Did Bob Woodward Record Key Plame Case Conversation?

By E&P Staff

Published: March 02, 2006 9:05 PM ET

NEW YORK A filing Thursday at U.S. District Court in the Plame/ CIA leak case suggests that Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward may have tape recorded his fateful conversaton with the so-called "second source"--besides Lewis "Scooter" Libby-- that is now a key part of the case.

Woodward suddenly revealed late last year that he had talked with Libby as well as another unnamed government official about CIA operative Valerie Plame, the wife of former Ambassador Joe Wilson. Earlier, columnist Robert Novak had also said he had an unnamed second source.

One paragraph in Thursday’s filing, NBC reported, indicates that the unnamed official spoke both with Woodward and Novak, and "Libby has been given a redacted transcript of the conversation between Woodward and [redacted] and Novak has published an account briefly describing the conversation with his first confidential source [redacted]."

Does "transcript of the conversation" mean that there is an audio recording of the conversation between Woodward, Novak and the unnamed source? Or merely a detailed set of notes?

"Last Friday, Judge Reggie Walton decided to continue to protect the anonymity of one administration official, whom Libby's attorneys described as a confidential source about Plame for two reporters, one of them apparently Woodward," NBC said.

Libby's lawyers said in court that the "official" is someone "outside the White House." Novak said last year that President Bush knew the identity of his confidential source, and also suggested that the official also was Woodward's source as well.

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