Presswatch/Gray Matter
Eastland, Terry
PRESSWATCH GRAY MATTER by Terry Eastland n Memorial Day two FBI agents interviewed Democratic Rep. Bill Gray at a Washington hotel. The next evening Rita Braver of CBS reported the existence of a...
...They think he's stiff with reporters and would have a hard time striking the kind of confidential pose needed in order to leak...
...If the division knew, however, it apparently failed to pass word to the attorney general's office...
...department's news spigots...
...Aides to Thornburgh say they couldn't have leaked even if they wanted to, maintaining that none of them knew about the Memorial Day interview...
...But others around him, longtime Thornburgh loyalists, are not so ill-equipped, and they do control the Terry Eastland is the author of Ethics, Politics, and the Independent Counsel, published by the National Legal Center for the Public Interest...
...Until July 11, the Post was treating the story as ho-hum news, occasionally printing something in the Metro pages...
...Two explanations have been offered, both political...
...Reporters often develop sources in the bureaucracy for the simple reason that administrations come and go, but the bureaucracy doesn't...
...The story sank on day one...
...But I don't buy the theory that Gray leaked...
...The Post, he said, was indifferent to being scooped by the Times because it believes that "nobody" who is "anybody" reads the Times...
...A politician of that skill probably deserved to become Democratic whip...
...Besides, as Newsday reports, heused to be friendly enough with Gray to be his occasional tennis partner...
...Reporters typically go to persons authorized to speak in order to confirm stories, and members of his staff are duly sanctioned...
...The confirming sources probably were in Thornburgh's office...
...One is that Thornburgh's office realized that if the talented Gray were Democratic whip, House Republicans would have a more difficult time challenging the Democratic majority...
...In other words, there had been a leak, and it had occurred when House Democrats were on the defensive over ethics, and when Gray himself was the odds-on favorite to succeed Tony Coelho as Democratic whip...
...The FBI / agents who interviewed Gray were from the Philadelphia office...
...Individual reputations are at stake, and they can be damaged quickly in this age of instant communication...
...As Newsday pointed out, "Gray has made life difficult for [new FBI Director William] Sessions and other senior members of the FBI by promoting the cause of black FBI agent Donald Rochon," who has charged the bureau with racial discrimination...
...That means Ed Dennis, the head of the Criminal Division, or one of his top deputies should have known about the Gray interview...
...Protecting it ranks near the top of the Ten Commandments by which the media abide...
...As it happened, Gray did manage to pull off quite a comeback...
...That does happen...
...This does not mean, however, that they weren't aware of the no-show investigation...
...It requires that Gray believed he actually could "manage" the leak...
...This was astonishing, given the Post's usual preoccupation with malfeasance in the executive branch...
...I struck out, as I knew I would...
...3: The FBI...
...It may turn out that whoever is under investigation is innocent of any wrongdoing—or, as occurred in Gray's case, that whoever appears to be under investigation is really not...
...A possible scenario: it tips off CBS, which then calls law enforcement sources, who then confirm...
...Thornburgh reduced both the size and importance of the old public affairs staff in part to incorporate media relations into his office...
...On July 9, Ombudsman Richard Harwood, whose column has become required reading in the Sunday Post, explained the lack of coverage by saying that the newspaper was "infected with complacency and arrogance...
...My own view is that when Gray held his press conference, he was scrambling and had no idea how things would turn out...
...The FBI has long been a source of stories about on26 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR SEPTEMBER 1989 going investigations—many think it was during Watergate—and someone unknown to Ahlerich (or someone who is not telling him the truth) might have leaked...
...Congressman Gray, meanwhile, annually donates "excess honoraria" to the church, in some years as much as $14,000...
...I didn't...
...The bit about Gray's not cooperating probably came from the FBI, since Braver mentioned this in connection with the Memorial Day interview conducted by the bureau...
...And as I write, the Justice Department, which has been investigating the leak, hasn't found the source either...
