Oct 28 2005
For Not Leaking, Libby Indicted
Folks, do you understand what Fitzgerald has done? It is clear that Libby Fitzgerald and the White House had traced down who Wilson was and how his wife had pushed him for the trip (which was clearly against the desires of the intel community). It was all in response to the Kristof and Pincus articles – sourced by the Wilsons.
But when Libby spoke to reporters he refused to confirm any queries regarding Plame’s CIA job – pawning off his knowledge as coming from other reporters (which it was coming from). So, in his efforts to not divulge the knowledge he had from inside the government, Libby misled lied to reporters when they called asking for confirmation. And these statements to reporters lawyers, when recounted to the grand jury and investigators, are the evidence he was lying to the grand jury (though I only see accurate testimony about lying to the press).
Libby was indicted for not confirming Valerie’s CIA position using his inside information. He only acknowledged press accounts he heard about. Libby was indicted for not outing Valerie Plame using the knowledge he had to out her…..
Stunning – isn’t it.
Powerline have posts here and here. Michelle as her rolling post here (same as before). Tom Maguires take here. Note to TM: the prosecutor selected what he wanted in the indictment. I am not convinced Libby’s whole testimony will not clear him.
AJ
I really think that this is the crux of the downfall of Wilson…he really is between a rock and a hard spot…he is left with leaving well enough alone with no defamation suit, but with yet another pedaled LIE under his belt or proceeding with a civil suit (ego he does not lack) in which Pincus and Kristof will either have to confirm Valerie outed herself or plead the 5th (tantamount to admitting).
When the dust settles this will be the realization of the press.
Joe The Liar Wilson is not speaking…. seems he now has a
mouthpieceLawyer running interference for him.Now for someone with his need for speaking in front of the camera, what are we to make of this?
Things that make you go hmmm…
And so far I have been way off the mark. Still looking for that silver lining though, when the Wilsons, CIA, MSM, and Dem Party are held accountable. Maybe Fitz will come through yet.
Burbank
The fact that Wilson is not knocking people over to gett o the camera is evidence this was his worst case scenario
Good point, Mary.
Do we know yet who told Novak?
This is so confusing.
Snap-
Nope
Friday night Hugs to Mudville
The New Untouchables coming to C-SPAN this fall…….
Fitz is just like Ness,
as Eliot spoke,
The reporters cried and asked:
But what about Karl? But what about Karl?
The Dems got all dressed up
but feel they went to a funeral!
Bill O thinks Scooter is one of the Little Rascals!
GO SCOOTER GO! – Free Libby Now!
“If you commit a big crime then you are crazy, and the more heinous the crime the crazier you must be. Therefore you are not responsible, and nothing is your fault.†Peggy
Well he’s building the suit already, starting with this week’s 60 minutes. According to Drudge, he’s appearing with Ed Bradly to talk about how much harm has occurred to Valery and how there have been threats against her.
Plame Game – Libby Takes the Bullet – Mac is Back!
For all those detractors, I back….!
I will now be blogging from an undislosed location under a 10k generator from the ravaged Florida landscape.
Reading the 22 page (what a change from 22 indictments eh?), so-called indictment of Scooter Lib…
This guy is such a drama queen. What a peformance. I just don’t believe him at all.
Look at Drudge:
JOE WILSON, HUSBAND OF THE UNMASKED CIA AGENT VALERIE PLAME, SAYS THERE HAVE BEEN THREATS AGAINST HER – “60 MINUTES†SUNDAY
Fri Oct 28 2005 20:56:07 ET
Former CIA Colleagues say the Unmasking of Plame Could Cause Harm to Other Agents
Joe Wilson, whose wife’s unmasking as a CIA agent is at the center of the special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald’s investigation, said today that that his wife, Valerie Plame, has been threatened. Wilson talks to Ed Bradley in his first interview since Fitzgerald announced the indictment of I. Lewis Libby. It will be broadcast on 60 MINUTES Sunday Oct. 30 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.
