May 03 2006
Libby Takes On The News Media II
*** Clarice’s American Thinker article is up here ***
This is a continuation of my previous post on the contents of Team Libby’s filings in response to Judith Miller, The NY Times, Matt Cooper and Andrea Mitchell’s motion to squash the Libby subpoenas. In that first post I felt vindicated that Judith Miller never once heard the name ‘Wilson’ during her first meeting with Scooter Libby on June 23rd, 2003. This was a theory I proposed back on October 16th of last year based on Miller’s NY Times recollections of her testimony and her notes. My understanding is Clarice Feldman will be presenting some confirming information in an article coming soon to The American Thinker (which I will link to the minute it comes up). Rumor is she will present evidence that Miller did indeed know about the Wilsons prior to her first meeting with Libby, confirming her testimony she did not learn from Libby the name ‘Wilson’ before Wilson outed himself (and therefore his wife) in the NY Times.
But now back to the filing. At the bottom of page 16 (PDF numbering) of the first half of the filing hosted at Just One Minute we find this interesting statement by Miller regarding her testimony to the Grand Jury:
Miller’s recollection of the July 8 conversation [2 days after the Wilson Op-Ed] is equally sketchy. … “I said [to the grand jury] I couldn’t be certain whether I had known Msl Plame’s identity before this meeting, and I had no clear memory of the context of our conversation that resulted in th[e] notation [(wife works in Win Pac)]”.
This is the same dodge I noted earlier, that Miller is not prepared to say Libby told her the name ‘Wilson’, or now the name ‘Plame’. Her notes use these names, but it could easily be because she knew the names before hand and was using her knowledge in her notes. Basically we see a lack of quotation from Libby in all these incidents.
Fitzgerald’s case relies heavily on the assumption Judith Miller heard the name Wilson from Libby. Funny thing is, all accounts to date by Miller coulld just as easily be seen as her having the names Libby did not have. Which puts Miller in the position of being one of the first reporters to leak the names Wilson and Plame to Libby! Oh the irony if that was true.
OK, back to reality. What has me intrigued is the part of Libby’s request dealing with any documents prior to her Libby meetings mentioning the Wilson under any name (NY Times editors and Kristof come to mind). I think they know something exists regarding other Miller sources. Possibly UGO, possibly others. The tip off will be in the Miller-NY Times response – if they produce one. They should give up and just let the chips fall where they may.
Here is the bombshell I have been looking for:
For example, the highly redacted notebooks provided to Mr. Libby by the government indicate that Ms. Miller was given Mr. Wilson’s name and phone number before she spoke with Mr. Libby on June 23. Armed with the unredacted page on which that notation appears, Mr. Libby may ask Ms. Miller why and from whom she obtained Mr. Wilson’s contact information – and whether she may have learned of Ms. Wilson’s CIA affiliation from the same source at the same time, before she first spoke with Mr. Libby.
Boy, oh boy. If this is true Fitzgerald is in a world of hurt. Not only will he have known the true source of Plame’s identity, he will have known Miller had know about the Wilsons prior to meeting Libby, exposing his interpretation of her notes as something akin to a fantasy! Remember, in this country we are presumed innocent until proven guilty. If Fitzgerald ignored this and tried to slant evidence through omission and withholding the guy deserves to be drummed out of the DoJ and disbarred for life. And there is more:
Likewise, the redacted versioj of the notes suggests that Ms. Miller’s notation “Victoria Wilson” may have been made before her conversation with Mr. Libby on July 12, perhaps based on information received from someone else.
Well, let’s see what Ms. Judith Miller had to say about notations in her notes regaring one Valerie Plame Wilson:
On one page of my interview notes, for example, I wrote the name “Valerie Flame.” Yet, as I told Mr. Fitzgerald, I simply could not recall where that came from, when I wrote it or why the name was misspelled.
I testified that I did not believe the name came from Mr. Libby, in part because the notation does not appear in the same part of my notebook as the interview notes from him.
…
My third interview with Mr. Libby occurred on July 12, two days before Robert D. Novak’s column identified Ms. Plame for the first time as a C.I.A. operative. I believe I spoke to Mr. Libby by telephone from my home in Sag Harbor, N.Y.
I told Mr. Fitzgerald I believed that before this call, I might have called others about Mr. Wilson’s wife. In my notebook I had written the words “Victoria Wilson” with a box around it, another apparent reference to Ms. Plame, who is also known as Valerie Wilson.
I told Mr. Fitzgerald that I was not sure whether Mr. Libby had used this name or whether I just made a mistake in writing it on my own. Another possibility, I said, is that I gave Mr. Libby the wrong name on purpose to see whether he would correct me and confirm her identity.
I also told the grand jury I thought it was odd that I had written “Wilson” because my memory is that I had heard her referred to only as Plame. Mr. Fitzgerald asked whether this suggested that Mr. Libby had given me the name Wilson. I told him I didn’t know and didn’t want to guess.
