Joe Scarborough: I Didn't Kill My Intern

MSNBC pundit Joe Scarborough is piping mad at Vanity Fair magazine after it implied he killed a female employee while he was a member of Congress.

The VF article in question, written by James Wolcott, appeared in October 2003.

In a letter to the magazine that has been published in the November 2005 edition, Scarborough writes that Wolcott's "libelous charge, pulled from a hate site on the Internet, led readers to believe that a good woman named Lori Klausutis carried on an adulterous sexual affair with a congressman before being killed in a sleazy sex-scandal cover-up.

"The article suggests that this imaginary sex scandal forced me to leave office. I was painted as the Republican Party's answer to Gary Condit, saved from prosecution by a right-wing media machine."

Scarborough said that in fact, Lori worked at an annex office and he met her no more than three times; he was never alone with her; he announced his retirement from Congress several months BEFORE she died.

Scarborough said he was willing to let the "lie" fade away without taking legal action.

But he's decided to "set the record straight" after a March 2005 Vanity Fair profile of Michael Moore included a Web site domain name that Moore purchased, JoeScarboroughKilledHisIntern.com, which he feared would promote the magazine's "original reckless charge."

In a response to Scarborough's letter in the November issue, Wolcott wrote that he regretted "any emotional distress caused to Mr. Scarborough, his family, and the family and friends of the late Lori Klausutis."

As for Michael Moore, we expect no apologies.