LA Times' Malcolm misrepresented sourcing for Novak column on Clinton campaign

Written by Sarah Pavlus

Published

Los Angeles Times blogger Andrew Malcolm wrote that two "[Sen. Hillary] Clinton aides" had “told conservative columnist Robert Novak the Clintons had very damaging information on [Sen. Barack] Obama, but they weren't going to use it.” However, Novak has acknowledged that his purported “source” for that claim was not involved in the Clinton campaign.

In a January 4 post for the Los Angeles Times political blog Top of the Ticket, Times blogger Andrew Malcolm, journalist, author, and press secretary to Laura Bush in 1999-2000, wrote, “For weeks now [Sen. Hillary Rodham] Clinton [D-NY] aides have been threatening on and off the record to use some bad stuff against their chief opponent [Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL)].” Malcolm went on to claim, "[T]wo of them told conservative columnist Robert Novak the Clintons had very damaging information on Obama, but they weren't going to use it." However, as Media Matters for America documented (here and here), Novak has acknowledged that his purported “source” for that claim was not involved in the Clinton campaign.

In his November 17 nationally syndicated column, Novak wrote that "[a]gents of Sen. Hillary Clinton are spreading the word in Democratic circles that she has scandalous information about her principal opponent for the party's presidential nomination, Sen. Barack Obama, but has decided not to use it." Citing no sources, Novak continued: “The nature of the alleged scandal was not disclosed.” On the November 19 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, Novak claimed that his source was “a well-known Democrat” who was “told by an agent of the Clinton campaign” about the “scandalous information.” He said he “then checked with another source who is neutral and said he had heard the same thing from Clinton -- Clinton people.” Novak said that he personally had no idea whether the alleged “scandalous information” even exists, stating: "[W]hether there is any such scandalous information, I don't know."

From Malcolm's January 4 post:

For weeks now Clinton aides have been threatening on and off the record to use some bad stuff against their chief opponent. First, two of them told conservative columnist Robert Novak the Clintons had very damaging information on Obama, but they weren't going to use it. Then her New Hampshire co-chair, Billy Shaheen, said, not that any Democrat would use Obama's admitted youthful drug use against him, but boy, would the Republicans have a field day with that later this year.