In the first case, dealing with the name ‘Flame’ Miller states the name is nowhere near notes on discussions with Libby. In the second case where the name is ‘Victoria’ – and is on July 12 – Miller hints that it could have been a trap she set for Libby to confirm the name. The pathetic thing is this ‘Victoria’ designation comes well after Wilson outed himself in the NY Times and Miller admits, in her notes, she knew Wilson’s wife had something to do with his trip much earlier (she has that noted nearly a month earlier in the June 23rd meeting). Mrs. Wilson is not news at this stage. Wilson is out in the open and his wife was tagged to him when he was known as ‘clandestine guy’ with no name attached.
And I can see some handwriting experts being called into court as well. Fitzgerald missed the most obvious check on notes: where they all written at the same time! Apparently not (page 18 PDF):
… an entry on the second page of Ms. Miller’s notes regarding her June 23 conversation with Mr. libby reads “(Wife works in bureau?).” An entry on the fourth page, referring to the July 8 interview, contains an entry, also in parenthesis, “(wife works in Winpac).” … The condition of the original pages (e.g., the color of the ink and the weight of the markings) may allow Mr. Libby to ask Ms. Miller whether it is possible that she did not write the parenthetical references to Mr. Wilson’s wife when she interviewed Mr. Libby, but added them later, based on information she learned from a source other than Mr. Libby.
Emphasis in the original. Fitz probably sent out xeroxed copies, but the hint is in the pen line width. Even in a black and white copy you can detect different pens easily if they have different widths and ink flows. Team Libby has something and I think they have caught Fitzgerald cold. And they have her with a different source on Plame (page 19 PDF):
Ms. Miller’s notebools are also replete with various formulations of Ms. Wilson’s name: “Valerie Flame,” “Valery Plame,” “Valerie P.” :V.F.?”and Victoria Wilson – works in unit.” The first such reference, however, is ‘separated by two pages’ from the end of her July 9 interview with Mr. Libby.
Emphasis mine. The July 8 meeting was the second of the three meetings with Libby – the last being four short days later on July 12. What is amazing is the first mention of Plame is after the second meeting and before the third and final meeting! Clearly Miller was talking to a lot of people if somehow there was a two page distance from the 2nd meeting with Libby and the first mention of Plame. This throws Fitzgerald’s timeline all to hell. I will end with this:
Ms.
WilsonMiller does not deny that conversations she had with other reporters or other government officials about Ms. Wilson are directly relevant to this case.
She then goes on to make the ridiculous claim these are not relevant to Libby’s defense. Ridiculous. If Plame is first mentioned between the 2nd and 3rd meeting with Libby then these contacts are essential to prove he did not discuss the name Wilson or Plame prior to Wilson outing himself, and that Miller clearly learned of these names from someone else! Checkmate. More tomorrow if time permits.
Maybe her source on Valerie was John Bolton. I can see no other reason why he would take time out of his day to go visit her in jail.
Jailed Reporter Is Distanced From News, Not Elite Visitors
The who’s who of friends, supporters and Washington and New York luminaries includes John R. Bolton, President Bush’s new ambassador to the United Nations, former “NBC Nightly News” anchor Tom Brokaw and former senator Robert J. Dole (R-Kan.). Gonzalo Marroquin, president of the Inter-American Press Society and director of the Guatemalan daily Prensa Libre has been by
SBD
I also told the grand jury I thought it was odd that I had written “Wilson†because my memory is that I had heard her referred to only as Plame
Apparently the only affirmative memory Miller does have is Val being referred to as Plame.
No big, AJ…thought you want to know…I think you meant 2nd to the last paragraph…MILLER, not Wilson.
For those of you who are wondering why you can’t log on to some of your favorites, like JOM, and of course, The Squiggler . .. here is the latest update. Please pass the word.
I’m hoping many of you will be coming to AJ’s site for your Plame fix while TM is down. Thanks AJ.
So When Did Miller Know About Plame?…
Second day in a row I’m referencing AJStrata. No one better at analyzing these things. This one is about the Libby filing today which is quite large, 45 pages long (JustOneMinute has the whole thing in .PDF form). AJ has gone through it and fo…
It all simply confirms what Andrea Mitchell let slip out- that it was widely know among those reporters that covered the CIA that Plame was a desk jockey at Langley, and married to Yellowcake Wilson.
And what is with Millers’ notes refering to Plame in different ways? Victoria? Flame? VF? If you are taking notes, you would always want to reference a person the same way each time, wouldn’t you? It avoids confusing yourself later when you go back and read the notations.
Was Miller doing this on purpose? Some strange way of CYA? Or am I a conspiracy theory junkie?
