Oct 28 2005
Fitzgerald Speaks..
Yes, I will probably live blog the news conference at 2:00 PM – but this is just silly to spend a lot of time on. Check back here, I will append it to this post. No promises on depth of analysis, I am truly stunned and how lame this is.
Keep scrolling – I am adding to the end
Grand Jurors are now in the courtroom with judge and special prosecutor and Judge (Robinson). Waiting on verbal news first. Reuters is reporting Libby was indicted on obstruction of justice, false statement, perjury. This being backed by AP and FOX News.
Now we need to see what it was all about. This is truly a lead balloon indictment. This it?
More to come.
Perjury is about his testimony with Cooper and his rec0llection that is what he recalled NEARLY A YEAR LATER!
Geez, what a crock. And what about Wilson’s deliberate lies!!
Nothing. Wilson concocts stories and plants them anonymously in the press, tipping his hand he knew about classified material (the Niger Forgeries) and he is let go?
Fitzgerald is an idiot. This is not justice. This is a farce. Libby lied and Wilson did what?
Sandy Bergler comes rushing back to mind.
UPDATE:
Nothing about outing Plame – which means she was outed before Libby. Nothing on Rove.
Nothing here folks, move along, move along…..
UPDATE:
5 counts because Libby’s story adjusted over time (was it refined over time?). One count: Libby told the FBI that he told Cooper that reporters were telling him about Plame. They say that is not true. Funny thing is – it could be true! Libby could have told Cooper he was hearing it from reporters (that is consistent with Cooper’s take) and not tell Cooper he heard it also from inside the administration. These are incredibly weak charges.
I still cannot believe this is all there is? Did I say lead balloon today??
UPDATE:
FOX News reporting Fitzgerald was going indict Rove but some clarification was provided by his lawyer. Well, folks. You can follow this yourselves, but it the media is really hyping it beyond belief. Remember: Innocent until proven guilty.
UPDATE:
Libby resigns – for telling the press the truth about lies they printed. Is this for real? I said what this would mean if Fitzgerald indicted a ham sandwich. He can now go down in history as the man who indicted people for telling the truth! He has made a mockery of our justice system and tried to criminalize political debate.
UPDATE:
Folks, the grand jury indicted Libby for not telling the PRESS he learned of Valerie’s job at the CIA from administration officials. Now did Libby say to the grand jury – I only heard about Valerie from the press? If so, he was caught in a lie or inability to recall the sequence of events over a week’s period, but nearly a year later.
The indictment is finally out. Strangely, Fitzgerald idenitifies Wilson’s lie which betrayed his knowledge of classified material – 8 months after his trip:
On May 6, 2003, the New York Times published a column by Nicholas Kristof which disputed the accuracy of the “sixteen words†in the State of the Union address. The column reported that, following a request from the Vice President’s office for an investigation of allegations that Iraq sought to buy uranium from Niger, an unnamed former ambassador was sent on a trip to Niger in 2002 to investigate the allegations. According to the column, the ambassador reported back to the CIA and State Department in early 2002 that the allegations were unequivocally wrong and based on forged documents.
Why didn’t Fitzgerald investigate this leak of classified information to Wilson and to the Press? And clearly there were reporters calling to confirm details at that time
Prior to June 12, 2003, Washington Post reporter Walter Pincus contacted the Office of the Vice President in connection with a story he was writing about Wilson’s trip. LIBBY participated in discussions in the Office of the Vice President concerning how to respond to Pincus.
So up until then all sorts of information is coming to Libby that Valerie was Joe’s husband who worked at the CIA (you can see a list of contacts in the document). Then this
On or about June 12, 2003, LIBBY was advised by the Vice President of the United States that Wilson’s wife worked at the Central Intelligence Agency in the Counterproliferation Division. LIBBY understood that the Vice President had learned this information from the CIA.
Advised again? This makes no sense. But at least we understand the timeline perfectly now. Kristof teams up with the Wilsons to write the first article – containing classified informaion on methods, sources and results of the Niger trip, and then also the classified information Wilson should not have known about the Niger documents which surface 8 days later. Somehow all this snuck by Fitzgerald who was concerned about leaking of classified information??? The guy obviously was not interested in discovering the truth – he had agenda.
I am taking a break for Pat’s statement:
Valerie was a classified CIA officer and was not well known. Well, was it known outside the WH?
And that is all the background. He has nothing on whether the press knew ahead of time. He is another Inspector Clouseau.
