The House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct released its report concerning the Mark Foley page scandal on Friday, and the media banged the predictable drum about this all being a Republican cover-up. However, what was ignored or downplayed by virtually every press outlet was the revelation that the offensive e-mail messages between Foley and male pages were leaked to the media by the communications director for the House Democratic Caucus. Also absent from such reports was the possibility that high-ranking Democrat Rahm Emanuel of Illinois might have been aware of these electronic transmissions even though he told ABC News on October 8 that he hadn’t heard anything about them until the story broke (video available here, hat tip to Gateway Pundit).

One of the only media outlets that did report this was Newsweek at the blog of reporter Holly Bailey (emphasis mine throughout):

How much did Rahm Emanuel know about disgraced Rep. Mark Foley's e-mails to a former House page? In an Oct. 8 interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos, Emanuel, a Democratic congressman from Illinois, was asked if he or his staff knew anything about the e-mails or instant messages between Foley and former pages "before they came out." "No - Never saw them," Emanuel said. Asked if he was "aware of them," Emanuel repeated, "We never saw them. No involvement." But on page 46 of the new House Ethics Committee report on the scandal is testimony that at least one senior member of Emanuel's staff did know about them.

Bailey's blog incredibly continued:

The report reveals that the so-called "overly friendly" e-mails between Foley and a former House page from Louisiana had been given to a top Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee staffer in the fall of 2005--more than a year before Foley resigned. At that time, Emanuel was the DCCC chairman.

Matt Miller, who was communications director for the House Democratic Caucus in 2005, testified before the ethics committee that he gave the e-mails to the DCCC. Miller was also the source who gave the e-mails to reporters from The Miami Herald and the St. Petersburg Times, and later, to a reporter for Harper's magazine. As a part of a "gut check," Miller testified, he shared the e-mails with the "communications director at the DCCC." While the DCCC staffer is not named in the report, Bill Burton was (and is now) the DCCC communications director and a top aide to Emanuel. (Burton did not respond to phone calls and e-mails from NEWSWEEK. DCCC spokesperson Sarah Feinberg confirmed that Miller provided Burton with copies of the e-mails.) Miller, who got the e-mails through a chain of social and political acquaintances, wanted the press to pick up the story at the time, in 2005. He thought Burton might be able to help. "I gave them to him not with any direct expectation but with the understanding that [Burton] is someone who talks to reporters all day," Miller testified, according to the report. "If there's something I'm missing, maybe - you know, that he could give them to a reporter."

Hmmm. So, the communications director for the House Democrat Caucus gave these e-mail messages to the Miami Herald, the St. Petersburg Times, Harper’s magazine, and to a top aide of Rahm Emanuel’s. Yet, this is certainly not what Emanuel said when questioned about this issue. The following is the transcript from October 8’s “This Week” on ABC. Watch how many times Emanuel claimed that he had no idea about these e-mail messages until Brian Ross of ABC broke the story. Also, pay attention to Emanuel claiming that the leak came from a Republican source:

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (ABC NEWS)

(Off-camera) All week long there have been suggestions by - on talk radio and by Republicans and their allies that this was perhaps a Democratic dirty trick. And I just want to ask you plainly, did you or your staff know anything...

REP RAHM EMANUEL (CHAIR DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE)

No.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (ABC NEWS)

(Off-camera) About these e-mails or instant messages before they came out?

REP RAHM EMANUEL (CHAIR DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE)

George, never saw them. And I'm going to say one thing, let's go through the facts right here.

REP ADAM PUTNAM (CHAIRMAN OF HOUSE REPUBLICAN POLICY COMMITTEE)

But were you aware of them? You said you didn't see them.

REP RAHM EMANUEL (CHAIR DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE)

Never saw them. Let me just go right through the facts, one Brian Ross, who broke this story on your network said it came from a Republican source. Very unusual to do that. Fact two, the Hill paper said it came from a Republican source. All the Republicans and staff people are coming forward are Republicans. Mark Foley who wrote the e-mails originally at the bottom of this whole problem, Republican. The leadership of the Congress from Tom Reynolds to John Boehner to Speaker Hastert who can't come on this show...