...Fortunately, no one else did...
...as I write, it has yet to elaborate on the national security angle...
...Congressman Gray, meanwhile, annually donates "excess honoraria" to the church, in some years as much as $14,000...
...The story sank on day one...
...Why would they leak...
...Assume that he knew of the no-show inquiry, which had been going on for several months...
...Gray helped make the Rochon case a national story, and the FBI has a strong aversion to bad publicity...
...Reporters who cover him believe he's incapable of it...
...The FBI / agents who interviewed Gray were from the Philadelphia office...
...This theory instead points to top officials at FBI headquarters, who approved the interview...
...Theory Na 4: Gray himself...
...A couple of reasons...
...Reporters who cover him believe he's incapable of it...
...The real scandal is that the Post thought this was a story—one worth fifty column inches...
...But I don't buy the theory that Gray leaked...
...The FBI has long been a source of stories about on26 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR SEPTEMBER 1989 going investigations—many think it was during Watergate—and someone unknown to Ahlerich (or someone who is not telling him the truth) might have leaked...
...Thornburgh reduced both the size and importance of the old public affairs staff in part to incorporate media relations into his office...
...A waggish reporter suggested to me that just this once CBS should not protect the relationship and report who said what...
...So: fearing that word of the interview would get out on unfavorable terms and hurt his bid to become Democratic whip, he authorized the leak so that he could react to it immediately and exert "spin control...
...He's not a political schemer, nor a Washington insider...
...On paper, the FBI is under the Justice Department, and since becoming attorney general last summer, Thornburgh has been trying to exert more control over the agency, which has historically been reluctant to acknowledge Justice Department authority...
...Theory No...
...department's news spigots...
...Certainly this "local" story deserves the Post's attention...
...But it's doubtful that Dennis leaked...
...I struck out, as I knew I would...
...The second explanation is more believable than the first, but both suffer from a lack of hard evidence...
...Why...
...A couple of reasons...
...Politicians believe many things, but only a foolish one would believe in such a possibility, and Gray is not foolish...
...In this case, the original sources are probably from the career ranks in the Criminal Division and the FBI...
...Gray, the widow of the church's former pastor and the mother of its current one, to live there...
...2: The Criminal Division of the Justice Department...
...One problem with this theory is that CBS said it relied on "Justice Department," not congressional, sources...
...The other is that Thornburgh's office had more provincial interests: both the attorney general and Gray are Pennsylvania politicians, and hurting Gray helps the Pennsylvania GOP...
...Moreover, Robert Ahlerich, the head of FBI's public affairs shop, used to supervise Rochon when both men were stationed in Chicago...
...That's possible, but a second reason, involving Gray, is more plausible...
...Newsday, in the most informative journalism done on the leak, tried but was unable to answer the question...
...One or more of the leakers are persons known to Braver, cultivated by her over theyears...
...The CBS story on Bill Gray raises the question of whether the media should rely on unnamed sources when reporting criminal investigations...
...THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR SEPTEMBER 1989 27 PRESSWATCH GRAY MATTER by Terry Eastland n Memorial Day two FBI agents interviewed Democratic Rep...
...Perhaps there was more interest, and less arrogance and complacency, than I thought...
...Did Dennis know...
...No one really believes that Attorney General Dick Thornburgh personally leaked the story...
...And Dennis, who formerly served as the U.S...
...But leaks are wondrous, complicated things, and Gray's office could have initiated the leak nevertheless...
...Aides to Thornburgh say they couldn't have leaked even if they wanted to, maintaining that none of them knew about the Memorial Day interview...
...Justice officials anonymously point to the FBI, and the bureau just as anonymously points back...
...That would cost CBS some sources, of course, but it would be an interesting experiment to see whether the attorney general would really take action against the individuals involved, especially if they included his own staffers...
...attorney in Philadelphia (the story is thick with Pennsylvanians), routinely declines comment...
...attorney in Philadelphia (the story is thick with Pennsylvanians), routinely declines comment...
