Ex-CBS anchor Dan Rather said Monday that there was a key difference between the mistakes that led to his departure from the network and those made in an infamous “60 Minutes” report on Benghazi by correspondent Lara Logan.
Namely, he said, the story he pursued was true, while Logan got “taken in by a man who was a fraud.”
“I know what it feels like to be the correspondent who is the center of controversy, when there are people above and below you,” Rather said on CNN’s “Piers Morgan Live.” “I will make this point with our story, the one that led to our difficulty, no question the story was true. What the complaint was, while eventually most of us lost our jobs, was okay, your story was true but the way you got to the truth was flawed. The process was flawed. That’s not the case with the Benghazi story. Unfortunately — and there’s no joy in saying it — they were taken in by a man who was a fraud.”
Rather’s 2004 “60 Minutes II” report on former President George W. Bush’s National Guard service is widely believed to be the force behind his departure from the network.
CBS announced weeks after the Benghazi report was retracted that Logan and her producer, Max McClellan, were taking a leave of absence from “60 Minutes.”
When Morgan asked if he thought the bungled report should end Logan’s career, Rather said her otherwise impressive record should redeem her.
“In my opinion, clearly labeled ‘No,'” Rather said. “And I’m so glad you mentioned that. Whatever one thinks of what Lara Logan did or didn’t do with this story, in fairness, it should be put against her whole record. She’s still a very young correspondent, but for a young correspondent has a distinguished record. It should be seen in that context and in that perspective.”
Watch below, courtesy of CNN:
This post has been updated.