The guy is nervous and sounds like he knows this is a joke. Did I say lead balloon again?
He is babbling and trying to defend his results. He knows this is bogus. He wants us to believe it is important for everyone who testifies to be honest. So were the Wilson’s honest Pat? We know he lied in May, June and July!
Pat has nothing. The problem Pat has is there has been, and still is, doubt about whether Valerie sent Wilson! The Wilson’s and there defenders claimed up until today (when they must change their toon of course) Valerie was not critical to Joe getting the assignment. Now when Libby testifies about Valerie and not being sure – is he testifying about her job at the CIA or her role in Wilson getting the job! Read these statements by Libby and recall his focus is on who sent Wilson. If no one told him that Wilson was undercover – he could care less about her job.
Let’s go back to the indictment:
Shortly after publication of the article in The New Republic, LIBBY spoke by telephone with his then Principal Deputy and discussed the article. That official asked LIBBY whether information about Wilson’s trip could be shared with the press to rebut the allegations that the Vice President had sent Wilson. LIBBY responded that there would be complications at the CIA in disclosing that information publicly, and that he could not discuss the matter on a non-secure telephone line.
Note that the complications are not whether they can point to Valerie’s job – we don’t know what they are. Fitzgerald just throws out some vague reference.
More
On or about June 23, 2003, LIBBY met with New York Times reporter Judith Miller. During this meeting LIBBY was critical of the CIA, and disparaged what he termed “selective leaking†by the CIA concerning intelligence matters. In discussing the CIA’s handling of Wilson’s trip to Niger, LIBBY informed her that Wilson’s wife might work at a bureau of the CIA.
Notice Fitzgerald never states that Libby told Miller Wilson’s name. This is the notoriouss ‘clandestine guy’ meeting. Miller’s notes say ‘Wilson’ but I have yet to see anywhere Miller state Libby told her ‘Joe Wilson’. Also note that all he says is the wife works somewhere in the CIA. Up to this point Fitzgerald has not demonstrated Libby knew or had been warned that Valerie was under cover. Not once. It is also disturbing that Fitzgerald follows the media-Wilson line without any doubt with regards to its veracity.
In fact, Fitzgerald has exculpatory information in the indictment
Also on or about July 8, 2003, LIBBY met with the Counsel to the Vice President in an anteroom outside the Vice President’s Office. During their brief conversation, LIBBY asked the Counsel to the Vice President, in sum and substance, what paperwork there would be at the CIA if an employee’s spouse undertook an overseas trip.
So, at this late date and after two of the discussions with the press that are the basis of the indictments, Libby is still trying to get details on the trip and Valeries role. Sorry Pat, that illustrates a lack of firm knowledge when talking to reporters. Was Libby checking what repoerters were telling him? So far nothing about Plame’s job. Libby seems completely focused on her role in getting the trip set up for Joe.
And as far as telling Novak -wrong. Novak told an official who told Libby. Busted Pat
On or about July 10 or July 11, 2003, LIBBY spoke to a senior official in the White House (“Official Aâ€) who advised LIBBY of a conversation Official A had earlier that week with columnist Robert Novak in which Wilson’s wife was discussed as a CIA employee involved in Wilson’s trip. LIBBY was advised by Official A that Novak would be writing a story about Wilson’s wife.
In this instance, it is clear Novak told Libby via a conduit. So Libby was not Novak’s source. This indictment is a sad joke at that. Same with Cooper, he told Libby – not vise versa
On or about July 12, 2003, in the afternoon, LIBBY spoke by telephone to Cooper, who asked whether LIBBY had heard that Wilson’s wife was involved in sending Wilson on the trip to Niger. LIBBY confirmed to Cooper, without elaboration or qualification, that he had heard this information too.
The first indictment is a he said, she said – and Fitzgerald simply decided to believe Russtert and not Libby
During a conversation with Tim Russert of NBC News on July 10 or 11,
2003, Russert asked LIBBY if LIBBY was aware that Wilson’s wife worked
for the CIA. LIBBY responded to Russert that he did not know that, and
Russert replied that all the reporters knew it. LIBBY was surprised by this
statement because, while speaking with Russert, LIBBY did not recall that
he previously had learned about Wilson’s wife’s employment from the Vice
President.