...Theory Na I: The Office of Attorney General...
...Assume that he knew of the no-show inquiry, which had been going on for several months...
...Bear in mind that Gray was the one interviewed on Memorial Day...
...As Newsday pointed out, "Gray has made life difficult for [new FBI Director William] Sessions and other senior members of the FBI by promoting the cause of black FBI agent Donald Rochon," who has charged the bureau with racial discrimination...
...On June 29, the Washington Post ran a front-page story saying approximately this: When Gray sold his family home in Philadelphia so that he could buy a house in Washington, he sold it to the Bright Hope Baptist Church, where he is pastor...
...The Post, he said, was indifferent to being scooped by the Times because it believes that "nobody" who is "anybody" reads the Times...
...This time, CBS got it right—I think...
...A politician of that skill probably deserved to become Democratic whip...
...The source-reporter relationship is at the heart of modern journalism...
...There wasn't any...
...In any case, he, like Thornburgh and his staff, probably knew about Lee's no-show investigation...
...Back in the spring, Dennis circulated an internal memo saying that "leaks will not be tolerated...
...A CBS "Special Report" might be the only way Justice will be able to find the source of the leak, since a leak is something that occurs in private between two consenting adults—no witnesses present, no tape recorders humming...
...I'm referring, of course, to the first installment of reports by the Washington Times on a homosexual prostitution ring involving members of the Reagan and Bush administrations...
...oor Bill Gray...
...But there are theories about who the leakers might be...
...Still, the question persisted: Who leaked, and why...
...Individual reputations are at stake, and they can be damaged quickly in this age of instant communication...
...3: The FBI...
...As it turned out, the leak did no fatal political damage, in part because Gray managed to force from the Justice Department a statement that the congressman was not a "target" of the investigation (which involved an alleged no-show employee on Gray's payroll) and that indeed he was cooperating fully...
...But leaks are wondrous, complicated things, and Gray's office could have initiated the leak nevertheless...
...Until July 11, the Post was treating the story as ho-hum news, occasionally printing something in the Metro pages...
...No one really believes that Attorney General Dick Thornburgh personally leaked the story...
...It was also on June 29 that another story made a front page in Washington...
...This time, CBS got it right—I think...
...There wasn't any...
...The investigation involved "personnel," she said, and Gray's "cooperation was not forthcoming...
...So: fearing that word of the interview would get out on unfavorable terms and hurt his bid to become Democratic whip, he authorized the leak so that he could react to it immediately and exert "spin control...
...Gray, the widow of the church's former pastor and the mother of its current one, to live there...
...Theory No...
...Ahlerich is on record as saying he acted properly in the Rochon case and denies that he or anyone else in the bureau leaked the Gray investigation to CBS...
...The memo was promptly leaked...
...The Times has an inflated sense of the story's importance (unless it knowsmore than it's reported so far...
...By the way, I've learned that the Times was given those credit card slips by a member of the ring...
...As I read the story, I kept looking for the scandal ostensibly indicated by its A-1 placement...
...Sorry, I can't produce the body...
...As I read the story, I kept looking for the scandal ostensibly indicated by its A-1 placement...
...In this case, the original sources are probably from the career ranks in the Criminal Division and the FBI...
...The other is that Thornburgh's office had more provincial interests: both the attorney general and Gray are Pennsylvania politicians, and hurting Gray helps the Pennsylvania GOP...
...there apparently is credit card and mail fraud...
...It's too clever...
...On paper, the FBI is under the Justice Department, and since becoming attorney general last summer, Thornburgh has been trying to exert more control over the agency, which has historically been reluctant to acknowledge Justice Department authority...
...For this story of first impression, Braver relied on unnamed "Justice Department sources...
...7-Theory No...
...That means Ed Dennis, the head of the Criminal Division, or one of his top deputies should have known about the Gray interview...
...The story seemed to interest no one at the Post...
