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FRIDAY, MAY 9, 2003

Deputy Interior Secretary J. Steven Griles used a 94-year-old woman as a "human shield" against a television reporter, according to Lloyd Grove of The Washington Post.

Roberta Baskin, a reporter for the PBS show "Now With Bill Moyers," confronted Griles at a recent Interior event because he refused to grant an on-camera interview about his ethical foibles. She told Grove that he grabbed Gladys Bushrod, 94, by the arm to avoid the cameras.

Interior officials said Griles wasn't sneaking around but was trying to help an elderly diabetic.

Bushrod, in her own words, told Grove: "I am diabetic and about that time my blood sugar was getting low and I was feeling a little shaky. I think I said, 'I'm diabetic and I need to have a snack,' and a man took me by the arm, but I don't know who it was. I remember there were television cameras."

Get the Story:
The Reliable Source: All's Well That Ends Well? (The Washington Post 5/8)