More Insight Into "Unreportable"

Cheney did briefings with us on Air Force Two frequently in 2004.

He would brief “on deep background” — couldn’t quote him or use quotes but you could use the info in general (it was tricky for TV but you could always say “the white house believes that the sky is green…” if cheney said that himself.

It was weird — but that is how he did it. He briefed at least twice a week for several weeks and then we got completely shut down as we got closer to election day (we suspected it was bc an AP reporter, not a regular on AF2, burned them on the groundrules and used a direct quote and I think sourced it to a “senior admin official”)

It wasn’t even a big deal but it ticked them off and they didn’t trust people who were coming on and off the plane on infrequent trips.

(Earlier)