“There have been specific threats [against Plame]. Beyond that I just can’t go,†Wilson tells Bradley. Wilson says he and his wife have discussed security for her with “several agencies.â€
Former CIA colleagues say that by revealing her identity, harm could be caused to the CIA’s agents and operations. “If a CIA agent is exposed, then everyone coming in contact with that agent is exposed,†says Jim Marcinkowski, a former CIA agent who trained with Plame at the top-secret Virginia facility known as “the Farm.†“There is a possibility that there were other agents that would use that same kind of a cover. So they may have been using Brewster Jennings just like her,†said Marcinkowski, referring to the fictional firm the CIA set up as her cover that also came out when journalists, including Robert Novak, disclosed it.
Marcinkowski also points out, “[Plame] is the wife of an ambassador, for example. Now, since this happened…they’ll know there’s a possibility that the wife of a U.S. ambassador is a CIA agent.â€
Another friend, once a covert CIA operative, says people who say Plame wasn’t in a sensitive position need to understand how intricate a cover story is, regardless of what an agent is working on. “Cover is…for a clandestine officer, can be different things at different times. We change cover. We modify cover based on how we need it. But that cover is linked together,†she tells Bradley. “If you start to unravel one part of that, you can unravel the whole thing.â€
Rep. Rush Holt (D.-NJ), a former intelligence analyst and member of the House Intelligence Committee, agrees. “I think any time the identity of a covert agent is released, there is some damage — and it’s serious.†Holt says it’s possible agents overseas could be arrested or even killed, but “if there were, and I’d been briefed on it, I couldn’t talk about it,†he tells Bradley. He did say he has been assured the CIA was mitigating the effects of the leak. “They have taken the usual procedures to protect the damage from spreading.â€
Those procedures began the moment Valerie Plame learned her cover was blown. Upon finding out about the leak of her name, “she felt like she’d been hit in the stomach. It took her breath away,†said Wilson. Then she methodically went to work, he says, “making lists of what she had to do to ensure that her assets, her projects, her programs and her operations were protected.â€
Wilson tells Bradley, contrary to reports that many knew Plame was in the CIA, that only he and three other people knew. “Well, very few people outside the intelligence community [knew she was CIA]. Her parents and her brother, essentially,†says Wilson.
Developing… http://www.drudgereport.com/flash4.htm
Rush asks the following: Who told Robert Novak? I want to know if Wilson and Plame were called to testify under oath before the grand jury. I want to know what they were asked.?
From the corner: http://corner.nationalreview.com/
THE WORD ON LIBBY — AND THE BIG PICTURE
The first is that they view the indictment against Lewis Libby as very strong. One source called it “as clear-cut an indictment” as one would ever see, and the consensus is that Libby is in serious trouble. If Libby lied as much as Fitzgerald accuses him of lying, the sources say, then Libby acted in an astonishingly reckless way…..
….. observers are unanimously appalled by the performance of Libby’s lawyer, Joseph Tate. This is something that has been discussed for quite a while now — at least since Libby’s infamous “the aspens will already be turning” letter to Judith Miller. What lawyer, they ask, would have allowed his client to write and send such a letter — clearly raising suspicions that Libby was trying to influence testimony and possibly obstruct the investigation? Now, Libby is said to be in the market for a good criminal defense lawyer. If he had done that earlier, the observers say, he might not be in the trouble he is in now…. And
THE INDICTMENT DOES NOT ALLEGE ALL COVER-UP AND NO CRIME [Andy McCarthy] The indictment does not allege an offense of the espionage act (18 USC 793), but it does indicate there may well have been one.
There are several crimes laid out in the espionage act, but the one that applies most closely on these facts requires the government to prove that a person (a) obtained classified information lawfully (e.g., in his official capacity), communicated it to someone not entitled to receive it, and (c) did so willfully.
The indictment charges the mere fact that Plame worked at the CIA was classified information. (“At all relevant times … Valerie Wilson was employed by the CIA, and her employment status was classified.â€)….. The rest of the equation is: did he act willfully? ….