Much to Senator Chris Dodd's consternation on Thursday's Larry King Live on CNN, Washington Post Assistant Managing Editor Bob Woodward, of Watergate fame, pointed out a fact rarely mentioned by the mainstream media -- that “most of the analysts at the CIA said that [Joseph] Wilson's findings, when he went to Niger, supported the conclusion that there was some deal with Iraq” for uranium. When Dodd started to counter Woodward, Woodward asserted that “Democrats and the Republicans all signed that report. That is a fact.” Woodward revealed that he had the report “in his pocket”and when King asked why, Woodward answered: "Yes I do because I knew I might be challenged." When King went to an ad break two minutes later, the camera pulled back to show everyone at the table. Woodward then slid forward across the table to Dodd what looked like a few 8-and-half-by-11 sheets of paper with a post-it on top. Dodd ignored it, but in the second before CNN went to black, Senator Lindsey Graham, sitting beside Dodd, picked them up.
The still shot is from a fraction of a second after the papers are released from Woodward's hand. Video excerpt of this event: Real or Windows Media. Dodd says something as he looks toward Woodward. If you can read lips... (Transcript of the earlier exchange follows.)
From CNN's October 27 Larry King Live, picking up after Dodd compared Joe Wilson with the security guard who discovered the Watergate burglary:
Woodward: “There's some factual problems here. When Wilson went to Niger before all this blew up, in fact, before there was a war, he came back and reported, and Michael [Isikoff] and others who've read the Senate Intelligence Committee on this, know his report was very ambiguous. In fact, most of the analysts at the CIA said that Wilson's findings, when he went to Niger, supported the conclusion that there was some deal with Iraq. Now, no, that's [reacting to agitation across table from Senator Chris Dodd] -- I mean, the Democrats, the Democrats and the Republicans all signed that report. That is a fact. And you know, there are other facts and there's speculation.”
Senator Chris Dodd: “That report didn't go into all of that. The report was about other issues. I mean, you've got to remember, the move in this town-”
Woodward, over Dodd: “I know, but it did. I got it in my pocket. I'll read it if you want.”
Dodd. “I know. You remember the mood here was to sell this. We now know, because it was false. The information was false. And to suggest that there weren't weapons of mass destruction on the nuclear weapon there, was going to be a major blow to that argument. It's a very important issue.”
King: “You walk around with this in your pocket?”
Woodward joked: “Yes, yes, I do because I knew I might be challenged.”
Michael Isikoff of Newsweek: “We don't know exactly what Joe Wilson said when he came back because he didn't actually write a written report. It was an oral debriefing. So you have CIA analysts who might have interpreted it in different ways...”
Isikoff went on to agree with Dodd as he maintained that the evidence shows “they really were out to get Wilson.”
After Isikoff finished his answer, viewers saw the events described above in which Woodward slid the papers over to Dodd, who ignored them.
