Wolf Blitzer and Jeff Gannon Unofficial Transcript [View All]

[Sliverofhope]

Here's my rough transcript, which I will edit and update to perfection over the hour.

Wolf: He was a little known White House correspondent for a little known organization, now he's at the center of a growing controversy buzzing around Washington and the internet. I'll have an exclusive interview with the man who calls himself Jeff Gannon in just a moment, first some background from Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post and the host of CNN's Reliable Sources.

Kurtz: Jeff Gannon, that's what he calls himself at least, was an obscure member of the White House press corps before he got to ask president Bush a question two weeks ago, and that proved to be his professional downfall. Gannon, a self described conservative journalist, writes for the websites Talon News and GOP USA, both of which are owned by Texas Republican activist Bobby Eberle. When the president called on him, Gannon asked a rather loaded question that seemed to disparage Senator Hillary Clinton and minority leader Harry Reid

Gannon: Senate democratic leaders have painted a very bleak picture of the US economy. Harry Reid was talking about soup lines; Hillary Clinton was talking about the economy being on verge of collapse. Yet in the same breath they say social security is rock solid and there's no crisis there. How are you going to work... you said you're going to reach out to these people. how are you going to work with people who seemed to have divorced themselves from reality?

Kurtz: One problem: Reid never talked about soup lines. And Gannon later admitted he picked up the characterization from Rush Limbaugh; Suddenly bloggers on liberal websites like Daily Kos started digging into his background; His real name, they discovered, is James Guckert; Gannon reisgned from Talon Newssaying that out of concern for his family, the voice of the new media has gone silent. He says he's been stalked and threatened by quote "nuts" on the left; Democratic congresswomen Louise Slaughter has asked Bush in a letter whether the White House cleared Gannon to serve as quote atool of propaganda for your administration; McClellan dismissed the charge, saing he was allowed in on day to day basis just like any journalist, and its not his job to screen reporters based on their political views; The president, says McClellan, didn't know who Gannon was when he called on him. Jeff Gannon called himself the conservative guy and delighted in being outspoken and controversial; His critics call him a fake reporter but others say liberal bloggers went too far because they didn't like his politics. Howard Kurtz, CNN, Washington.

Wolf: And Jeff Gannon is joining us here for an exclusive TV interview. His first Tv interview since leaving his job. Jeff, thanks very much. Should I call you Jeff or James?

Gannon: Please call me Jeff Gannon.

Wolf: Explain the discrepancy. Your real name is James Guckert?

Gannon: Yes. Well it's pronounced Guckert. Well, it's a professional name. Gannon is easier to pronounce and remember.

Wolf: You haven't legally changed it? Driver's license has name Guckert?

Gannon: Yes

Wolf: so when you went into the white house and showed your drivers license, it said Guckert? It was easier to pronounce, presumably.

Gannon: Yes

Wolf: If you didn't do anything wrong, why did you resign?

Gannon: Since I asked my question, people who disagree with me harrassed and threatened not only me, but my family, and I believe that leaving my post would bring that to an end.

Wolf: When you say they harrassed your family, what do you mean?

Gannon: I've been receiving threats, people have been stalking me in my neighborhood tried to followed me to church, followed me down the street; And then there are phone calls and hate mail that I've gotten over the internet. It's been very troubling. And when it went toward my family I said I needed to put an end to it.

Wolf: And when you say your family, could you be a little bit more specific?

Gannon: Well, when my mother and brother and his wife receieved telephone calls that contained threats, and all kinds of terrible things being said about me... It's very distrubing, and that's way over the line, and I needed to put that to a...

Wolf: One of the things that was said was that you had some sexually explicit websites that you were working on? I don't understand what that is but maybe you could explain it.

Gannon: Well several years ago before I came to Washington I had registered various domain names for a private client, I was doing website development. Those sites were never hosted, nothing ever went up on them, and the client went on to do something else. There's been so much about me on the internet, that people have made assumptions about. I just can't... I don't even know them all, and I can't address them all here.

Wolf: were you there in the White House briefing room on a daily basis to change the subject and send softball questions to Scott McClellan? Or were you there as a real journalist trying to get the story?

Gannon: Talon News is a legitimate conservative online news service. My questions are things that my readers, 700,000 daily subscribed readers want the answer to, and those are my questions. I created the questions, nobody fed the questions to me. Scott McClellan certainly never knew what was coming. He knows, he certainly knows...

Wolf: Cause, you wore your politics on your sleeve. Everyone knew you were conservative.

Gannon: Absolutely.

Wolf: why not get credentials, real credentials from capitol here for the US Congress?

Gannon: I tried to do that originally when I was going to be covering Washington for Talon News. Our, Talon news business model did not fit criteria of the Senate press gallery, and while we've been trying to... to comply, I couldn't stop doing the news, so I went on the basis of daily pass. And that's... It's all under procedures the White House has established for that.

Wolf: What is connection between GOPUSA the political website and the Talon News Service, it's owned by the same wealthy Texas republican.

Gannon: I wouldn't say wealthy. I don't know that to be true.

Wolf: Bobby Eberle.

Gannon: Bobby Eberle. It's common ownership, that's all. Talon News is a separate, independent news division. I work for Talon news, I write articles for Talon news, and that's it.

Wolf: So what do you do now?

Gannon: God closes doors and opens windows. I believe this will be a good opportunity for me. Even though it's been painful. I believe there's a silver lining out there.

Wolf: So you have something already in the works?

Gannon: I've had some people have called to make inquiries to see if I had interest in certain positions.

Wolf: Jeff Gannon. Thanks very much.

Gannon: Thank you, Wolf.

Working on updates.