Two Nights in Row Purple-Tied Brian Williams Trumpets Valerie Plame's Lawsuit

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On Thursday night, and then again on Friday night, anchor Brian Williams gave time on the NBC Nightly News to highlighting Valerie Plame Wilson's lawsuit against Vice President Dick Cheney, his former Chief of Staff Scooter Libby and top Bush advisor Karl Rove. On Thursday, Williams framed the story from Plame Wilson's agenda, reporting her “cover was blown after her husband criticized the Bush administration's claims about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction,” and relayed how her lawsuit says Cheney, Libby and Rove “all conspired to discredit, punish and seek revenge against the couple and claims their constitutional and legal rights were violated.” Rove's denial then got five words.

On Friday night, Williams heralded how “today we heard Plame speak in public for the very first time. She told reporters in Washington she and her husband filed this lawsuit with quote, 'heavy hearts.'" Viewers then saw a clip of Plame slamming her targets: "I and my former CIA colleagues trusted our government to protect us as we did our jobs. That a few reckless individuals within the current administration betrayed that trust has been a grave disappointment to every patriotic American." (Transcripts follow.)

On Thursday and Friday, ABC's World News Tonight and CBS Evening News did not find the lawsuit to be newsworthy. All three cable news networks, however, carried live the late Friday morning Joe Wilson/Valerie Wilson press conference at a National Press Club room in which only their lawyer answered questions from reporters.

On both nights, NBC used the same graphic with a picture of Plame and Williams wore a purple tie with white shirt and a dark suit jacket, so it's hard to tell the two stories apart visually. As you can see in the two screen shots below, on Thursday his purple tie had white dots and on Friday his purple tie had more white dots closer together.

Brian Williams on the Thursday, July 13 NBC Nightly News:

“News out of Washington this evening: Valerie Plame Wilson, the ex-CIA agent whose cover was blown after her husband criticized the Bush administration's claims about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, is suing Vice President Dick Cheney, his former Chief of Staff Scooter Libby and presidential advisor Karl Rove. This lawsuit says they all conspired to discredit, punish and seek revenge against the couple and claims their constitutional and legal rights were violated. A spokesman for Karl Rove says the allegations are quote, 'absolutely and utterly without merit.'"

Brian Williams on the Friday, July 14 NBC Nightly News:

Brian Williams: “As we told you last night, the outed CIA officer Valerie Plame is suing Vice President Cheney, his former Chief of Staff Scooter Libby and Karl Rove. Today we heard Plame speak in public for the very first time. She told reporters in Washington she and her husband filed this lawsuit with quote, 'heavy hearts.'”

Valerie Plame at Friday press conference: “I and my former CIA colleagues trusted our government to protect us as we did our jobs. That a few reckless individuals within the current administration betrayed that trust has been a grave disappointment to every patriotic American.”

Williams: “By the way, she went on to say how much she'd rather be on the job at the CIA than filing a lawsuit. Karl Rove's spokesman said yesterday this suit is 'without merit.' ”