Senior Administration Official Guessing Game: ABC’s Source

Despite denials from the Department of Justice, ABC News is standing by its story that House Speaker Dennis Hastert is “in the mix” of the FBI investigation into congressional corruption. ABC quotes anonymous “law enforcement sources,” including a “senior official” who told ABC, “You guys wrote the story very carefully, but they are not reading it very carefully.”

Who is ABC’s source? This person is in law enforcement, but apparently not at the DoJ proper (in which case he would probably be referred to as a “Justice Department official”).

After the jump, some ruminations from us.

READ MORE: Department of Justice, abc news, blind items, dennis hastert, denny hastert, fbi, guessing game, john miller, justice department, senior administration official guessing game

Guessing Game Results: The Meta-Leak

Yesterday we asked you for guesses as to the identity of the senior administration official who confirmed, by email to the New York Times, “that President Bush had ordered the declassification of parts of a prewar intelligence report on Iraq, in an effort to rebut critics who said the administration had exaggerated the nuclear threat posed by Saddam Hussein.”

In the comments to the post, you offered a number of (mostly joking) answers. By email, we received a few more serious responses:

• Stephen Hadley, National Security Adviser

Perhaps; he’s got to do something to earn his $160,000 (even if it’s only $40,000 more than the $120,000 pulled down by outgoing White House pastry chef Thaddeus DuBois).

• “Hmm, well, sorta leaves Scott McClellan with the old ball, doncha think? Except it was email. Not sure the Scotster knows about email yet. More likely it was Karl Rove, having been thumped on the back of the head by little george (“fix it, turd blossom”). The fact that whoever it was used email means (a) they were out of town somewhere, not at a knowable phone number, and (b) in full panic mode, as the entire Administration is these days…”

Certainly possible. But we find this submission the most persuasive:

• “Definitely Dan Bartlett. He’s the one charged with talking to major news organizations like the New York Times, and this is just the type of ‘information give’ that he would handle. And by the way, I wouldn’t call it a leak. It’s a pet peeve of mine when the term ‘leak’ is thrown around too loosely. Leaks are unauthorized, and if Bartlett was doing this, it surely was authorized — he would have checked with others in the White House (e.g., Bolten, Card, Miers) before talking to the Times.”

This sounds convincing to us. This does raise the question of who will pick up Bartlett’s “information-giving” portfolio if he leaves the White House soon, as has been rumored.

Of course, some of you may not care who talked to the Times, sharing this reader’s reaction: “I don’t even think it really matters who leaked. After reading that article, I think they’re just all equally as incompetent!”

Earlier: Senior Administration Official Guessing Game: The Case of the Meta-Leak

READ MORE: Andy Card, White House, andrew card, anonymous sources, blind items, bush, dan bartlett, george w. bush, guessing game, harriet miers, josh bolten, leaks, plamegate, scott mcclellan, senior administration official guessing game, senior government officials, stephen hadley

Senior Administration Official Guessing Game: The Case of the Meta-Leak

This “leak about a leak” is prime fodder for a Senior Administration Official Guessing Game:

A senior administration official confirmed for the first time on Sunday that President Bush had ordered the declassification of parts of a prewar intelligence report on Iraq in an effort to rebut critics who said the administration had exaggerated the nuclear threat posed by Saddam Hussein.

But the official said that Mr. Bush did not designate Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby Jr., or anyone else, to release the information to reporters.

The statement by the official came after the White House had declined to confirm, for three days, Mr. Libby’s grand jury testimony that he had been told by Mr. Cheney that Mr. Bush had authorized the disclosure. The official declined to be named, because of an administration policy of not commenting on issues now in court.

Here’s an additional hint from the article: “The official responded briefly via e-mail on Sunday to questions from The New York Times.” This rules out old-school, techno-phobic officials like Donald Rumsfeld and Michael Chertoff, who don’t use email.

Any thoughts on who the Times source might be? Post your guesses in the comments to this post, or send them to us by email (subject line: “Guessing Game”).