...The next evening Rita Braver of CBS reported the existence of a "criminal investigation into financial dealings involving" Gray...
...The agents who interviewed Gray were working on a case being developed by Thomas Lee, the U.S...
...In any leak of this kind, there are usually "original" sources—those who are the first to talk—and "confirming" sources, who say it's so, perhaps adding new information...
...it's unlikely that they would have leaked to a national correspondent...
...My own view is that when Gray held his press conference, he was scrambling and had no idea how things would turn out...
...The real scandal is that the Post thought this was a story—one worth fifty column inches...
...Theory Na 4: Gray himself...
...That would cost CBS some sources, of course, but it would be an interesting experiment to see whether the attorney general would really take action against the individuals involved, especially if they included his own staffers...
...It requires that Gray believed he actually could "manage" the leak...
...The agents who interviewed Gray were working on a case being developed by Thomas Lee, the U.S...
...The problem with this statement is that it is always hard for a spokesman to speak for everyone...
...By the way, I've learned that the Times was given those credit card slips by a member of the ring...
...there apparently is credit card and mail fraud...
...So let me step to the plate on this one...
...THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR SEPTEMBER 1989 27 PRESSWATCH GRAY MATTER by Terry Eastland n Memorial Day two FBI agents interviewed Democratic Rep...
...Indeed, as soon as CBS reported the story, Gray convened a press conference in which he denounced the network, said that the agents had told him he was not a target of investigation, blasted the leakers, and called on Thornburgh to investigate the leak...
...In mid-June, Gray was elected majority whip...
...He got Thornburgh to issue the statement, rare as these things go, that he was not a "target" and that he was cooperating fully...
...Reporters typically go to persons authorized to speak in order to confirm stories, and members of his staff are duly sanctioned...
...The memo was promptly leaked...
...The investigation involved "personnel," she said, and Gray's "cooperation was not forthcoming...
...Why...
...In any leak of this kind, there are usually "original" sources—those who are the first to talk—and "confirming" sources, who say it's so, perhaps adding new information...
...Justice officials anonymously point to the FBI, and the bureau just as anonymously points back...
...There may be national security implications...
...Someone else might have leaked to CBS, but one of Thorn-burgh's staffers might have confirmedthe story, in order to hurt Gray or maybe just to let the reporter know that he is "in the know...
...They think he's stiff with reporters and would have a hard time striking the kind of confidential pose needed in order to leak...
...It's too clever...
...Besides, as Newsday reports, heused to be friendly enough with Gray to be his occasional tennis partner...
...If the Criminal Division leaked, the source was down below...
...And Dennis, who formerly served as the U.S...
...Indeed, as soon as CBS reported the story, Gray convened a press conference in which he denounced the network, said that the agents had told him he was not a target of investigation, blasted the leakers, and called on Thornburgh to investigate the leak...
...But accept as true what he has said: that he had no advance warning of the interview, that it came as a surprise...
...On June 29, the Washington Post ran a front-page story saying approximately this: When Gray sold his family home in Philadelphia so that he could buy a house in Washington, he sold it to the Bright Hope Baptist Church, where he is pastor...
...The confirming sources probably were in Thornburgh's office...
...A CBS "Special Report" might be the only way Justice will be able to find the source of the leak, since a leak is something that occurs in private between two consenting adults—no witnesses present, no tape recorders humming...
...According to this theory, a leak is just the thing to publicly put Thornburgh on the defensive and thereby weaken his ability to dictate to the bureau...
...2: The Criminal Division of the Justice Department...
...He's not a political schemer, nor a Washington insider...
...as I write, it has yet to elaborate on the national security angle...
...But at least the Times has been reporting the story, working from duplicate credit card receipts and conducting numerous interviews...
...S o who leaked...
...The basic fact that the investigation was being made probably came from the Criminal Division...
...Braver did not exactly say that Gray himself was under investigation, but no one watching the newscast could doubt that he was...
...This is not so unlikely...
