Washington Post Reporter Who Interviewed Paterno Calls Him a Liar, Hypocrite

image from mobilwi.typepad.comPhoto: Washington Post

Louis Freeh, the former FBI director who conducted the Penn State investigation, said today at a press conference that he wished he had gotten an opportunity to get Joe Paterno's side of the story. He didn't. But Washington Post reporter Sally Jenkins did. In January, she interviewed Paterno, who, I thought, wasn’t pressed nearly hard enough on why he didn’t do more. Jenkins went easy on him. 

Not anymore. 

Today, Jenkins called the former Penn State coach a liar and cover-up artist.

Up until the end, Paterno vehemently denied knowing anything about a 1998 investigation of Sandusky, who occupied an office just feet away. Jenkins explains the forcefulness with which Paterno delivered that lie: [Washington Post]

Joe Paterno was a liar, there’s no doubt about that now. He was also a cover-up artist. If the Freeh Report is correct in its summary of the Penn State child molestation scandal, the public Paterno of the last few years was a work of fiction. In his place is a hubristic, indictable hypocrite.

Paterno didn’t always give lucid answers in his final interview conducted with the Washington Post three days before his death, but on this point he was categorical and clear as a bell. He pled total, lying ignorance of the ’98 investigation into a local mother’s claim Sandusky had groped her son in the shower at the football building. How could Paterno have no knowledge of this, I asked him?

“Nobody knew,” he said.

Everybody knew.

Never heard a rumor?

“I never heard a thing,” he said.

He heard everything.

Not a whisper? How is that possible?

“If Jerry’s guilty, nobody found out til after several incidents.”

 

As we detailed earlier, email evidence shows that Paterno knew about the 1998 investigation. Freeh’s report blasted Paterno and others for their failure to act.

Jenkins makes many good points about Paterno in her scathing column (which I would highly recommended reading), the most notable of which is her pointing out that if Paterno knew about the 1998 investigation (he did), then Mike McQueary’s account in 2001 should have tripped an alarm inside the old man’s head. It didn't. Or maybe it did. Whatever the case, Paterno never did anything about it. 

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20 Responses

  1. I wonder if Joe Pa is in the special VIP section of hell having a drink with Hitler.

  2. It’s ok because he built a library for the university (every moron JoePa apologist before this report came out)

  3. The Freeh report speaks for itself. This post lady adds nothing but posthumous conjecture in order to ressurect her already outdated old news so that she can shine on the coat tails of the Freeh report. Who cares what she says. Kyle, you’re too glamoured by big time media. Stay small and speak honestly.

  4. @KMC285: will you either stop using drugs, stop drinking, or grow up. You sound like a freaking retard commenting on Scott paterno. Seriously, can you tell me what’s your fascination with him?

  5. There’s tons of people trolling on here and you call me out? Who gives a fuck? I’ve made maybe 3 posts on him — about the same amount everyone else has. Calm down there internet tough guy.

  6. Dude, honestly, it’s you and like 2 other losers commenting on Scott paterno and all the pussy hes getting.. Youre a loser. Don’t try and call me out as a tough guy because of your stupid ass comments. Stop commenting

  7. Meh — double post (need an edit button). That being said if I made too many Scott Paterno comments my bad….dude’s just too funny. No more SP comments from me.

  8. Mike– completely disagree. She’s the only person to interview Joe Paterno about this. No one else did. No one else was able to give an account of his response to those questions. Her noting his demeanor about the 1998 stuff is well worth calling attention to, because it shows that he was beyond complicit, but actively lying.

  9. @Worleyshotpiece – why does it bother you so much? Are you Big Scott Pa? Some of us care to know how the big man is handling this situation right now. Quit focusing on other people and get lost d-bag.

Comments are closed.