Bttt
Some color commentary from JustOneMinute:
What we are watching today is the defense knocking the starch out of "Elliott Ness with a law degree" by highlighting a series of blunders the prosecution made. (I'm sure some want to know if Fitz is sweating as he was at the presser. Can't tell from the feed, but he does seem to be wearing that washable seersucker suit again.)
.Two of the biggest blunders to date were failing to put anything on to support the July 12 count on Miller.With that out, obstruction is only available on the Cooper count(are you kidding?) and the Russert count.Fitz seemed shook as he made what I thought was a very week argument that the jury could infer the July 12 stuff from the other conversations. .(I will detail this further tonight when I get home but he never charged Libby with perjury re Miller, only with obstruction and if that's out, it would only seem logical to tell the jury to disregard all that.)
A potentially bigger issue is the offhand remarks the judge made earlier that Libby couldn't put in the memory defense if he didn't testify..Most particualry the CIPA stuff. There was heated argument on it and at 4:30 it will continue. Basically, in stipulating to relevant facts (including that Libby was focused on all that stuff in the CIPA materials) the govt never reserved that the stipulation applied only if Libby testified.
The defense is arguing an agreement was made, not based on Libby's testimony, and they have based their opening statement and case on that agreement.
We will hear more about this.