Former New York Times Executive Editor Jill Abramson has revealed that Condoleezza Rice asked her to kill a story about the CIA.
In an interview with 60 Minutes, Abramson said Rice, who at that time was still serving as National Security Advisor under former President Bush, had asked to meet her in a undisclosed location.
“She had a legal yellow notebook on her lap with lots of notes on it, and once I had taken a seat across from her, she barely looked up,” Abramson recounts the meeting. ”She basically read in a very stern manner from her notes on this legal pad, which were just point after point about why this story would be damaging to the national security. I don’t think I uttered much more than ‘hello,’ and ‘I will think of what you said.’”
The story, which was written by reporter James Risen, would have had revealed the CIA’s attempts to hinder Iran’s nuclear program, something which the agency failed to do. Abramson chose not to publish the article. Regardless, Risen ended up with a legal battle against the Department of Justice for not revealing his source.
Abramson stated that she regrets making that decision now. “It seemed, in the calculus of all of the major stories we were dealing with at that point, not worth it to me and I regret that decision now,” the former Editor said.
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