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House members call on McClellan for more answers on Gannon

This letter was written by Rep. Slaughter and Rep. Conyers, after a review of documentation regarding Jeff Gannon’s access to the White House.

Will they ever get their answers?

Only if they pretend to be Christian fundamentalists, bent on conquering the US.

Those are the only people this administration answers to.

April 25, 2005

Scott McClellan
Assistant to the President and Press Secretary
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. McClellan,

We write to ask you to identify who in your office, or in the White
House generally, gave Mr. James Guckert a.k.a. “Jeff Gannon” virtually
unfettered access to the White House.

In reviewing the response to our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to
the Department of Homeland Security several of our specific concerns
were validated.

While your office and the White House have claimed Gannon was treated
as just another reporter, the records we have obtained affirm that
Gannon was granted access to the White House which appears to be
unusual for any reporter.

Out of concern for not only security, but also avoiding White House
dissemination of propaganda, we request an explanation to the
following:

1.

The Department of Homeland Security’s records indicate that Mr.
“Gannon” entered the White House Complex 196 times in the past two
years.

He attended 155 of the 196 press conferences held at the White House
in the two year period.

This is disconcerting considering that your office and “Mr. Gannon”
have maintained that his access was sporadic.

At what point is a “hard pass” required?

2.

The records show that Mr. “Gannon” was allowed access to the White
House 38 times when no public press events occurred.

He also spent hours in the White House both before and after press
events took place.

With whom did he meet on those occasions and what was the subject
matter of those meetings?

3.

On 13 occasions there is a record where he checked in with security,
but is never registered as leaving the White House complex.

How do you explain this?

4.

Your Media Assistant, Lois Cassano, requested a total of 48 day passes
for Mr. “Gannon” which helped facilitate his access for nearly 200
times over the last two years.

It is nearly impossible that she would have made Gannon such a
priority without direction from a supervisor.

Would you like to revise your claim that, “I don’t involve myself in
that process, it’s handled at a staff level.”[1]

These records appear to confirm our concern that Gannon was treated in
a manner that deviated from standard White House procedure for
determining who receives press credentials, and to what degree members
of the press and public are granted access to the White House complex.

In fact, these entry and exit records only raise more questions, as
your office has issued conflicting statements about his activities and
apparently abused the press pass policy to avoid a full-fledged
background investigation and allow Republican propaganda to be
disseminated through a counterfeit media operation and a fake
reporter.

Mr. McClellan, we have yet to receive any direct communication from
your office in response to our repeated requests for information.

The American people deserve to know what is happening in the White
House Briefing room.

It is unacceptable that you continue to deny them this information.

Sincerely,

/s

Rep. Louise Slaughter
Ranking Member
House Rules Committee

Rep. John Conyers, Jr.
Ranking Member
House Judiciary Committee

Well, at least they’re asking the questions.

Interesting that the mainstream media isn’t reporting this. Maybe that “liberal press” isn’t so liberal after all.

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