In the Plame affair, Scooter Libby, convicted chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney, told special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald that Russert told him of the identity of Central Intelligence Agency officer Valerie Plame ( Mrs. Joseph C. Wilson ).

At the trial, the prosecution asserted that a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent had called Russert regarding Russert's phone call with Libby, and that Russert had told the agent that the subject of Plame had not come up during his conversation with Libby.

Libby does not dispute that he initially heard about Mrs. Wilson from Cheney, but he claims that he had no recollection of that fact when he told the FBI in October 2003 and the grand jury in March 2004 that he remembered first learning about Mrs. Wilson in a conversation with NBC ’ s Tim Russert on July 10, 2003.

Libby told the grand jury " it seemed to me as if I was learning it for the first time " when, according to his account, Russert told him about Plame on July 10 or 11, 2003.

Libby also testified to the federal grand jury that when Russert purportedly told him about Plame, he had absolutely no memory of having heard the information earlier from anyone else, including Cheney, and was thus " taken aback " when Russert told him.

Libby told the FBI that Russert told him on July 10 or 11, 2003, that she worked at the CIA and " all the reporters knew that.

" In his opening argument, Fitzgerald, referring to Libby's conversation with Russert on July 10, said: " You can't be startled about something on Thursday 10 that you told other people about on Monday 7 and Tuesday 8.

Libby told investigators he believed at the time that the information about Plame had come from Russert.

At Libby's trial, Russert was questioned by prosecutors for only 12 minutes, but underwent more than five hours of pointed cross-examination over two days from defense attorney Theodore Wells Jr. Russert told prosecutors that he could not have told Libby about Plame because he had not heard of her until she was publicly revealed by Novak on July 14, 2003, four days after Russert spoke with Libby by phone.

Russert testified, however, that he does not believe that he said what Eckenrode reports ; while he acknowledged on cross examination that he was not asked about any conversations he may have had with David Gregory or Andrea Mitchell regarding Plame during his deposition with Fitzgerald, he also told the jury that " they never came forward " to share with him anything they were learning about Joe Wilson or Valerie Plame from administration officials, and he testified that after Novak's column was published, the NBC Washington bureau ( which he heads ) debated whether pursuing Plame's role in the story would compromise her job at the CIA and ultimately decided to pursue the story.

A juror told the press that the members of the jury found Russert to be very credible in his testimony.

" The primary thing that convinced us on most of the counts was the conversation, alleged conversation with Russert ," the juror told the press.

On September 25, 2005, Aaron Broussard reappeared on Meet the Press, and host Tim Russert challenged Broussard's account of the tragedy on the basis that his anecdote about the woman in the nursing home contained factual discrepancies noted in the MSNBC story .< ref >

The Journal still heavily employs the use of caricatures, notably those of Ken Fallin, such as when Peggy Noonan memorialized recently-deceased newsman Tim Russert.

According to the Washington Post, Russert testified that " when any senior government official calls him, they are presumptively off the record ," saying: " when I talk to senior government officials on the phone, it's my own policy our conversations are confidential.

Russert grew up as a New York Yankees fan, switching his allegiance to the Nationals when they were established in Washington, D. C. Russert held season tickets to both the Washington Nationals and the Washington Wizards and was elected to the board of directors of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York in 2003.

In the course of that document production I came across the note that is dated on or about June 12, and the note ... shows that I hadn't first learned it from Russert, although that was my memory, I had first learned it when he said it to me.

" Libby was also alleged by prosecutors to have lied to the FBI and a federal grand jury in claiming that when he mentioned Plame's name to two reporters — Matthew Cooper, then of Time magazine, and Judith Miller, then of The New York Times — he was careful to point out to them he was simply repeating rumors that he had heard from Russert.

Tim Russert was the Washington bureau chief of NBC News and moderator of Meet the Press when he died on June 13, 2008.

Tim Russert, during a 1997 Meet the Press interview with Nation of Islam leader, Minister Louis Farrakhan posed the question, " Do you believe there was a Holocaust in which 6 million Jews perished?

George Stephanopoulos later claimed in a 2000 interview with journalist Tim Russert that " Oh, it was absolutely his voice, but they were selectively edited in a way to-to create some-some impression.

