Tim Russert's testimony

Pumpkinhead (Tim Russert) is getting a lot of criticism in the blogosphere (see here, for example) for his testimony yesterday at the Libby trial. In particular, he is being criticized for having spoken to the FBI investigator about his telephone conversation with Libby before he was called before the grand jury, but, later, when he was called before the grand jury, he sought to avoid testifying in order to protect his sources.

While this seems somewhat duplicitous, I'm inclined to find his explanation valid. The point Russert makes is that, when he talked with the FBI agent on the first occasion, the only thing they talked about was what Russert himself had said. He did not reveal anything that Libby said in that conversation. Obviously, to the extent that what Russert said (or didn't say) did not reveal what Libby was saying, it is not revealing a source, and Russert could rightly talk to the FBI about it without being inconsistent when he later sought to avoid grand jury testimony. The latter, he feared, would force him to discuss what Libby had said, and that would reveal his sources.

I do admit that this is a bit of a slippery slope, since telling someone about one side of a conversation can easily reveal a good deal about the other side of it. Just listen to your spouse talking on the phone sometime. But, I'm willing to give Russert the benefit of the doubt here.

All of this, of course, has little to do with the way Russert covered the story on Meet the Press before it was revealed that he was involved in the case. I do believe he mis-handled that, and, in doing so, misled his viewers.