Lawyer: Burkett to Sue CBS
The former Texas National Guard commander who supplied CBS with forged records on President Bush's National Guard service now plans to sue the network, his former lawyer said Tuesday.
Burkett's one-time attorney, David Van Os, told the New York Sun that his former client had "several meetings with lawyers to determine the best course of action." He said the planned lawsuit would center on what he termed "defamation of character and libel."
Van Os declined to name the attorneys who Burkett consulted, but a Tuesday New York Times report cited attorney Gabe Quintanilla as his lawyer, saying that his client got the suspect documents from an unnamed source at a Houston livestock show.
Though Van Os maintained the source was "a Texas man with Air National Guard experience," USA Today named a woman, Lucy Ramirez, as the person who gave the documents to Burkett.
Efforts by CBS and other news organizations to track down Ramirez have so far been unsuccessful.
It was Mr. Burkett, not CBS, who was misled, Van Os told the Sun, explaining that ""60 Minutes" producer Mary Mapes promised to protect his then-client with complete anonymity and would "expend both time and money authenticating" the memos.
"Bill leveled with [CBS] about his doubts over the papers, and they promised him they would take their time," Van Os insisted. But "they spent all of three days, maybe less, on authentication," he complained.
Based on the network's assurances of confidentiality, Burkett chose CBS over ABC News, the New York Times and the Washington Post, Van Os said.
However, he told the Sun, Burkett now thinks a CBS is "an organization with a total lack of moral or journalistic integrity."
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