Gannon on Today: ‘I asked to come. They allowed me to come’

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http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7022981/

‘I asked to come. They allowed me to come’

Access to the White House press room was easy, former reporter Jeff Gannon tells NBC’s Campbell Brown in an exclusive interviewToday show

Updated: 9:09 a.m. ET Feb. 24, 2005

He has become infamous in Washington. A conservative White House reporter with a past he wanted to keep secret. NBC’s Campbell Brown talked with Jeff Gannon about his time in the White House and how he was so easily able to gain access to one of the country's most secure places.

He says he has been exposed by left-wing Internet bloggers who are trying to destroy his career. But at White House press briefings, Jeff Gannon was a regular:

Jeff Gannon: Since so many questions about what the president was doing over 30 years ago, what is it that he did after his honorable discharge from the National Guard? Did he make speeches alongside Jane Fonda denouncing America's racist war in Vietnam?

And at another press conference:

White House press secretary Scott McClellan: Go ahead, Jeff.

Gannon: I would like a comment on the angry mob that surrounded Karl Rove's house on Sunday. The president said Thursday in his press conference that he was reaching out to the press corps. What did he mean by that? And why would he feel the need to reach out to a group of supposedly nonpartisan people?

His troubles started when he was called on by the president at a Jan. 26 news conference and took a swipe at Democrats with his question:

"...How are you going to work with people who seem to have divorced themselves from reality," he asked the president.

Campbell Brown: Were you in that press conference as a plant by the White House?

Gannon: Absolutely not. I mean, look at it, Campbell. If the White House was going to use a plant, wouldn't they pick a better one than me?

Meaning someone without Gannon's past. Because when the liberal bloggers went digging to find out just who this guy was, they turned up some eyebrow-raising material.

Brown: You have said that you registered a number of pornographic Web sites. Is that accurate?

Gannon: Well, I registered a number of domain names, that some have suggested are…

Brown: Pornographic Web sites.

Gannon: Well, yes.

Brown: Did you advertise yourself as a gay, male escort for hire on a Web site?

Gannon: I cannot go into those specifics. I can tell you that there is a lot of misinformation out there. There's a lot of fabrication out there, and a lot of misinformation.

Brown: Why can't you then clear it up right now? The cameras are rolling.

Gannon: As I've said, I've been advised not to get into the specifics out there. Is there some truth out there? Yes. Is there a lot of falsehood out there? Absolutely.

But Jeff Gannon isn't really Jeff Gannon. He uses the pseudonym because his real name is difficult to pronounce, he says.

Gannon: My name is James Guckert.

Brown: James Guckert?

Gannon: Yes.

Brown: It's not so hard to pronounce.

Gannon: Well, when you read it, it's always pronounced some other way.

Brown: So, who was the White House clearing into those briefings every day? Was it James Guckert? Or was it…

Gannon: Yes.

Brown: Jeff Gannon?

Gannon: I go to the gate. I show my driver's license, which I showed you. It has my given name. And that's how I gained entry.

A quick check for a criminal record is all that's required. Gannon avoided the extensive FBI background check most reporters go through for permanent access.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan has said he did know Gannon wasn't using his real name, but that, "he, like anyone else, showed that he was representing a news organization that published regularly.”

But was Gannon working for a real news organization?

His employer was an Internet site called GOP-USA, funded and staffed by Republican activists to promote a Republican agenda. He then worked for an off shoot site of GOP-USA called Talon News.

"In this day and age, when you have a changing media, it's not an easy issue to decide or try to pick and choose who is a journalist," said McClellan.

Brown: You don't deny you were writing news with a perspective, with a partisan perspective?

Gannon: Absolutely.

Some might say, how does a guy who works for an obscure, Internet publication, with a background that is linked to Internet porn in some fashion, get into the daily briefings and get to ask the president a question at a news conference?

Gannon: I asked to come. They allowed me to come. And apparently there isn't a very high threshold as far as somebody's personal life to gain access.

Democrats are jumping on this, accusing the White House of being lax about security and of manipulating the media. Several Democrats have signed a letter to the White House demanding further investigation.

© 2005 MSNBC Interactive

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That's bull shit, he left so many foot prints that it took us just a couple of days/hours to unmask him!

Where's the FCC when you need them?

would it do any good to complain to the FCC? I'm sure there are enough of us out there (look at what happened with Sinclair).

