Speaking to an audience gathered in Santa Monica last night to commemorate the life of late political consultant Kam Kuwata, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein concluded her praise for her long time friend with a surprise announcement. She said she had to keep a lot of secrets as the chairwoman of the Intelligence Committee, but she added, she was going to share one secret. At 7:30 pm tonight, she went on, the president is going to come on television to announce Osama Bin Laden had been killed.
There were gasps from the audience, and after another sentence or two from the senator, applause. About 200 people attended the event including a number of state and local officials such as Former Governor Gray Davis and state Controller John Chiang.
Her announcement actually occurred a little after 7:30 pm by my watch, but the president would not get to make his speech for another hour or so.