Posted on 07/24/2005 12:18:13 PM PDT by ricoshea
Sunday, July 24, 2005 10:57 a.m. EDT What Tim Russert Deal Reveals
A deal that special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald cut last year for NBC "Meet the Press" host Tim Russert's testimony may shed light on the emerging White House defense in the Valerie Plame leak case, Newsweek magazine reports in editions this week.
The agreement between Fitzgerald and NBC avoided a court fight over a subpoena for Russert's testimony about his July 2003 talk with Dick Cheney's top aide, Lewis (Scooter) Libby.
The deal was not, as many assumed, for Russert's testimony about what Libby told him: it focused on what Russert told Libby. An NBC statement last year said Russert did not know of Plame, wife of ex-ambassador Joseph Wilson, or that she worked at the CIA, and "he did not provide that information to Libby."
This now appears significant: in pursuing Russert's testimony, Fitzgerald was testing statements by White House aides -- reportedly including Libby -- that they learned about Wilson's wife from reporters, not classified documents.
Libby's lawyer did not respond to requests for comment. A source close to Karl Rove, who requested anonymity because the FBI asked participants not to comment publicly, says the White House aide -- who passed info about Wilson's wife to Time's Matt Cooper -- only knew about her CIA job from either a reporter or "somebody" who heard it from a reporter; he can't remember which or who.
Rove did not initially discuss his talk with Cooper with the FBI, but later volunteered info about it and called agents' attention to a subpoenaed e-mail he had written to national-security aide Stephen Hadley mentioning the conversation, the source said.
The emerging White House defense is important in light of recent attention on a classified State Department memo that had key info about Wilson's wife.
The memo, dated June 10, 2003, was labeled top secret at the top of the first page; a paragraph referring to "Valerie Wilson" at the CIA had the letters snf in front of it, for "Secret No Foreign," meaning the info is secret and can't be shared with any foreign national, says a government official who reviewed it but asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the material.
The memo was taken by Secretary of State Colin Powell aboard Air Force One during a trip to Africa in July 2003, and Fitzgerald has questioned White House aides about who saw it.
Fitzgerald has been said to be investigating whether any aides violated the 1982 Intelligence Identities Protection Act -- which makes it a felony to disclose the identity of a covert CIA employee: it requires showing the violator knew the agent's undercover status. (The State memo makes no reference to that.) But the CIA's initial "crimes report" to the Justice Department requesting the leak probe never mentioned that law, says a former government official who requested anonymity because of the confidential material involved.
Fitzgerald may be looking at other laws barring the disclosure of classified info or the possibility that current or former White House aides made false statements or obstructed justice.
So Fitzgerald was seeing if Rove or Libby lied by claiming they got the name from Russert, I guess.
I sure hope neither of them claimed Russert gave them the name. I have no idea who's lying, but even if Russert was I have a feeling his side of the story will be believed over Rove or Libby's if Fitzgerald is angling for an indictment. Plus, as much as he's a wackjob and BS artist, Lawrence O'Donnell was correct when he said Rove would be revealed to be a source, and this weekend he said indictments would be coming down.
It would be funny if Colin Powell and the Wilson's were indicted!
I know I'd be laughing if the Wilsons and the only black Republican administration official the Dems like were to be frogmarched etc. etc.
I agree, and it's interesting how the lies of Wilson and the, uh, "nuancing" by Cooper have the MSM sailing right past them. "Well, one could argue tiny points in Cooper and Wilson's stories, but...anyway, back to the evil Rove..."
I've said it before and I'll say it again, "Judith Miller AIN'T sittin' in prison to protect a Republican administration!"
So who's she protecting??
This has been a politically motivated investigation from the get-go, part of a coup attempt against the President using the legal system.
It's very surprising that so many here believe in Fitzgerald. He's NOT going after the MSM or the Wilsons. That's wishful thinking. He's going after Rove, Libby, and possibly others if he can get to them. Fitzgerald needs to be reigned in immediately, and fired if necessary. Yes, it would look bad to do that. It will look worse if one or more high level members of the administration get indicted. The left is waging war against us, make no mistake.