He did not state that he heard the news about Valerie Plame. Why? Because he was discussing whether he leaked it to Russert. Russert claims (and Fitzgerald claims from there) that Wilson’s wife was not discussed. Russert’s statement is actually much narrower than that. Fitzgerald may not have thought to press the issue. But why would Libby say anything about knowing the information ahead of time when all he was saying he did not tell Russert, he recalls Russert telling him (like Cooper)?
During a conversation with Matthew Cooper of Time magazine on or about
July 12, 2003, LIBBY told Cooper that reporters were telling the
administration that Wilson’s wife worked for the CIA, but that LIBBY did
not know if this was true;
This is 100% accurate rergarding who told whom what (not in details of course). libby did allude that ‘heard that too’, but never told Cooper whether it was true. Libby did not say he did not know it was true at the time, he said he told Cooper this. This is simply astoundingly poor work on the prosecutor’s side. Is Fitzgerald indicting LIbby for not telling the press the truth???? Folks, this is October and November of 2003 – months after the events. And anyone want to lay odds this is cherry picked! That someplace else Libby admits the WH was looking into Joe Wilson and how he got the trip, and the fact he talked to the CIA. If Libby admitted to all this then there is no false statement. this statement is about his recollections with reporters and what he told them.
Let’s go to Grand Jury testimony (now a year after the events)
i. Russert asked LIBBY if LIBBY knew that Wilson’s wife worked for
the CIA, and told LIBBY that all the reporters knew it; and
ii. At the time of this conversation, LIBBY was surprised to hear that
Wilson’s wife worked for the CIA;
I would like to see the actual testimony. Did Libby say he was surprised at the time at this news, or surprised to hear Russert say it at the time. The first version could be faulty memory on the sequence of events. The second one would be an honest and accurate statement, to be surprised so many in the press knew.
Now the Mathew Cooper item – and folks Fitzgerald is really stretching here. He has applied his mind reading powers:
LIBBY did not advise Matthew Cooper, on or about July 12, 2003, that
LIBBY had heard other reporters were saying that Wilson’s wife worked for the CIA, nor did LIBBY advise him that LIBBY did not know whether this assertion was true; rather, LIBBY confirmed to Cooper, without qualification, that LIBBY had heard that Wilson’s wife worked at the CIA; and…
This is more he said, she said. I am just not understanding why Fitzgerald is taking the word of Matt Cooper as gospel here.
Oh well. Libby can pay for his own lawyers and will probably be able to win this in court since there is no smoking gun and a lot of innuendo holding this together.
Enjoy the weekend all!
Talk about a sad day.
Please, no more talk of what a great Prosecuter Fitz is.
Smells of Election 04. Who will expose the Lies of the Left?
Sad. Sad. Day.
Make sure to check out the senior senator from Massachussetts’ take on the indictment. Or not, if you had a large lunch.
http://elephantsinacademia.blogspot.com/2005/10/note-on-edward-m-kennedy.html
It is obvious the Left is making this into the big Lie to the Lead up to War, a War based on lies.
What will the Left do to bring down America? Obviously anything and everything possible. Fitz is just another contributor to the demise of the US. Probably antiwar and a sufferer of BDS.
It seems to me like these people like Wilson, Plame and the VIPS get the protection from the government.
Who protects us from them?
I am pretty sure that people like Wilson, Plame, and the VIPS aren’t protecting me from terrorists. They are giving propaganda support to the terrorists.
I think they should look at the business dealings of these CIA cover companies and Wilson’s consulting company and see who their clients are.
How do you do AJ – a newby here. You and Mac have become my first stop AM/last stop PM. It’s joy to witness your minds in action, and to thus improve my own.
Re: Wilson/Plame. I’ve been wondering for quite a while – moreso since the revelations about Galloway/oil-for-food – whether that wouldn’t be an avenue worth delving into. Wilson fits that pattern of anti-sanctions on Iraq (1991- & on), cozy w/ Uncle Saddam, involved now with anti-US, pro-enemy factions.
It just always comes back to – in my mind – who benefits, and in what ways. What was the original motivation behind Wilson’s attitude/actions? From what we’ve seen of them, she may have been the spy, but he’s the operator: my guess is the Niger trip was HIS idea – not to find out if there were yellowcake transactions, but to be in a position to insist there were not – and so of course Bush should leave Saddam, and thereby the oil-for-food program, in place.
You all are the ones with resources – what do you think? Anyone else wonder whether there’s a possibility/probability? Or is there just excessive fetid Washington DC air wafting in my direction?
It is a great day! The longer Fitz spoke, the stock market keep going up and the reporters were looking more sad with each question.
