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jeff crouere posts 2002 vitter interview audio

wst... just received the following email from jeff crouere:

On July 25, 2002, I interviewed Congressman David Vitter on my radio program, Ringside on WTIX 690 AM in New Orleans.

It was a relatively detailed phone interview as he prepared to run for re-election to Congress in the fall of 2002. We had numerous callers in the roughly 20 minute interview, as all sorts of issues were addressed, including some explosive personal topics.

Here is a link to the audio of the interview:

VITTER ON RINGSIDE PROGRAM

The attached audio includes clips from two callers. One identified himself as the “Flaming Liberal.” He asked Vitter if he would to “sign under the penalty of perjury an affidavit saying you have never had an extramarital affair and you have never known, met or been in the company of one Wendy Cortez.”

In response, Vitter made possibly a Freudian slip when he referred to the “vicious rumors” as “absolutely true.” But, he also clearly said that “they’re lies.”

In the second clip, a caller named “Tom” challenged Vitter to appear on the Ringside program with Republican State Central Committee member Vincent Bruno who initially made the charges about his involvement with Wendy Cortez on my radio program.

Vitter says he would not appear with Bruno, and called him a “thug and a liar.”

Bruno responded later on in the day with a threat of a lawsuit and claimed that he would depose Vitter on the Cortez matter. The threat of legal action prompted a quick response and the next day Vitter sent a certified letter to my house and to Bruno’s house officially apologizing for his comments about Bruno that were made on the program. .

Bruno accepted the apology, so the matter was dropped. However, of course, it resurfaced with the recent news of Vitter’s involvement with the “D.C. Madam,” and now new allegations about his involvement with prostitutes in New Orleans, including one named “Wendy Cortez.”

For my information, here in the link to my column that appeared the following week in Gambit Weekly:

August 6, 2002 Gambit Weekly Column