And maybe even to have said, “Governor, it sounds like you are alleging corruption on so many different levels. I mean—I think some people can accept the notion that, you know, there are certain Republicans who are out to get you, etc., but as we talk more about this, there are more people involved and it sounds like you’re saying that the corruption here was pretty deep?” I also did that. But maybe my questions do not fit with, as you put it, your “pre-selected” story line?

My “pre-selected story line” was not pre-selected at all. It was my considered conclusion – and my only conclusion — after assessing a number of troubling aspects about the case and the prosecution of it, that the Federal Court of Appeals in Atlanta should order the release of the former Governor pending his appeal. The appeals court did just that over the objection of the trial judge. The appellate judges cited “substantial questions of law and fact.”

I too have substantial questions of law and fact about the case and some of them involve you.

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You seem particularly incensed that I interviewed Dana Jill Simpson, a Republican who had volunteered for the campaign of Siegelman’s opponent and claimed, in sworn testimony, that she heard conversations about you and your involvement.

You ask why only later did she claim that you asked her to follow the Governor to attempt to take compromising photos. Specifically, you wrote, “Did it not bother you Ms. Simpson failed to mention the claim she made to CBS for their February 24, 2008 story, that you then repeated on February 25^th?”

Fair question. Which is why I asked her the following on February 25, 2008:

ABRAMS: And why have you never mentioned before the allegations of Rove and the pictures?

SIMPSON: Oh, I mentioned it to people. They just did not use it. Because nobody wanted to go into the fact that I had been following Don Siegelman trying to get pictures of him cheating on his wife.

ABRAMS: But some of your critics have said, “You know, in front of Congress she had a lot of opportunities. Why didn’t she mention this before?”

SIMPSON: Well, let me explain something to you. I talked to congressional investigators, Dan. And when I talked to those congressional investigators I told them that I had followed Don Siegelman and tried to get pictures of him cheating on his wife. However, they suggested to me that that was not relevant because there was nothing illegal about that and they’d just prefer that not come up at the hearing that day.

We repeatedly offered your attorney a chance to rebut the claims. Dana Jill Simpson testified under oath about this case while thus far you have refused to do so. If she is lying, she should be prosecuted. But as a journalist isn’t it fair to ask why you don’t welcome the opportunity to testify as well? With sworn false testimony, there are repercussions. Without it, there is no accountability.

You ask, “do you feel you have a responsibility to dig into the claims made by your guests. . .” Anyone who actually saw or even read the transcript of my coverage would have seen that I asked the Governor a whole series of pointed questions including this one: “You’re not hinging this all, though, on Dana Jill Simpson are you? Because there have been a lot of people who have questioned how she could have been at certain meetings, how many times she actually met with people, where she was at the time, etc. I mean your allegations that Rove- you believe Rove is behind this does not hinge entirely on the credibility of Dana Jill Simpson?” I also asked his daughter a similar question in a separate interview on February 27, 2008.

But many of their answers come back to you – to your relationships with various Alabama officials, to the timing of the prosecution, to why new charges were filed after the first ones were dismissed. It seems that since they have not provided definitive documentary evidence to prove their contentions, many of which involve what they say they witnessed, heard or experienced, you think either I should not have interviewed them on air or dismissed their allegations out of hand.

CONTINUED

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