When I first came across this AP story on April 5, I thought the 9/11 Commission was looking to give the White House a graceful way out of its embarrassing flipflop about national security advisor Can'tbe Right testifying under oath.
Commission spokesman Al Felzenberg said Monday the decision to let Rice testify might have been influenced by a 1945 photo the panel sent to the White House showing a top presidential aide appearing before a congressional panel to discuss policy advice.
The Nov. 22, 1945, New York Times photograph shows Adm. William D. Leahy, chief of staff to Presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman, appearing before the special congressional panel investigating the Pearl Harbor attacks.
Felzenberg said the commission's executive director, Philip Zelikow, faxed the photo the day before the White House reversed its position, showing the administration there was historical support for allowing a top presidential aide to testify under oath before a congressional panel.
But thanks to Josh Marshall, I learn that Newsweek has
one additional detail:
Last Monday morning 9/11 commission executive director Philip Zelikow faxed a photograph to the White House counsel's office with a note saying that if the White House didn't allow national-security adviser Condoleezza Rice to testify in public before the commission, the photograph would "...be all over Washington in 24 hours," Newsweek has learned.
Well, that does kinda put it in a different light, doesn't it, now?
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