True, but I wish there was a way we could find out who actually wrote that State Dept. memo. That info hasn't been released.
Larry's source for Rove being a source of Cooper came from Cooper or someone close to him. Larry is not going to have contacts in Fitzgerald's office to say which indictments have already been written (if any). And after Larry opened his yap about Cooper's source, I am sure folks may be a little leery of telling Larry anything. Hey, "Leery" O'Donnell!!
Fitzgerald will not trust reporters over WH staff unless he has a corroborating source. Fitzgerald is not going to file indictments based on "he said/he said". Not in this high profile of a case.
Plus there are other reasons Fitzgerald will not trust reporters:
1) It appears Cooper already lied when he said he had no recollection of Welfare talk in his call to Rove. Luckily Rove had a contemporaneous email to Hadley right after the Cooper call that said Cooper called to give him a heads up on a Welfare story (which Cooper published 2 months later). This email was in the possession of Fitzgerald at the time Cooper testified, but was not made public until 2 days after Cooper's testimony. Oops!!!!
2) Fitxgerald previously had issues with NYT reporters (including Miller) potentially tipping off an Islamic Charity to upcoming federal raids. Source:
http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20040929-092447-8153r.htm
The reporters are covering up for someone, but, obviously, it isn't Rove or Libby...since they sign like canaries about those two. And remember, no reporter has come forward to say that Rove or Libby called them to push the Plame/Wilson story. So far (as far as we know) it has only been reporters initiating calls to the WH.
I think the CIA is going to have more problems than the WH regarding the Wilson trip and leaks.
I meant "sing like canaries", not "sign like canaries" (unless they are deaf canaries using sign language).
LOL. That was understood.
I tend to agree. I am starting to get a very bad feeling about this.
While I seriously doubt any WH figures will ever be found guilty of a crime, it will not be at all surprising to me if Fitzgerald gets one or more of them indicted.
It's interesting to see you and balch3 post such differing ideas about Fitzgerald. I don't think we can see where he's going with this at this point because the leaks don't show a consistent line of attack, to me at least. I was surprised when the charges against Clinton came out and they had zero to do with Whitewater itself, so I expect to be surprised here.
I do find it perfectly believable yet confounding how Cooper is obviously more guilty of lying than is Rove, yet that angle gets no coverage. Par for the course. But it confirms to me that Rove is a lot smarter than to go down for something like this, and Cooper, he of the "last minute" permission to reveal his sources that was actually an 18-month-old permission, is a self-aggrandizing BS artist. Like Wilson.
I don't disagree with balch3's assessment of the potential outcome. However, I am taking the Mr. Optimist approach (otherwise I would spend more time reading about this case then I already am).
Here is one blog that I have found to be interesting...and potentially optimistic as well. It is run by and ex-military intel guy with some current contacts in the intel community.
His latest article (on Larry Johnson):
http://macsmind.blogspot.com/2005/07/i-told-you-so.html
His main blog page (many posts on the Plame/Wilson case):
http://macsmind.blogspot.com/
I have mixed feelings about Fitzgerald. If he had an easy case, he would have indictments by now. So he's struggling to indict someone and is now looking at perjury. He will be a hero if he indicts a Bush administration figure. He'll be treated worse than Starr if he goes after a media type for perjury...he's after a Bush official. Let's see how this plays out.
I hope you're right. I admit to being a litle paranoide about what goes on in Washington...not a bad way to be in this day and age.
The CIA is worse than State when it comes to battling this administration, and I am very, VERY pleased with the things I've been able to dig up about the unsung superstar of the Bush Administration--Porter Goss. He's flying below the radar but I have a feeling he is ripping things up by the roots over there.
Bush's biggest mistake, ever, in many ways, may have been retaining Tenant.
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