Weve mentioned this a

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We’ve mentioned this a couple times. But a reader just brought it up again, so I think it’s worth returning to. Who’s the nanny? Or, rather, is there really a nanny?

Let me be clear. I don’t think there’s any reason to reveal this woman’s identity, if she exists. And I’m certainly not trying to.

On balance, I figure it’s probably more likely than not that she does exist. But as near as I can tell, no specific details about this woman’s identity or what she did for Kerik’s family have ever been published. Nor have I seen any reports in which a given journalist writes as though he or she was privy to such details, even if he or she chose not to publish them to protect the woman’s privacy.

And I don’t think I can remember any “nanny” story in which such details have remained so secret. Given the fact that we now know there were a few dozen revelations (and counting) that would have sunk Kerik’s nomination, you have to wonder. To paraphrase the old saw, if this nanny hadn’t existed, the White House or Kerik might have been awfully tempted to invent her. And perhaps they did.

So, a couple questions. If you’re a journalist who’s working this story and you’ve been given details about the nanny issue that give you confidence that this person exists and that the basic outlines of the story we’ve been told are true (that she worked for Kerik, that she was an illegal, that she’s returned to her country, etc.), I’d appreciate if you’d drop me a line. Your identity and the details will remain private. I just want to hear if any details at all have been shared.

If you’re following the story and you think you’ve seen a report which fleshes this out more than I’ve seen, drop me a line too.

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