...As it turned out, the leak did no fatal political damage, in part because Gray managed to force from the Justice Department a statement that the congressman was not a "target" of the investigation (which involved an alleged no-show employee on Gray's payroll) and that indeed he was cooperating fully...
...Moreover, Robert Ahlerich, the head of FBI's public affairs shop, used to supervise Rochon when both men were stationed in Chicago...
...Memory does not bring to mind a single instance of a successful Justice investigation of a leak of this kind...
...Back in the spring, Dennis circulated an internal memo saying that "leaks will not be tolerated...
...This is not so unlikely...
...In mid-June, Gray was elected majority whip...
...No one has speculated that Gray did the deed...
...Perhaps there was more interest, and less arrogance and complacency, than I thought...
...attorney in Philadelphia...
...He got Thornburgh to issue the statement, rare as these things go, that he was not a "target" and that he was cooperating fully...
...More than one reporter covering the Justice Department believes Thorn-burgh's minions did the deed...
...S o who leaked...
...The Times has an inflated sense of the story's importance (unless it knowsmore than it's reported so far...
...A waggish reporter suggested to me that just this once CBS should not protect the relationship and report who said what...
...Got it...
...In other words, Gray leaked in order to pre-empt a leak he might not be able to control...
...More than one reporter covering the Justice Department believes Thorn-burgh's minions did the deed...
...My guess is that there are leakers in both places...
...This does not mean, however, that they weren't aware of the no-show investigation...
...My guess is that there are leakers in both places...
...Theory Na I: The Office of Attorney General...
...The story seemed to interest no one at the Post...
...By the way, for the record, I did ask Rita Braver who leaked...
...A possible scenario: it tips off CBS, which then calls law enforcement sources, who then confirm...
...On July 9, Ombudsman Richard Harwood, whose column has become required reading in the Sunday Post, explained the lack of coverage by saying that the newspaper was "infected with complacency and arrogance...
...Newsday, in the most informative journalism done on the leak, tried but was unable to answer the question...
...Protecting it ranks near the top of the Ten Commandments by which the media abide...
...Bear in mind that Gray was the one interviewed on Memorial Day...
...FBI interviews of congressmen are normally coordinated with Justice's Criminal Division...
...This was astonishing, given the Post's usual preoccupation with malfeasance in the executive branch...
...And as I write, the Justice Department, which has been investigating the leak, hasn't found the source either...
...In other words, there had been a leak, and it had occurred when House Democrats were on the defensive over ethics, and when Gray himself was the odds-on favorite to succeed Tony Coelho as Democratic whip...
...Gray helped make the Rochon case a national story, and the FBI has a strong aversion to bad publicity...
...But accept as true what he has said: that he had no advance warning of the interview, that it came as a surprise...
...But at least the Times has been reporting the story, working from duplicate credit card receipts and conducting numerous interviews...
...Two explanations have been offered, both political...
...Mark it down: reporters may live to ferret out wrongdoing, but they aren't going to trace leaks...
...The second explanation is more believable than the first, but both suffer from a lack of hard evidence...
...Sorry, I can't produce the body...
...For this story of first impression, Braver relied on unnamed "Justice Department sources...
...But it's doubtful that Dennis leaked...
...Rochon said his boss failed to report racial threats against him...
...Two weeks later, when Thornburgh issued his clarifying statement, Dan Rather reported it and then added that "government sources" have said there is a "preliminary investigation into questions of a possible no-show employee on Gray's staff...
...Rochon said his boss failed to report racial threats against him...
...The church agreed to buy the house as a parsonage, taking out a $100,000 mortgage, and the congregation invited Mrs...
...If the division knew, however, it apparently failed to pass word to the attorney general's office...
...But others around him, longtime Thornburgh loyalists, are not so ill-equipped, and they do control the Terry Eastland is the author of Ethics, Politics, and the Independent Counsel, published by the National Legal Center for the Public Interest...