Bush Ordered Declassification, Official Says [NYT]

READ MORE: White House, anonymous sources, blind items, guessing game, leaks, plamegate, senior administration official guessing game, senior government officials

Remainders: Tying Up Loose Ends

• The latest indignity to be visited upon disgraced blogger Ben Domenech: a put-down from the Washingtonienne. Jessica Cutler to Ben: “Eat it.” (Careful, Jessica — he might take you up on that.) [Jessica Cutler Online]
• It’s confirmed: Justice Scalia used an obscene gesture, but not that obscene gesture. [E&P]
• First we got Dick Cheney’s rider, followed by John Kerry’s. Now: Donald Rumsfeld’s? [The Satirical Political Report]

READ MORE: Remainders, adam nagourney, antonin scalia, ben domenech, blind items, donald rumsfeld, jessica cutler, senior administration official guessing game, washingtonienne

Guessing Game Results: The Leaker and the Tweaker

In yesterday’s guessing game, we asked you for guesses on two blind items:

Which administration official told Maureen Dowd that “Rummy does not hold the same sway in meetings anymore, that he’s treated as an eccentric old uncle who pops off and is ignored.”

Which political reporter attends so-called ‘circuit parties’ while flying high on ecstasy?

Your guesses, after the jump. And thanks to a tipster for the post title, which we just had to lift. If Ben Domenech can do it, why can’t we?

READ MORE: Media, Personalities, anderson cooper, andrew kirtzman, andrew sullivan, anonymous sources, blind items, donald rumsfeld, drugs, gay, gays, jay dedapper, maureen dowd, modo, page six, senior administration official guessing game, shepard smith

Senior Administration Official Guessing Game: MoDo’s Source

This afternoon’s Pentagon briefing brought Maureen Dowd’s latest column to our attention (because, truth be told, we don’t read her religiously). We came across the passage that Donald Rumsfeld was questioned about:

One administration official says that Rummy does not hold the same sway in meetings anymore, that he’s treated as an eccentric old uncle who pops off and is ignored. But why can’t W. just quit him? Instead, the president praised him for doing “a fine job” on two wars and transforming the military….

Does anyone have information on which Administration official is feeding the dirt to MoDo?

Any while we’re asking for your guesses on blind items, here’s one more, from yesterday’s Page Six (which several of you have already written to us about):

Which political reporter attends so-called ‘circuit parties’ while flying high on ecstasy?

Any guesses, for either or both items? Send ‘em our way, along with your suppporting reasoning. Thanks!

READ MORE: Media, Personalities, anonymous sources, blind items, donald rumsfeld, maureen dowd, modo, page six, senior administration official guessing game

Guessing Game Results: The Unidentified Governor

We asked for your guesses as to the identity of this anonymous Democratic governor (as mentioned in this article from the Post):

Governors privately scoff at the slogan [?Together, America Can Do Better?]. They also say the message coming from congressional leaders has been too relentlessly negative. ?They want to coordinate. They want to collaborate. That’s all good,? said one Democratic governor who declined to be identified in order to talk candidly about a closed-door meeting. ?The question is: Coordinate or collaborate on what? People need to know not just what we’re against but what we’re for. That’s the kind of message the governors are interested in developing at the national level.?

So, which Democrat was playing the familiar game of carping about fellow Democrats? Your thoughts on this question, after the jump.

READ MORE: 2006, 2008, Brian Schweitzer, Democrats, anonymous sources, bill richardson, charles babington, ed rendell, evan bayh, janet napolitano, jennifer granholm, jerry kilgore, senior administration official guessing game, shailagh murray, tim kaine, tom vilsack

Senior Administration Official Guessing Game: Together, The Democrats Can’t Do Better

Here’s a quick guessing game item, based on this article from the Post about the Democratic Party’s disarray (sound familiar?):

Governors privately scoff at the slogan [“Together, America Can Do Better”]. They also say the message coming from congressional leaders has been too relentlessly negative. “They want to coordinate. They want to collaborate. That’s all good,” said one Democratic governor who declined to be identified in order to talk candidly about a closed-door meeting. “The question is: Coordinate or collaborate on what? People need to know not just what we’re against but what we’re for. That’s the kind of message the governors are interested in developing at the national level.”

