WaPo on The Nelson Report

You heard it here first. Hat tip: my deep cover source, who I’ll just call Mister Bigglesworth.

Nelson, a former UPI reporter and House and Senate staffer, rails at some reporters’ coverage — New York Times reporter David Sanger “is dishonest by omission,” Washington Times reporter Bill Gertz is “dishonest by commission.”

He then referred to himself in the third person, saying that his work “has established a position of influence by sheer persistence and focus,” and ” ‘everyone’ talks to him. . . .” Hmmm. Maybe not anymore.

In a follow-up e-mail Saturday, an anguished Nelson wrote to his e-mail list, “In a single moment of stupidity, I have hurt and betrayed many who have tried so generously to help and who share my deepest fears about Korea policy. “Apology is impossible at this point. I can only ask mercy.”

I don’t think the Post realizes that there could be legal implications for Mr. Nelson. The answer probably depends on whether Nelson was “directed” by a foreign embassy or simply offered up this information unsolicited.