From a Republican Angle: FOX sub host echoed White House on release of Bush military records

On September 10, Special Report with Brit Hume substitute host Jim Angle asserted that "the White House doesn't have control" over the release of documents relating to President George W. Bush's military service. Angle added that the Bush administration has been "begging the Pentagon to find these documents." His comment came in response to a remark by Juan Williams (NPR senior correspondent and FOX News Channel contributor). Williams said, "[Y]ou have to wonder about the White House control" over the disclosure of the documents.

From the September 10 edition of FOX News Channel's Special Report with Brit Hume:

WILLIAMS: [Y]ou have to wonder about the White House control -- because that's the White House.

ANGLE: I can assure you the White House doesn't have control, because they've been begging the Pentagon to find these documents.

As Media Matters for America has noted, and as Williams subsequently pointed out to Angle, the White House's release of the president's military service records has been erratic. Angle's assertion that the White House has "been begging the Pentagon to find these documents" echoes Bush administration talking points on the subject; such claims are belied by the fact that the White House continues to disclose pertinent documents independent of the Pentagon.

For instance, on September 8, when the Pentagon released additional documents in response to a lawsuit by the Associated Press, White House press secretary Scott McClellan expressed frustration with the Defense Department for not releasing all documents as "the president directed back in February." But later that same evening, the White House released the president's personal flight logs -- previously unreleased documents that had been "the focus of repeated archival searches and Freedom of Information Act requests dating to the 2000 presidential campaign," according to a September 9 Washington Post article. The Post also noted that, contrary to Angle's assertion that the White House does not control the release of documents, "[o]fficers responsible for implementing the Freedom of Information Act for the National Guard and the Pentagon" referred a reporter to the White House press office.

—J.C.