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (ABC NEWS)

(Off-camera) So you were not aware and no involvement?

REP RAHM EMANUEL (CHAIR DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE)

No, we never saw them. No involvement and she said not anything, George, and what the fact is this is...

REP ADAM PUTNAM (CHAIRMAN OF HOUSE REPUBLICAN POLICY COMMITTEE)

Was there an awareness?

REP RAHM EMANUEL (CHAIR DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE)

No. There's a holy...

REP ADAM PUTNAM (CHAIRMAN OF HOUSE REPUBLICAN POLICY COMMITTEE)

Was there any awareness?

REP RAHM EMANUEL (CHAIR DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE)

No. Never saw them. The first time I ever saw these things right here when Brian Ross broke the show and when "The Post" had the story. What you guys want to do is take your dirty laundry and throw it over the fence and try to blame other people for the problems and this is...

Fascinating. Yet, the report just released by the House suggested otherwise. Despite such astounding revelations, according to a LexisNexis search, the only major television news outlet that reported the specifics of this, and Miller’s name, was Fox News during Friday’s “Special Report”:

We also now know that Matt Miller, who was the communications director at the House Democratic Caucus, was shopping around the friendly e-mail story to friendly reporters. He also passed along the information to his counterpart at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Why is that important? Well, the chair of the DCCC at the time was Congressman Rahm Emanuel who said on national TV that neither he nor members of his staff knew anything about the e-mails -- Jim.

By contrast, though all three broadcast network evening news programs did segments on the House report Friday evening – while certainly addressing Republican involvement – not one of them mentioned any possible connection to Emanuel, or Miller’s involvement. And, though CNN did ten segments on this House report throughout the day Friday beginning with the 11AM EST “CNN Newsroom,” it wasn’t until “Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees” at 10PM EST that Rahm Emanuel was addressed. Sadly, this was at the end of a report that didn’t mention a lot of specifics or Miller’s name:

DANA BASH: But it's not just the Republicans. The committee found that two Democratic leadership aides knew about the Foley e-mails and tried to peddle them to reporters over a year ago. And, CNN is told, Congressman Rahm Emanuel, who led the charge to elect Democrats, was aware of the e-mails, too.

That was it. Now, just imagine if Mark Foley was a Democrat, and this ethics panel had identified that the communications director for the House Republican Caucus was responsible for giving this information to the press. Also, a high-ranking Republican that was the head of the National Republican Congressional Committee might have been aware of these e-mail messages even though he stated on television that he wasn’t. Would this be headline news, or largely ignored?

Safe to assume this would have been the lead for the broadcast networks evening news programs Friday, and talked about all weekend in reference to the Republican “culture of corruption?”

Why the double standard?

*****Update: CNN.com is now reporting this (12/9/06, 2:21PM EST, hat tip Gateway Pundit):

The head of the House Democrats' campaign committee, Rep. Rahm Emanuel, had heard of former Rep. Mark Foley's inappropriate e-mails to a former male page a year before they became public, a campaign committee aide told CNN.

Foley, a Republican, resigned after the scandal broke. House Speaker Dennis Hastert and other Republicans have suggested repeatedly that some Democrats knew about the e-mails earlier than they have acknowledged, but waited till midterm elections approached to bring up the issue.

Emanuel's campaign committee aide said Friday that the Illinois Democrat was informed in 2005, but never saw the correspondence and did not have enough information to raise concerns. The aide said Emanuel took "no action" because his knowledge was "cursory" and little more than "rumor."

The aide's acknowledgement differs from the flat "no" Emanuel gave in October when asked -- during an interview on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" -- if he or anyone on his staff knew of the e-mails before the scandal broke.

Will this be covered in more detail on tonight's network news programs, or still be ignored? Stay tuned.

—Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters.