Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Lawrence O'Donnell: No Crime in Plame Case
NewsMax ^ | July 4, 2005

Posted on 07/04/2005 7:11:53 AM PDT by MikeJ75

MSNBC commentator Lawrence O'Donnell, who broke the news Friday that notes taken by Time magazine's Matthew Cooper indictate that top Bush advisor Karl Rove leaked the name of CIA employee Valerie Plame to columnist Robert Novak, said Sunday it's likely that Rove broke no laws.

Rove's lawyer, Robert Luskin, acknowledged on Saturday that his client had indeed spoken to Cooper before the Novak column hit in July 2003. But Luskin insisted that Rove never revealed Plame's identity.

Speaking to WABC Radio host, Internet guru Matt Drudge late Sunday, O'Donnell noted: "What [Luskin] has said is very careful lawyer language. . . We live in a world where we have to discover, in the 90s, that there are people who aren't sure what the meaning of 'is' is."

The MSNBC talker posited:

"That could simply mean he did not use the words 'Valerie Plame.' He may have said [Joseph] Wilson's wife, for example. He may have said all sorts of things that still fit what we're talking about."

But even if Rove was behind the disclosure, it doesn't mean he broke any law, he argued.

"[Luskin] is insisting that Karl Rove did not commit a crime," O'Donnell told Drudge. "That may very well be the case."

The MSNBC talker said he had studied extensively the statute allegedly broken in the Plame case, concluding that is "a very difficult statute to violate."

For one thing, he said, "Perhaps [Plame] really wasn't a covert agent - doesn't fit the statute's definition of covert agent. I think that's possible."

Another factor that could mitigate allegations of an illegal disclosure, said O'Donnell, was that whoever revealed Plame's identity "would have had to intentionally disclose it knowing that the CIA is trying to hide it.

"Karl Rove may not have known that," he added.

If indeed Rove was behind the disclosure: "All [of the above] would add up to the fact that no crime was committed in the transmission of this information by Rove to Cooper," O'Donnell said.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Government; US: District of Columbia
KEYWORDS: cialeak; creepyliar; plame; rove
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-54 last
To: MikeJ75; neodad; mware; Brilliant; Pukin Dog; Servant of the 9; r9etb; PJ-Comix
Remember THIS?
(excerpt from 'American Prospect'))

March, 2004

Plugging Leaks
More details emerge on the Plame investigation, as Karl Rove's testimony is revealed for the first time.

By Murray S. Waas
Web Exclusive: 3.8.04
Print Friendly | Email Article

President Bush's chief political adviser, Karl Rove, told the FBI in an interview last October that he circulated and discussed damaging information regarding CIA operative Valerie Plame with others in the White House, outside political consultants, and journalists, according to a government official and an attorney familiar with the ongoing special counsel's investigation of the matter.

But Rove also adamantly insisted to the FBI that he was not the administration official who leaked the information that Plame was a covert CIA operative to conservative columnist Robert Novak last July. Rather, Rove insisted, he had only circulated information about Plame after it had appeared in Novak's column. He also told the FBI, the same sources said, that circulating the information was a legitimate means to counter what he claimed was politically motivated criticism of the Bush administration by Plame's husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson.

Rove and other White House officials described to the FBI what sources characterized as an aggressive campaign to discredit Wilson through the leaking and disseminating of derogatory information regarding him and his wife to the press, utilizing proxies such as conservative interest groups and the Republican National Committee to achieve those ends, and distributing talking points to allies of the administration on Capitol Hill and elsewhere. Rove is said to have named at least six other administration officials who were involved in the effort to discredit Wilson

41 posted on 07/04/2005 9:03:17 AM PDT by Lancey Howard
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Armedanddangerous

My bet has always been on her husband doing this.

And no he won't go to jail. He'll probably get a book deal and a show.


42 posted on 07/04/2005 10:46:48 AM PDT by festus (The constitution may be flawed but its a whole lot better than what we have now.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: Popman
More than getting their hands caught in the "cookie jar", try Sandy Bergers pants. LOL
43 posted on 07/04/2005 11:01:49 AM PDT by fish hawk (I am only one, but I am not the only one.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: cyncooper
Another NewsMax mishmash....

Maybe, but IMO, I think it's pretty clear what this is -- think about what happened this weekend: Lassie McDonnell has been accusing a federal official, Rove, of a crime. And, now that Lassie O'Donnell realizes his own *ss may get hauled somewhere for doing that, he is saying, "OOPS! DIDN'T MEAN TO ACCUSE YOU OF A CRIME, KARL."