...I accepted Harwood's explanation until the morning of July 11, when the Post published its first front-page piece on the story...
...So let me step to the plate on this one...
...Still, the question persisted: Who leaked, and why...
...Memory does not bring to mind a single instance of a successful Justice investigation of a leak of this kind...
...Did Dennis know...
...That does happen...
...This is one form of malfeasance that is off-limits...
...It was also on June 29 that another story made a front page in Washington...
...One problem with this theory is that CBS said it relied on "Justice Department," not congressional, sources...
...In other words, Gray leaked in order to pre-empt a leak he might not be able to control...
...The bit about Gray's not cooperating probably came from the FBI, since Braver mentioned this in connection with the Memorial Day interview conducted by the bureau...
...But there are theories about who the leakers might be...
...oor Bill Gray...
...Ahlerich is on record as saying he acted properly in the Rochon case and denies that he or anyone else in the bureau leaked the Gray investigation to CBS...
...Two weeks later, when Thornburgh issued his clarifying statement, Dan Rather reported it and then added that "government sources" have said there is a "preliminary investigation into questions of a possible no-show employee on Gray's staff...
...I'm referring, of course, to the first installment of reports by the Washington Times on a homosexual prostitution ring involving members of the Reagan and Bush administrations...
...In any case, he, like Thornburgh and his staff, probably knew about Lee's no-show investigation...
...This is one form of malfeasance that is off-limits...
...Someone else might have leaked to CBS, but one of Thorn-burgh's staffers might have confirmedthe story, in order to hurt Gray or maybe just to let the reporter know that he is "in the know...
...The next evening Rita Braver of CBS reported the existence of a "criminal investigat...
...One is that Thornburgh's office realized that if the talented Gray were Democratic whip, House Republicans would have a more difficult time challenging the Democratic majority...
...Braver did not exactly say that Gray himself was under investigation, but no one watching the newscast could doubt that he was...
...Reporters often develop sources in the bureaucracy for the simple reason that administrations come and go, but the bureaucracy doesn't...
...I accepted Harwood's explanation until the morning of July 11, when the Post published its first front-page piece on the story...
...According to this theory, a leak is just the thing to publicly put Thornburgh on the defensive and thereby weaken his ability to dictate to the bureau...
...It may turn out that whoever is under investigation is innocent of any wrongdoing—or, as occurred in Gray's case, that whoever appears to be under investigation is really not...
...Politicians believe many things, but only a foolish one would believe in such a possibility, and Gray is not foolish...
...I didn't...
...Got it...
...No one has speculated that Gray did the deed...
...As it happened, Gray did manage to pull off quite a comeback...
...There may be national security implications...
...The source-reporter relationship is at the heart of modern journalism...
...The basic fact that the investigation was being made probably came from the Criminal Division...
...FBI interviews of congressmen are normally coordinated with Justice's Criminal Division...
...This theory instead points to top officials at FBI headquarters, who approved the interview...
...One or more of the leakers are persons known to Braver, cultivated by her over theyears...
...Certainly this "local" story deserves the Post's attention...
...By the way, for the record, I did ask Rita Braver who leaked...
...attorney in Philadelphia...
...The problem with this statement is that it is always hard for a spokesman to speak for everyone...
...That's possible, but a second reason, involving Gray, is more plausible...
...The next evening Rita Braver of CBS reported the existence of a "criminal investigation into financial dealings involving" Gray...
...7-Theory No...
...The CBS story on Bill Gray raises the question of whether the media should rely on unnamed sources when reporting criminal investigations...
...Fortunately, no one else did...
...The church agreed to buy the house as a parsonage, taking out a $100,000 mortgage, and the congregation invited Mrs...
...Why would they leak...
...Mark it down: reporters may live to ferret out wrongdoing, but they aren't going to trace leaks...
...If the Criminal Division leaked, the source was down below...
...it's unlikely that they would have leaked to a national correspondent...
Vol. 22 • September 1989 • No. 9
