This is an exchange between Andrea Mitchell and Don Imus. If a drunkard
has-been like Imus can fluster Mitchell this badly, it will be comical
watching Libby's attorney turn people like her into mincemeat on the witness
stand.



IMUS: Apparently on October 3, 2003, you said it was "widely known" that Joe
Wilson's wife worked at the CIA.

MITCHELL: Well, that was out of context.

IMUS: Oh, it was?

MITCHELL: It was out of context.

IMUS: Isn't that always the case?

MITCHELL: Don't you hate it when that happens? The fact is that I did not
know - did not know before - did not know before the Novak column. And it
was very clear because I had interviewed Joe Wilson several times, including
on "Meet the Press."

And in none of those interviews did any of this come up, on or off camera -
I have to tell you. The fact is what I was trying to express was that it was
widely known that there was an envoy that I was tasking my producers and my
researchers and myself to find out who was this secret envoy.

I did not know. We only knew because of an article in the Washington Post by
Walter Pincus, and it was followed by Nicholas Kristof, that someone had
known in that period.

IMUS: So you didn't say it was "widely known" that his wife worked at the
CIA?

MITCHELL: I - I - I said it was widely known that an envoy had gone - let me
try to find the quote. But the fact is what I was trying to say in the rest
of that sentence - I said we did not know who the envoy was until the Novak
column.

IMUS: Did you mention that Wilson or his wife worked at the CIA?

MITCHELL: Yes.

IMUS: Did you mention . . .

MITCHELL: It was in a long interview on CNBC.

IMUS: No, I understand that. But at any point, in any context, did you say
that it was either widely known, not known, or whether it was speculated
that his wife worked at the CIA.

MITCHELL: I said that it was widely known that - here's the exact quote - I
said that it was widely known that Wilson was an envoy and that his wife
worked at the CIA. But I was talking about . . .

IMUS: OK, so you did say that. It took me a minute to get that out of you.