Judge Says Dan Rather Can Subpoena CBS Investigator
Former CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather won a minor legal victory in a case in which he says he wants only the true story to come out about President Bush’s Vietnam-era military service.
Rather is trying to achieve this in a $70 million suit against CBS and his former bosses. And on Tuesday, a judge in New York allowed Rather’s case to progress when he gave the go-ahead for Rather to subpoena an investigator hired by CBS to check the truth of the story, the Associated Press reports.
Gary Meyerhoff, who represents Rather, says the legal team wants to see what investigator Erik Rigler, a former FBI agent, found. Meyerhoff tells the AP that Rigler either did not complete his report or it was ignored by the blue-ribbon panel named by CBS to study and report on the handling of the controversial Bush story narrated by Rather.
Even though the panel found that Rather didn’t do anything wrong, Rather claims he was removed from his lucrative anchor spot and given lesser assignments after the story aired in 2004, just before the election. The story, which was later debunked because it was based on falsified memos, asserted that Bush used his father’s connections to avoid going to Vietnam.
The judge has already dismissed four of seven counts in the case.
Rather tells the AP that he is pleased that his case is moving forward. He is quoted saying that proving, “the truth of the story is all I’ve ever wanted.”