Meanwhile, this "news" here on Newsmax is from the same Lassie O'Donnell who publicly demanded Rove tell us all the secret grand jury testimony Rove gave -- and yesterday, O'Donnell didn't know any law prohibiting that? Now, one day later. Lassie O'Donnell appears to know all laws, and is going to tell us if a crime has or has not been committed by Rove?

Lassie O'Donnell, I think, has been having a long chat with his own lawyer! It would not surprise me if O'Donnell is questioned this week about all that he posted and blabbed in his accusations of a crime being committed by Rove. Or did I misread his blog? That's what this "spin" now is all about on Newsmax -- uh, duh, gee, I, Donnell, never meant to imply Rove did anything wrong! I was just blabbing about, uh, duh, nothing!
44 posted on 07/04/2005 11:49:15 AM PDT by summer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: cyncooper
Here are some comments I am reading posted on O'Donnell's blog at Huffington Whatever (and, no, I do not know who posted these comments below):

---------

Well Larry, I hope you have your ducks lined up because if youre wrong theyll do such a Dan Rather on you that it will leave powder burns on some sensitive tissue. Heres hoping you didnt just walk into Roves mouse-trap.

Posted by: carol channing at July 3, 2005 11:21 AM


------

Sorry to break it to ya, Larry, but Luskin told the Washington Post on Saturday that Rove DID NOT leak Plame to Time, according to a report by Drudge.

But you can go on criminalizing political opponents in the press all you want, if it makes you feel good. LOL

Posted by: The Cyber Menace at July 3, 2005 12:07 PM


----------

Larry -

The stake is already positioned over Rove, drive it in. Just like Agnew in the Nixon administration, Rove will be the first to fall followed by a domino effect in the cabinet and ultimately resulting in the impeachment of Bush.

This time around there needs to be a public trial.

Jail to the Chief.

Robert S. Finnegan
Managing Editor
Southeast Asia News
Posted by: Robert S. Finnegan at July 3, 2005 12:21 PM


---------

Broke the story, or do you mean to say you broke the unsubstantiated rumor?

Posted by: Cog at July 4, 2005 12:17 AM


------------

And, yes, anyone can blog to Lassie O'Donnell as he searches for the next well! Just CLICK HERE for his blog.
45 posted on 07/04/2005 12:09:19 PM PDT by summer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 44 | View Replies]

To: MikeJ75

Mike, I posted this to EXTENDED news so more people could see it on the sidebar, and, I will link my previous threads on this matter to this thread.


46 posted on 07/04/2005 12:12:28 PM PDT by summer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lancey Howard; a small voice in the wildernes

See my post #45 re Lawrence's blog link. You may find it interesting to read some of the posts to his blog!


47 posted on 07/04/2005 12:31:41 PM PDT by summer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: MikeJ75

What a creeply liar.


48 posted on 07/04/2005 1:54:11 PM PDT by adam_az (It's the border, stupid!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: summer

Thanks.

First, may I say I get a chuckle every time I see "Lassie O'Donnell"? LOL

Second, those are very interesting comments, especially "Robert S. Finnegan
Managing Editor
Southeast Asia News"

I just Googled him and it sounds like the type of tripe he puts out. It's no secret they have been striving mightily for Nixon redux and his fantasy that Rove will play Agnew (they've tried "Cheney-Halliburton" for just that reason) is a stitch.


49 posted on 07/04/2005 2:33:22 PM PDT by cyncooper
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: cyncooper; a small voice in the wildernes
First, may I say I get a chuckle every time I see "Lassie O'Donnell"? LOL

Oh, me, too. I am ROTFLMAO when I think of that! But, all credit goes to a small voice in the wilderness for providing us with that very appropo analogy! Thanks for your post. :)
50 posted on 07/04/2005 3:15:13 PM PDT by summer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]

To: small voice in the wilderness; cyncooper; a small voice in the wildernes
N my post #50 I meant "small voice in the wilderness" - sorry! :)
51 posted on 07/04/2005 3:17:55 PM PDT by summer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: summer

N= On


52 posted on 07/04/2005 3:18:15 PM PDT by summer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: cyncooper
Second, those are very interesting comments

Yes, I agree. He is now a graduate of the RatherDone School of Journalism.
53 posted on 07/04/2005 3:19:11 PM PDT by summer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]

To: All
And the beat goes on....

Lawrence O'Donnell: Rove's I-did-not-inhale Defense-- later today, on 7-4-05
54 posted on 07/04/2005 3:34:29 PM PDT by summer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 53 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-54 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson