Reporter (Matt Cooper): Not Sure Libby Perjurer

CBSnews.com ^ | 10/31/05 | unspecified

[smonk]

(CBS) A federal indictment alleges that Vice President Cheney's now-former chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby committed perjury during, among other things, a conversation he had with Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper.

Cooper says he's not so sure.

Libby resigned Friday after he was indicted by a grand jury, accused of obstructing its two-year investigation of the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame and lying about an effort to blow Plame's cover.

Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said the CIA leak investigation is substantially complete, though "it's not over."

Fitzgerald wouldn't comment about the possible involvement in the case of President Bush's closest adviser, Karl Rove, who remains under investigation.

CBS News chief White House correspondent John Roberts reports that Fitzgerald wants to know why Rove didn't tell the grand jury about a telephone conversation with Cooper in which he identified Plame. Rove's legal team hopes to convince the prosecutor it was an honest omission.

Cooper writes his personal experience in the current issue of Time.

[ntnychik]

Nice pumpkin patch, especially the moonbat!

[Deb]

Matt will change his tune when he gets home and his wife, Mandy Grunwald, beats the crap out him with Hillary's purse.

[conservative in nyc]

Fitzgerald interviewed Cheney and others in the administration about the leak. I don't know if he saw any notes from Libby's meeting with Cheney. I don't think he had to in order to draft the indictment the way he did, though.

[bray]

Starting to look like Russert said, Scooter said, hmmmm???

ACME Indictment Comapany, we have a delivery for Fitzcoyote!!

Pray for W and Our Troops

[potlatch]

LOL, shall I cut off their heads and put them in my pumpkin patch too?

[potlatch]

I like the spooky eyes of the ones who are hiding there!

[conservative in nyc]

That's not the way I read it. Libby testified not that he forgot about when he heard about Plame, rather he lead the reporters to think he didn't know about her.

Where do you see that? This is Libby's grand jury testimony on the Russert conversation, from the indictment:

. . . . And then [Russert] said, you know, did you know that this -- excuse me, did you know that Ambassador Wilson's wife works at the CIA? And I was a little taken aback by that. I remember being taken aback by it. And I said -- he may have said a little more but that was -- he said that. And I said, no, I don't know that. And I said, no, I don't know that intentionally because I didn't want him to take anything I was saying as in any way confirming what he said, because at that point in time I did not recall that I had ever known, and I thought this is something that he was telling me that I was first learning. And so I said, no, I don't know that because I want to be very careful not to confirm it for him, so that he didn't take my statement as confirmation for him.

The indictment does NOT quote any testimony from Cooper or Russert at all.

[oceanview]

I had heard there were notes - that this was the basis by which Fitzgerald is showing that Libby knew about Plame before he talked with the reporters (even though the reporters themselves already knew). Now you are saying that Cheney provided this information? I have not seen that.

If Libby's perjury is based on difference with his own notes, that he provided, then its going to be easy to claim that he simply did not properly review them before testifying. its going to be hard to believe that he willfully and purposefully testified contrary to his own notes, that he provided.

[conservative in nyc]

All I'm saying is Vice President Cheney spoke with Fitzgerald. I have no idea what he said to Fitzgerald. But one would think Fitzgerald would have the Vice President about his meeting with Libby if he knew about it at the time.

[Dolphy]

Miller never definitively fingered Libby as her source. She was being very, very vague, perhaps deliberately so.

Herein lies another mystery. I don't think Fitzgerald brings charges if not for Miller's testimony, yet her description of her testimony makes her look like a horrible witness. This may be why Fitzgerald couldn't charge Libby with leaking Plame's name...all he can count on from Miller is a vague conversation with a deliberate plan to disguise her source as a former Hill staffer.

And Fitzgerald traded a lot for Miller's testimony when he promised not to question her about any other sources.

[ironman]

And I said, no, I don't know that intentionally because I didn't want him to take anything I was saying as in any way confirming what he said, because at that point in time I did not recall that I had ever known, and I thought this is something that he was telling me that I was first learning

Notice the use of the word intentionally. He's saying "I don't know that" because he telling Russert a fib. He does know it, but he want's Russsert to believe he's never heard it before. Then he says "at that point in time I did not recall that I had ever known [that reporters knew it]". Then he says I thought "this is something that he was telling me that I was first learning". This is thought he put into his mind to carry on the game with Russsert, much like saying to yourself "I know nothing" when he really does know something. Get it

Reworded:And I said, "no, I don't know that" intentionally [telling him a lie] because I didn't want him to take anything I was saying as in any way confirming what he said, because at that point in time I did not recall that I had ever known [that reporters knew], and I thought [to myself inorder not to slip up with Russert] "this is something that he was telling me that I was first learning" [so Russert really would believe me].

[Homer1]

Well it seems like Cooper may have committed perjury if he claimed that the call to Rove was about Plame, when all of the evidence indicates that the call was about something else (Welfare Reform?).

[Steve_Seattle]

If I were Libby, here is how I would defend that comment from his testimony about the Russert conversation: I would say that I was taken aback because I was surprised that Russert knew about Plame, and I didn't know if confirmation of that would be proper. I was a bit flummoxed. Much later on, during my testimony, I confused the reason for why I was taken aback by Russert's comment. It was not, as I mistakenly testified, because I did not already have that information, but because I was surprised Russert already had it, and I wasn't sure what to do. There wasn't much of a time gap between my conversation with Cheney and my conversation with Russert, and months later, when I testified, it kind of all bled together. There was nothing improper in my conversation with Cheney; there would have been no motive to lie about it.

[bvw]

DU? Or Fairy Daily Kos?

[Steve_Seattle]

"The indictment claims that, "LIBBY did not advise Mathew 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 had worked at the CIA;"

If that is an accurate quote from the indictment, that portion of the indictment is in serious trouble. Libby could strike it down merely by introducing into evidence that exchange from Meet The Press. It would be a slam-dunk acquittal on that count. Cooper himself contradicts the indictment.

[kabar]

Agree. The quote is from the indictment at the bottom of page 13. Libby Indictment

Of course, there is also the possibility that Cooper said one thing under oath to the GJ and another thing to Russert on MTP. It does undermine Cooper's credibility if that were the case.

[oceanview]

Did Cheney testify before or after Libby? I can't believe they would not have synced up on this.

I really believe there are notes - that those notes are the basis for Fitzgerald seeing that Libby heard about Wilson's wife before talking with the reporters. If Libby provided those notes, I don't see how he can poerjur himself against the basis for truth which he himself freely provided. If however, Fitzgerald obtained those notes by some other manner, and used them to trap Libby, then Libby's got a problem.

[txhurl]

Agreed & bttt.

This whole thing was to win the left the WH a year ago - it imploded, thanks to Judy Miller, and now the discovery process hopefully will uncover the Hillary-inspired conspiracy that it really is, with a few nations thrown in who should be charged with attempting to influence a US presidential election.

[irons_player]

"NO way a jury convicts him"

Its Washington D.c, if you're a Republican or work for one, you're guilty just for breathing.

[Eagles Talon IV]

You will know you are right if the out of control left and their pocket pals in the MSM ramp up their rhetoric to even more outrageous levels.