Timothy John " Tim " Russert ( May 7, 1950 – June 13, 2008 ) was an American television journalist and lawyer who appeared for more than 16 years as the longest-serving moderator of NBC's Meet the Press.

Russert was posthumously revealed as a 30-year source for syndicated columnist Robert Novak.

Russert was born in Buffalo, New York to Irish American Catholic parents Elizabeth ( Betty ), a homemaker, and Timothy Joseph " Big Russ " Russert ( November 29, 1923 – September 24, 2009 ), a sanitation worker.

One concert that Russert booked was headlined by a then-unknown singer, Bruce Springsteen, who charged $ 2, 500 for the concert appearance.

Its name was changed to Meet the Press with Tim Russert, and, at his suggestion, went to an hour-long format in 1992.

The show also shifted to a greater focus on in-depth interviews with high profile guests, where Russert was known especially for his extensive preparatory research.

With Russert as host the show became increasingly popular, receiving more than four million viewers per week, and it was recognized as one of the most important sources of political news.

Russert did say, however, that Plame's identity as a CIA operative was not leaked to him.

Russert was posthumously revealed as a thirty-year source of columnist Robert Novak, whose original article revealed Plame's affiliation with the CIA.

" In a posthumous commentary, the L. A. Times wrote that, " Like former New York Times reporter Judith Miller, Russert was one of the high-level Washington journalists who came out of the Libby trial looking worse than shabby.

At the February debate, Russert was criticized for what some perceived as disproportionately tough questioning of Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton.

On July 23, 2008, U. S. Route 20 leading to the Bills ' Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park, New York was renamed the " Timothy J. Russert Highway ".< ref >

On March 28, 2004, at the height of efforts to undermine his critique of the Bush administration during the 9 / 11 Commission Hearings, Clarke went on NBC's Sunday morning news show, Meet the Press and was interviewed by journalist Tim Russert.

For several years, on the Sunday before Labor Day, Russell has made an annual appearance on the NBC news program Meet the Press, which was hosted from 1991 – 2008 by Tim Russert, also a Canisius High graduate.

The debate was broadcast live on MSNBC, and was moderated by Brian Williams with Tim Russert.

" The infamous incident was later recounted by Fisk on both ESPN Classic and a CNBC interview with Tim Russert on his show.

In an interview with Tim Russert on " Meet the Press ," Kerry corrected his 1979 statement about being " five miles across the border " on Christmas Eve, but reiterated that he was on a patrol at the border at that date and had been sent on a covert mission at a later date.

On June 18, 2008, Hunt was one of 10 people chosen to remember journalist Tim Russert, who had died days before, at his memorial service at Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

A frequent guest on television and radio, he has appeared on such programs as Meet the Press, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, The O ' Reilly Factor, Tim Russert, Special Report with Brit Hume, Laura Ingraham, and Hardball with Chris Matthews, and has contributed occasional commentaries to National Public Radio.

In an April 13, 1997, interview on NBC's Meet the Press, Tim Russert asked Louis Farrakhan to explain the Nation of Islam's view on separation:

Pressed by Russert on whether he agreed with Elijah Muhammad's preaching that whites are " blue-eyed devils ", Farrakhan responded:

Tim Russert, in an interview on Meet the Press shortly after O ' Reilly's comments, addressed these concerns to Bono.

Tim Russert, a Newseum trustee, said, " The Newseum made a pretty good impression in Arlington, but at your new location on Pennsylvania Avenue, you will make an indelible mark.

Bobblehead figures of Bill Clinton, Tim Russert, and John F. Kennedy can be seen on the set.

Obey holds a critical view of the mainstream American news media, as evidenced by his words on June 13, 2008, upon the sudden death of NBC News Washington Bureau Chief Tim Russert.

Russert covered several presidential elections, and he presented the NBC News / Wall Street Journal survey on the NBC Nightly News during the 2008 U. S. presidential election.

Russert commented on Meet the Press that he went to Woodstock, " in a Buffalo Bills jersey with a case of beer.

During NBC's coverage of the 2000 presidential election, Russert calculated possible Electoral College outcomes using a whiteboard ( now in the Smithsonian Institution ) on the air and memorably summed up the outcome as dependent upon " Florida, Florida, Florida.

Russert testified again in the trial on February 7, 2007.