White House: Kerry Campaign Behind Forged Rathergate Docs
Friday, Sept. 17, 2004 9:59 a.m. EDT
Reacting for the first time since the Rathergate forged document scandal erupted last week, the White House denounced CBS News yesterday for launching "an orchestrated attack" on President Bush - and said the Kerry campaign was part of it.
Asked specifically whether team Kerry and the Democratic Party were involved in the forged document scandal, White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters, "It's clear that this is an orchestrated effort by Democrats and the Kerry campaign. And that's what I'm talking about when I talk about these latest attacks."
Asked directly whether the forged documents came from Democrats or the Kerry campaign, McClellan stated flatly "I believe that the Democrats and the Kerry campaign are behind these old, recycled attacks on the President's service, absolutely."
As evidence of Democratic Party involvement, McClellan cited a new ad sponsored by the Democratic National Committee, which featured clips from Rather's forged document report, along with visuals of what appears to be copies of the forgeries themselves.
Asked whether CBS should be banned from future White House press briefings because it used forged documents to "malign the president," McClellan declined to respond.
Later aboard Air Force One, McClellan chastised CBS for airing a report based on forgeries, saying, "I thinks it's always best for journalists to stick to reporting the facts." |