Where are the idiots saying "This Gannon story is dead and going nowhere?"

he hasn't shut up. Not that I mind of course... :-)

"Because my real name is so difficult to pronounce. It usually comes out as somthing else."

It's not like your name is Shalikashvili you ass ! :shrug:

what a freaking joke..these answers he is giving are pure rove..to the stupid asses that still believe this crap!!

and the questions are pure rove talking point questions..there is no shame in the msm..

if we so called bloggers could get this info so easily where was the msm that sat next to the prostitute for over 2 yrs ..and ohhh pleaseeeee on the fbi and secret service allowing this guy into the white house..they were told to stand down on this!

the s.s. was brushed aside by someone close to the potus!!

thats it in a nut shell..period!

fly

"...then they spanked me and I came again."

The voice over indicated in the transcript doesn't seem to whitewash Gannon's access, or particularly buy his excuses. Read it in the link for context.

still hasn't touched this story at all. LOL. I don't watch "Hardball" enough to know but I know he talked about it like two-three minute's.

that the "Terror scare" is a lie. If there really were all of the frightening concerns about terrorists and other such bogymen then the WH would not be so lax in security. Or, conversely, Gannon is lying and it was only he ,with some kind of "inside" connection, who got past WH security. It is either the one or the other. Is the terrorist threat a lie, or is Gannon fucking someone(s) in the WH?

That's what the "liberal bloggers" uncovered. Nobody gives a sh*t about your personal life. But your male prostitute rates were $200 an hour. That's probably a lot more than you made as a fake reporter.

he was a volunteer for Talon news?

Sorry, I just couldn't resist.

But the major media outlets are treating the Gannon/Guckert/Goodbar story like it was plutonium. And it's not hard to see why, because this is the kind of story that's in a class with the police station being burgled or the firehouse burning down: Total fraud joins press gaggle of the supposedly toughest-minded journalists on the planet, gets away with his pose for almost two years, and is brought down in less than 100 hours when a bunch of amateurs start sifting through the public record.

Not a shining moment for the "bulldog" media. They'd greatly prefer it just go away.

and did they swallow or spit?

They should have pointed out more clearly that its more than domains they are active websites. They should have pointed clearly that he advertised himself out for "dates". They should have made it more clear that GOPusa was not a news outlet. They never mentioned that he couldnt get a congressional pass.

Surrounding Karl Rove's house on Sunday? And I missed it?

hmmm....from whom?

my husband is a sort of tv sports guy..i dont want to divulge..

but when clinton was in office my husband went with a sports group to the white house to meet with clinton...

they were all cleared ahead of time by fbi and secret service..they were put on 2 special buses..with a police escort..once they got on bus they could not get off..secret service checked them when they got on the busses and no one was allowed off the busses once they got on..

they got a huges police motorcade to the white house

when they got there they again had to clear security with the secret service.each and every one of them had to talk to s.s.

one reporter with a big newspaper organization who was with them was stopped...he was stopped and not allowed in with the rest of the group...and why was he stopped??

because during vietnam he was a protestor and was on a protestor list!!!!!!!!!

and he wasn't even an american journalist and on the list, he was canadian and he protested while in college in montreal !!
he was a non violent protestor against the vietnam war..

he was put through a huge run around and every kind of background check and has been a reporter for over 30 years.. but finally just as the evening was ending he got access.. finally to the white house and the event..

this was all pre-9/11 security


so no one will tell me the s.s. and fbi didnt know and get brushed off by someone high up in this white house to let a prostitute with no news organization..no journalism degree, no affiliates to any credible news organization..with a $20,000.00 back tax and penality's judgement against him..and web sites galore for male prostitution into this white house........
the most secret white house in my lifetime and post 9/11 with an alias name..bullshit!

come on..only fools would believe this b.s.!!

jeff /jim is doing damage control and being controls by the master of control..rove!
or he is trying to stay alive!

fly

So this does not count as MSM coverage - this was a set-up. Look at the dialogue about which name was used. You coulnd't even bet a quarter on whether he is saying yes to Guckert or Gannon.

What a load of propaganda. CNN sinks below FOX.

The sites were still up!!!

We don't need to know what you do with Snotty Scotty and KKKarl behind the scenes. Just tell us why you were allowed into the Holy Grail of reporting--the WH Press Circle--with a fake name and no credentials!