Posted on 07/23/2005 5:11:36 AM PDT by AliVeritas
WASHINGTON The special prosecutor in the CIA leak investigation has shifted his focus from determining whether White House officials violated a law against exposing undercover agents to determining whether evidence exists to bring perjury or obstruction of justice charges, according to people briefed in recent days on the inquiry's status.
Differences have arisen in witnesses' statements to federal agents and a grand jury about how the name of Valerie Plame, a CIA agent, was leaked to the press two years ago.
According to lawyers familiar with the case, investigators are comparing statements by two top White House aides, Karl Rove and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, with testimony from reporters who have acknowledged talking to the officials.
Although no one has suggested that the investigation into who leaked Plame's name has been shelved, the intensity of the inquiry into possible perjury charges has increased, according to one lawyer familiar with events who spoke on condition that he not be identified.
Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor, and his team have made no decision on whether to seek indictments.
The investigation focused initially on whether administration officials illegally leaked the identity of Plame, the wife of former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, in a campaign to discredit Wilson after he wrote an op-ed article in the New York Times criticizing the Bush administration's grounds for going to war in Iraq.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Has to be something more than contradictory statements by a witness for perjury charges.
I AM A CONVICTED LIAR
I always know to trust these kinds of sources
...according to one lawyer familiar with events who spoke on condition that he not be identified.
What was that about the LA Times supposedly forbidding the use of anonymous sources?
1. "There will be NO indictments under the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982." and
2. "There must be SOME reason that the New York Times' Judith Miller is still in the hoosegow."
Question (still unanswered): did Wilson appear before the Grand Jury or talk to investigators?
'cause Wilson is so incredible that if it was high noon on a sunny day and told me the sun was in the sky, I'd have to look for myself.
It should be label for what it is.....B.S.
I agree. There's some word "jazz" goin on..
Who produced the fake Niger papers? There is nothing approaching a consensus on this question within the intelligence community. There has been published speculation about the intelligence services of several different countries. One theory, favored by some journalists in Rome, is that [the Italian intelligence service] Sismi produced the false documents and passed them to Panorama for publication.
Another explanation was provided by a former senior C.I.A. officer. He had begun talking to me about the Niger papers in March, when I first wrote about the forgery, and said, 'Somebody deliberately let something false get in there.'
He became more forthcoming in subsequent months, eventually saying that a small group of disgruntled retired C.I.A. clandestine operators had banded together in the late summer of last year and drafted the fraudulent documents themselves.
Whoa.
Whoa is right!
Thanks, but the thanks goes to ravingnutter.
There must be SOME reason that the New York Times' Judith Miller is still in the hoosegow.
The cincher for me is that I don't believe for one minute that any of the so-called 'journalists' were going to the wire for a source inside the administration.
How did Cooper know enough to even ask the question?.
And if I recollect properly, Cooper wasn't the only presstitute calling Rove on other matters only to bring up the subject of Wilson's wifey. Sounds like there was some co-ordination involved.
It's kinda like watching a street fight. If you are present, you are "involved" even though you were in no way engaged in the fight.
I would not take that as a given Judith Miller will be working as a reporter long after this President has left office, and without the ability to quote "anonymous" sources within administrations both Republican and Democratic it would be almost impossible for anyone within government to provide anything other than "the party line", and thus almost impossible possible for reporter to write knowledgably about politics and foreign affairs
This is well understood on both sides of the microphones - its why we have limited immunity for reporters in the US, and dont have something the UKs Official Secrets Act.
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