I know this is a very painful experience for Lewis Libby, but I hope this goes to trial. I particularly want to see the cross examination of “FatBoy” Timmy Russert. He’s a lying sack of excrement and it will be his comeuppance.
SBD said: Maybe her source on Valerie was John Bolton.
I speculated about Bolton as leaker last summer during Senate confirmation hearings on his appointment to U.N.
Remember the emails between Bolton and somebody else (can’t remember who). Bolton was HOT tempered about WMD intel from CIA.
Dems refused to vote until they were given classified info from NSA meetings conducted by Bolton. White House initially refused but finally provided copy with all names REDACTED and the Dems were in an uproar, saying they wanted to know the names. Why??
I think they wanted to see Plame’s name tied to Bolton’s complaining of skewered intel on WMD in Iraq. Wanting to tie Bolton to WH conspiracy to out Plame??
http://americanthinker.com/articles.php?article_id=5465
I think that the latest inanity from MSM in L’Affair Plame-that she was the U.S. intelligence community’s last, best hope at unearthing the (secret?) Iraninan nuclear program is a good indication that they know that this case is going nowhere as presently constituted.
Either that or Miller and Libby have coordinated quite an alibi. It’s plausible. Don’t say it’s not. Wasn’t Libby meeting with Miller in jail?
I suppose he might have asked her what he had told her and talked to her about since he might not have remembered. Who knows.
Leave all possibilities open unless you can absolutely rule them out, or else you might get snagged like Fitzgerald.
It seems interesting, though, that Fitzgerald seemingly hasn’t pursued other people that Miller may have talked to regarding this matter…. Is this guy trying to get to the bottom of this or not?
Let’s not forget that Miller was the reporter that had all of the inside information regarding Iraq’s WMD’s before the war. She has been berated by the MSM for getting it so wrong and the NYT excused themselves for the inaccurate reporting. If the plan was to discredit the administration the entire time, then who do you think Miller’s source was for all of these exclusive Iraq WMD stories before the war? What was Valerie’s job again?? Didn’t she work in the WMD department? She probably knew Valerie by her CIA name of Plame and it took her a few times to figure out that Valerie Plame was Valerie Wilson, the WMD expert who fed her the exclusive stories leading up to the war. The recent revelation that Valerie was working on issues regarding Iran is just a red herring to hide her roll in the false WMD information she fed to Judith Miller.
SBD
One more thing, Miller’s use of Valerie Flame was not a mispelling, she was referring to her by what she was:
From Dictionary.com
flame
see add fuel to the fire (flames); burst into (flames); fan the flames; go up in flames; shoot down (in flames).
SBD
Seixon, Libby never visited Miller while she was in jail.
Bolton did, but he has never been suggested as one of her sources.
No one under any real suspicion would have been dumb enough to contact her then.
This is getting more delicious by the day. And to think that the moonbats think the MSM is too far right, and Stephen Colbert speaks truth to power. We may have to build a rubber room the size of Detroit to handle them all going out of their minds before it is all over.
shawa wrote:Remember the emails between Bolton and somebody else (can’t remember who). Bolton was HOT tempered about WMD intel from CIA.
That person would be none other than Carl Ford who happens to also be the person who wrote the INR memo regarding Joe Wilson’s trip that was sent to Powell and reportedly aboard Airforce One on the President’s trip to Africa.
SBD
SBD
AJ,
Regarding this passage:
Ms. Miller’s notebools are also replete with various formulations of Ms. Wilson’s name: “Valerie Flame,†“Valery Plame,†“Valerie P.†:V.F.?â€and Victoria Wilson – works in unit.â€
That last formulation, “Victoria Wilson – works in unit.” is interesting…especially the “works in unit” part. Kinda indicates to me that Miller’s source was someone in CIA’s WINPAC.
Here’s the scenario: Miller calls a source at the CIA WINPAC and asks: “Do you know who Ambassador Joe Wilson’s wife is?” Answer: “Yeah. Victoria Wilson — she works in my (the) unit.” Can’t explain the “Victoria” error…maybe Miller heard it incorrectly or her source didn’t know Joe’s wife very well or knew her primarily as “Mrs. Wilson” rather than “Valerie” and thus erroneously called her Victoria.
Who knows…maybe Miller had a good relationship with the WINPAC director’s secretary and just called her up and asked the question.
It would seem that either Michael Kranish at the Boston Globe used Miller’s notes for this story, or he had access to the same source.
Plame’s cover was that she worked for a firm called Brewster Jennings & Associates. But aside from a post office box and a phone number, the firm did not exist.
Still, when she gave $1,000 to Al Gore’s presidential campaign in 2000 under her married name of Victoria Wilson, she listed her employer as Brewster Jennings and said her occupation was ”analyst.”
The fact is that she did not use Victoria Wilson, she used Valerie Wilson.
SBD
Was **Victoria** her covert *leaking* name, or the name she gave reporters she conferred with?