Our President has that smile again and that little walk that the left hates. It has been a long week. Group Hug for everyone!
Fitz spits into the wind.
I just had a thought. Maybe someone can help me.
It sounds like the prosecutor really made the case that Libby told the reporters about Plame, not the other way around.
So why didn’t he indict him for the leak?? Seems like he could have.
I wonder if it won’t be a good thing that this goes to court.
Wilson, Plame, perhaps others can be made to testify in open court.
It might show people something.
Does this make any sense?
I heard Wilson’s lawyer on TV. Sickening and reeking of hypocricy.
CIA operatives should be protected from disclosure, but what if they are using secrecy and Federal protection to do bad things against the country?? I think Wilson is really trying to destroy us. These ex-CIA VIPS sound incredible. I never heard of them until recently. If Wilson was concerned about his wife, why did he draw attention to his trip to Niger??
Wilson is being championed by these guys. Maybe if there is a trial then some of this will come out?
“Radical leftist ex-CIA employees are not as rare as one might suppose. Several of them in fact have banded together to form the “Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanityâ€. This was founded by one Ray McGovern, who once worked in the CIA’s Russian desk before the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, and claims his group now contains 35 disgruntled ex-employees who left the Agency. William (“Billâ€) Christison was a member of its “steering committeeâ€, and his wife Kathleen a rank and file member. Another member, David MacMichael, has helped promote the urban myths about the CIA being involved in the drug trade. When Danny Casolaro, a Washington D.C. freelance investigator, was found dead in a hotel room, evidently having committed suicide, MacMichael helped fabricate a “theory†that the CIA or FBI had murdered him, a theory that has naturally been “adopted†by dozens of conspiracist web sites.”
http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=19643
I agree with the poster that someone should have a look at what Plame’s cover company was really doing and at the clients Wilson had for his consulting company.
I said this before somewhere.
Wilson sounds too fake to me.
Lots of media types get paid off with Saddam’s money.
Maybe these VIPS are getting paid to act as agents of influence.
They sound like propagandists, not analysts.
. . . and the distortion commences.
The Strata-Sphere steps up to the plate . . .
The VIPS are accusing Bush of going to war for oil.
I personally think it was really dumb to give Saddam all that oil money for so long. He used the money to butcher his own people and his neighbors. He bought politicians and media. He even bought the UN.
Maybe it is Wilson and the retired CIA guys in the VIPS who had a pecuniary interest in….”peace.”
One of those VIPS claims that all the CIA people know the truth but none of them have spoken up. This VIPS takes advantage of his CIA cachet but then smears his colleages as cowards.
Maybe if this goes to court it won’t be a bad thing.
AJ,
Thanks for the analysis. I appreciate your excellent effort in explaining the events as they unfold in way that makes it easy to follow.
GRAMMIEMAC writes:
“Wilson fits that pattern of anti-sanctions on Iraq (1991- & on), cozy w/ Uncle Saddam, involved now with anti-US, pro-enemy factions. ”
Can anyone show that Wilson was anti-sanctions? Is he on record about that?
Those people against the sanctions are the worst. They didn’t want to do anything to control Saddam–because they were probably benefitting from Saddam.
I think Wilson was also the acting ambassador in Iraq who helped win the release of the American hostages that Saddam took before the Kuwait war.
This might have been a Saddam ploy to boost his career.
If this Wilson was not just against the war but against the sanctions, I REALLY wonder about him.
I’m not sure we know everything…
By now everyone has read the indictments handed down on Friday afternoon and has either formed an opinion or begun spewing forth Republican talking points. I have to say this whole thing is very disturbing–no matter which side you listen to…
I am not giving anyone’s points except my own.
Bush and his guys are defending American, Iraqis and Afghans from terrorists.
Who is Wilson defending? I am pretty sure it is not Americans, Iraqis and Afghans.
Where does he get his money?
He has some consulting company. Who are his clients?
Investigate that.
Wilson is being vociferously defended by pro-terrorist media.
Fitzgerald says this is not about the war. That’s the dumbest thing I ever heard.
The Bush White House is defending me. And a prosecutor is talking sanctimoniously about protecting CIA people under cover.
I agree with that idea, of course, but what if the law is protecting the very CIA people who are mouthpieces for Saddam’s terrorists?
I am very radicalized by what I have read about Wilson and his VIPS supporters.
