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READ THE DOCUMENTS In what is unlikely to stem the controversy surrounding disgraced White H ouse correspondent James Guckert, the Secret Service has furnished logs of the writers access to the White House after requests by two Democrat ic congressmembers. John Con yers (D-MI) through a Freedom of Information Act request, reveal Guckert had remarkable access to the White House. Though he wrote under the nam e Jeff Gannon, the records show that he applied with his real name. Gannons ready access to President Bush and his work for a news agency th at frequently plagiarized content from other reporters and tailored it t o serve a conservative message may raise new questions about the White H ouses attempts to seed favorable news coverage. Democrats have sought t o paint Guckert in the context of other efforts by the Administration to plant positive spin by paying for video news releases and columnists to espouse their views. Guckert made more than 200 appearances at the White House during his two- year tenure with the fledging conservative websites GOPUSA and Talon New s, attending 155 of 196 White House press briefings. He had little to no previous journalism experience, previously worked as a male escort, and was refused a congressional press pass. Perhaps more notable than the frequency of his attendance, however, is se veral distinct anomalies about his visits. Guckert made more than two dozen excursions to the White House when there were no scheduled briefings. On many of these days, the Press Office he ld press gaggles aboard Air Force Onewhich raises questions about what Guckert was doing at the White House. On at least fourteen occasions, Secret Service records show either the en try or exit time missing. Generally, the existing entry or exit times co rrelate with press conferences; on most of these days, the records show that Guckert checked in but was never processed out. In March, 2003, Guckert left the White House twice on days he had never c hecked in with the Secret Service. Over the next 22 months, Guckert fail ed to check out with the Service on fourteen days. On several of these v isits, Guckert either entered or exited by a different entry/exit point than his usual one. on anoth er, he checked in twice but failed to check out.
Others who have covered the White House say not checking in or out with t he Secret Service is unusual, especially in the wake of Sept. We responded to the FOIA request and can provide no further information, Service spokesman Jonathan Cherry said. Guckert declined to comment, directing all questions to the Service. The records furnished by the Service are unlikely to finally answer who a pproved Gannons temporary day passes into the presidential residence. The Service keeps a record of who approved passes only for the last six ty days; Since December 2004, all but one of Gannons forty-eight temporary appoin tments were requested by Lois Cassano, a White House Press Office media assistant. One additional request was made by Peter Watkins, a press ass istant who now works as deputy press secretary to First Lady Laura Bush. Guckert sometimes stayed for an extended period of time before and after press conferences, particularly early in his tenure. This was especially common during his first few months, when he might be in the White House for as long as six hours. A White House reporter dismissed this as insignificant, noting that somet imes reporters stay between events. You could probably find people who stayed there for nine hours, the rep orter said. Occasionally, the former Talon News reporter visited the White House twic e on the same day. The Secret Service furnished the records after a Freedom of Information A ct request from Reps. Guckert drew fire from liberals after asking a question of President Bush earlier this year in which he misquoted the Democratic Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV).
org discovered that Guckert owned male escort sites, and w as himself a male prostitute. The now-blogger has also been accused of lifting copy from press releases and other reporters.
The watchdog Media Matters for America has also found that many of Guckerts stories lifted directly f rom White House press releases. Talon News, which shut down after the fracas over Gannon erupted, was sel f-avowedly Republican.
February letter to President Bush, several Senate Democrats rais ed concern about Gannon in connection with what they believe is an attem pt to buy coverage. The Gannon/Guckert affair is disturbing because of what we have recently learned about apparent efforts by some in your Administration to try to "buy" favorable news coverage, the Democrats wrote. These other effor ts include paying news personalities large sums of money to promote yo ur Administration's education and marriage initiatives, and using taxpay er dollars to produce video news releases promoting the new prescription drug benefit for Medicare beneficiaries and other policies the Administ ration regards as accomplishments. The Administration has defended such efforts, and has sought to downplay their significance.
READ THE DOCUMENTS The first set of times for each date is Guckert's login and logout. Research conducted by Raw Story research er Muriel Kane. No briefing does not necessarily mean no briefing took p lace, only that none was scheduled by the White House press office. We h ave tried to make note of other briefings held on the dates there was no White House press briefing. As our research continues, we will update the date log listing to reflect addit ional briefings other than White House press briefings held on dates Guc kert visited.
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