WSJ Reporter Takes Break After Leak

Saucy emails may have contributed to a prolonged summer vacation for one Wall Street Journal scribe. Gina Chon, whose epistolary romance with a Bush-era official was leaked all over Flickr this week, will take a leave of absence as now-husband Brett McGurk prepares to take up his post as America’s man in Baghdad, a spokeswoman for the paper said Friday. Chon asked for the leave of absence in March after it first became apparent that McGurk, then Chon’s fiancé, was under consideration for the ambassador’s post, according to the spokeswoman. Some have speculated that the leaked emails that appear to have been exchanged between Chon and McGurk in 2008 may endanger his appointment to the Baghdad job.