Wilson is whinning hypicritically about how his wife has been harmed and is endangered. If he cared about her cover, why was he publically baiting the administration?
I think that my family and I have been harmed by this liar Wilson. I think Libby and his family have been harmed by this liar Wilson.
I think Americans and Iraqis are all endangered by this liear Wilson.
And I think Mrs. Wilson is safe and protected by my enemies and even by my government.
AJ–
Is there information on what Wilson’s stated views were on the sanctions on Iraq? Maybe there could be a thread dedicated to documenting Wilson’s historic opinions about the sanctions and information about his “consulting” company.
Maybe he was some kind of go-between or fixer. Maybe he put together deals that involved Iraq. I also read that “consulting fees” can be a way of laundering money. I read about that in the context of narcotics money-laundering, but consulting firms could be used for any kind of money-laundering. Maybe Wilson got business sent his way in exchange for his advocacy on behalf of Saddam?
Did Wilson advocate for the sanctions ended? How did he think Saddam could be controlled?
Saddam got a lot of money from the Oil for Food Kickbacks.
The Oil for Food program bagan in December 1996.
But there were sanctions before that, of course. The Oil for Food was an attempt to alleviate the suffering of Iraqi people due to the sanctions. But Saddam stole that, too. He had his business partners help him steal it by charging too much for babyfood and other products and then kicking back some money to Saddam. The business partners I think the business partners also got these favorable deals in exchange for becomeing advocates for Iraqi foreign policies.
I’d like to see more history about Wilson’s advocacy for Iraqi foreign policy. I know that Saddam was against the sanctions.
Another poster said that Wilson was against the sanctions. When I see that and that he has a consulting company, I really wonder what he is up to.
Normally I wouldn’t speculate so much with so little evidence, but Wilson has been smearing people I respect, and he is a powerful public figure with CIA connections so he is fair game. I don’t think it is easy for me to do more than ask the question. It is up to Wilson to provide the evidence. Or the FBI. Wilson’s business affairs need to be made transparent. We need evidence about his business contacts and where he gets his money.
Wilson postures as a man who is speaking as a patriot because his conscience demands it. But his notes ring really false to me.
What I hear is the ring of a cash register.
I really think the FBI and the people investigating the Oil for Food should take a look at Joe Wilson’s consulting business.
Wilson reminds me of that American ambassador we sent to Stalin’s Russia. His wife bought all this Russian art stolen from the Czar, the Russian people, and the churches at really bargain-basement prices. This ambassador didn’t tell about the murders and the famine that were happening in the Ukraine, at least publically.
At that time, we were hoping the Russians would not end up on the NAZI side, I guess.
This ambassador was named Joseph Davies. He wrote a book called “Mission to Moscow.” I read it.
This Joseph Wilson is in that tradition, I think.
We need transparency about his business dealings.
I think Joseph Wilson’s “Mission to Baghdad” is probably more of a personal mission to make money.
I don’t think he cares about the security of the American or the Iraqi people. I think he is ripping us off. He sounds completely sanctimonious to me. A real big phony.
I think that prosecutor who is so special should investigate my questions.
I read in the newspaper that the CIA is hyperventilating about something to do with Plame. Of course I don’t know, but maybe they have seen the light about Joseph Wilson.
I am sure they are mostly very smart, dedicated, and patriotic.
I have a real high opinion of the FBI and CIA, but I am sure they have a few bad apples.
Remember AMES and HANSSEN? They did what they did because they were greedy, brazen, and arrogant. They felt like their brilliance wasn’t recognized. Who could believe that such high people would betray us to our enemies?
I had occassion one time to give Hanssen some information on the telephone. He seemed really nice. He was really smart, too. I was so impressed! When he was exposed, I nearly died of fright to think that I had put my trust in an FBI agent who was working for the KGB. I am sure this is very exceptional, but it happens.
This Wilson was supposedly gathering intelligence for our country.
But what if his trip was using the cover and prestige of the CIA mission for a little private enterprise?
And I still don’t understand how he could be “confused’ when he claims to have known about the Niger documents before the US government had these documents.
It really looks bad to me that he knows about these before our government did.
I don’t have a high IQ like Ambassador Wilson, but even so, I wouldn’t get confused and think I uncovered a forgery about uranium on a diplomatic mission to Niger if I didn’t.
Even if I were sipping something stronger than mint tea.
Maybe because my bank account is lower, my memory is better.
I think if that prosecutor is so special, he should try and jog Ambassador Joe’s memory.