now we must view everything burkett says with suspicion, but he is claiming during his phone with him lockhart tried to convince him to turn over the documents.
Hum not good for Kerry one more story to steel his thunder.
Article
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/9748929.htm
Posted on Fri, Sep. 24, 2004
CBS source denies plotting with Kerry
By Jack Douglas Jr.
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
The source of a discredited CBS News report said Thursday that he did not coordinate the release of disputed documents with John Kerry's campaign.
Bill Burkett, a former Texas National Guardsman, also said that he warned the network that the documents critical of President Bush's service in the National Guard would be vigorously challenged and should be independently validated.
"It caught CBS very flat-footed. They were not prepared. And I had warned them ... that this would probably be one of the most highly coordinated vicious attacks that they would ever have to face," Burkett said in an interview with the Star-Telegram.
The interview was one of the first Burkett has granted since CBS identified him as a source of the documents this week.
Burkett said that he and CBS News anchor Dan Rather spoke "forcefully" after questions arose about the documents, which are now suspected of being fakes.
The documents appear to be memos from the early 1970s that criticize Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard and say that another commander wanted to "sugar coat" Bush's poor performance.
The documents were the basis of a 60 Minutes report on Sept. 8 about Bush's Guard service. Almost immediately after the program aired, document experts said they appeared to be forged.
Kelli Edwards, a CBS News spokeswoman, declined to comment Thursday, instead directing attention to the network's statement on Monday that it made a "mistake in judgment."
CBS has said that outside experts will investigate the discredited report.
While maintaining his belief that the documents are authentic Guard memos, Burkett said he insisted that CBS validate them independently before going on the air.
"I really, sincerely, 100 percent believed that the CBS 60 Minutes people could absolutely authenticate this, verify it and do it right," he said. "And if it was, in fact, substantiated, that it should be added to the public record because there are so many holes within George Bush's [Guard] file."
Burkett said he agreed to a taped interview with Rather on Monday as suspicion about the documents mounted. Key portions of the interview were never aired, he said.
"He snipped it apart to cover them," he said. "That's all that that evening news was -- to find a fall guy. And it was me.
"By his action and inaction, Dan Rather ruined my reputation in front of 70 million people."
Burkett, a West Texas rancher and known critic of Bush, denied that his work with CBS was done at the behest of Democrat John Kerry's presidential campaign.
He said, however, that during the meeting in which he gave the documents to CBS, he was also told by a producer that his phone number would be passed on to Kerry adviser Joe Lockhart.
"I was absolutely and clearly told that that was as far as anyone could go without crossing the line of [journalistic] ethics," Burkett said.
During a single phone conversation with Lockhart, Burkett said he suggested a "couple of concepts on what I thought [Kerry] had to do" to beat Bush. In return, he said, Lockhart tried to "convince me as to why I should give them the documents."
According to the Associated Press, Lockhart said he listened to some campaign advice from Burkett for a few minutes and does not recall talking about Bush's National Guard records.
Burkett said he initially misled CBS on how he obtained the documents because he wanted to protect his source, who identified herself as Lucy Ramirez. If that is her true name, he said, she could be in "grave danger."
He said the woman called him in February, not long after he had appeared on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews.
"She said she had some things ... that I could probably do a lot more with than she could," Burkett said.
He said he told the woman that someone could drop off the documents while he was attending the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo on March 3. He said he was at a cattle-sale booth on that day when a man appeared, referred to him as "Colonel," then handed him an envelope containing the documents.
Burkett said he turned to put the envelope down and "when I turned back around, he was lost in a relatively small crowd."
"It was later, hours later, that I finally looked at the documents. The document that stuck out to me ... was the one with the word sugar coat. And I thought, 'Oh my God.' "
Burkett said he has had four seizures since being identified as CBS' source and being dogged by the media. He said he and his wife have also received hate mail and death threats, and he believes that his phones have been tapped.
"Everything having to do with me has been basically tapped," he said.
He and his wife continue to run a ranch near Baird in West Texas.
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