It’s interesting that this governor wanted to comment on background, considering that the Democrats are usually all too happy to attack each other on the record. Anyway, if you have some thoughts on who this governor might be, please email us (subject line: “Guessing Game”).

(Yes, we know, the official in question isn’t an Administration official — that’s just the title we’ve given to this Wonkette recurring feature.)

Democrats Struggle To Seize Opportunity [WP]

READ MORE: 2006, 2008, Democrats, anonymous sources, charles babington, senior administration official guessing game, shailagh murray

Guessing Game Results: The Memo, Part 2

Last week’s guessing game involved the anonymous sources quoted in Jane Mayer’s New Yorker article about Alberto J. Mora and the stand he took against torture. Earlier today, we shared some guesses with you about two of the three sources mentioned. This item remains outstanding:

“Another military official, who worked closely with [David] Brant and who has been denied permission to speak on the record, told me that the news [of how Mohammed al-Qahtani was interrogated] ‘rocked’ Mora. The official added that Mora ‘was visionary about this. He quickly grasped the fact that these techniques in the hands of people with this little training spelled disaster.’”

After the jump, some above-average speculation about the identity of this anonymous source.

READ MORE: Defense Department, Department of Defense, Pentagon, albert church, alberto mora, anonymous sources, bruce macdonald, carl levin, human rights watch, james mcpherson, jane mayer, michael gelles, new yorker, senior administration official guessing game, torture

Guessing Game Results: The Memo, Part 1

Last week, we asked for your guesses about the identities of the anonymous sources quoted in Jane Mayer’s intriguing New Yorker article about Alberto J. Mora, the former general counsel of the U.S. Navy who took a stand against what he viewed as torture of detainees. We received some interesting speculation — some of which appears after the jump.

READ MORE: Defense Department, Department of Defense, alberto mora, anonymous sources, donald rumsfeld, dorrance smith, gordon england, jane mayer, new yorker, paul wolfowitz, senior administration official guessing game, torture

Senior Administration Official Guessing Game: The Memo

This fascinating article, by Jane Mayer for the New Yorker, describes the efforts made by Alberto J. Mora, outgoing general counsel of the U.S. Navy, to ban the abuse and torture of detainees in U.S. custody. It got a fair amount of media attention earlier in the week; we just got around to reading it now. (Cut us some slack! It’s a long article, and we have lots of other things to read — like stupid headlines on CNN.com.)

The article is full of fodder for a Senior Administration Official Guessing Game. After the jump, a few items that caught our eye.

READ MORE: alberto mora, anonymous sources, donald rumsfeld, jane mayer, new yorker, senior administration official guessing game, torture

Guessing Game Results: The State Department Reorg, Part 2

In our latest guessing game, we asked for your input concerning which unidentified officials were referred to in Glenn Kessler’s interesting article about recent “chafing” at the State Department.

One tipster suggested that Stephen G. Rademaker was the “relatively junior foreign service officer” who was promoted to acting head of the office dealing with the International Atomic Energy Agency (but who looks upon the IAEA with disdain). But a source within the foreign service now tells us:

Take a closer look at Rademaker’s bio — he’s not a Foreign Service Officer. Therefore, he can’t be the “relatively junior Foreign Service Officer” described in the article.

We looked back at Rademaker’s bio, and it appears that our source within the foreign service is correct. According to Rademaker’s bio, he was brought into the Department as Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control (i.e., he was not promoted from within the service). Prior to that, he worked as a lawyer on the Hill. So Rademaker wouldn’t be considered a “foreign service officer.”

Do you have a more educated guess as to the identity of this official? (Our foreign service source declined to opine further.) If so, please email us.

READ MORE: anonymous sources, glenn kessler, senior administration official guessing game, state department, stephen rademaker, washington post