter will score the ARI interview? He needs to be heard from!!!!

[Stephanie]

7. re: October 28, here is Wilson's answer to your question:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/2/9/94615/61143

How did the interview with Gannon come about, given that it was a small-time conservative news outlet?

Gannon called me and identified himself as the White House Correspondent from Talon News, a conservative news organization. He wanted to do a wide-ranging interview on my position on the war as well as the Niger mission and the leak.

While I had never heard his name or the name of his organization before, I was happy to do it. I have long felt that it is readers and viewers of conservative media who could benefit from a more balanced discussion of what is at stake in our policy and the actions of our government. At one point I recall Gannon as saying he was a traditional conservative (distinguishing himself from the neoconservatives, who in my judgement have totally captured our foreign policy). Speaking to the Times and other mainstream media is fine but those readers and viewers are generally better informed and often of the same perspective. It is those on the other side to whom we need to address the issues even more than to those with whom we already share views.

[Zan_of_Texas]

10. Thanks! I'll just ask you the next time I have any questions!

I'm sure I'll think up some.....

[Stephanie]

12. LOL!

How are you? :hi:

BTW, did you see this? From last week:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3086095

[Zan_of_Texas]

13. Hey Steph!

:hi: Always good to see ya.

No, I had missed that thread. A year ago, eh? Hail grasswire! Nice work!

Adding one small item:

"What Mr. Guckert seems to have been is not a journalist but a Republican dirty trickster. He was schooled at the Leadership Institute--an outfit run by veteran right-wing operative and Republican National Committee member Morton Blackwell. (It was Mr. Blackwell who distributed those cute "purple heart" Band-aids mocking Mr. Kerry’s war wounds at the Republican convention last summer.) His former employers at Talon News include leading Republican fund-raisers and former officials of the Texas Republican Party who have been active in partisan affairs for the past two decades." -- Joe Conason, 2/21/2005 edition of The New York Observer. http://www.observer.com/pages/conason.asp