NBC: ‘Meet The Press’
Tim Russert Dies

By Anthony Leone

Tim Russert, best known as moderator of NBC’s “Meet The Press,” collapsed early this afternoon and died, according to the network.

At this time, it has not been reported what caused Russert’s death, according to NBC.

The network also reported that Russert was doing voiceover work for this Sunday’s “Meet The Press,” when he collapsed.

Russert recently came back from a family trip in Italy, where the family celebrated his son’s graduation from Boston College.

The 58-year-old Russert became the Washington bureau chief for NBC in 1984 and in December 1991, became host of “Meet the Press.” He was also the vice president of NBC News.

Last year, Russert was involved in the highly popular court case against former Chief of Staff to Vice President Dick Cheney I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby.

Libby testified that he rediscovered that former U.S. Ambassador and Iraq war opponent Joseph Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame, worked for the CIA during a July 2003 telephone conversation with Russert.

Russert testified that was not true and the he did not find out Plame worked for the CIA until days after the phone conversation.

Russert worked for New York Democrat Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s Senatorial campaign in 1976 and continued to work for Moynihan as chief of staff until 1982. From 1983 until 1984, he was New York Gov. Mario Cuomo’s counselor.

Russert is survived by his wife, Maureen Orth, a Vanity Fair writer, and their son, Luke.

(Editor’s Note: This is not an editorial or a column, but a news story from media reports, Wikipedia and court transcripts provided by NPR.)