Woodward Was Told of Plame More Than Two Years Ago

Washington Post ^ | November 15, 20005 | Jim VandeHei and Carol D. Leonnig

[InvisibleChurch]

I just want to know when Jim Robinson knew Valerie Plame was a CIA agent.

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

I just want to know when Jim Robinson knew Valerie Plame was a CIA agent.

And who did he tell?

[InvisibleChurch]

LOL!

though i'd vote for hillary in the oval office with the rose law firm billing records

[Miss Marple]

Tenet or Powell are equally good choices, and add in Richard Armitage for good measure; and I would bet cash money one of them is the "senior administration official." Note that "White House official" is not the term used.

My reason for thinking this is Woodward's writing in his two previous books about the administration. Certain officials are simply discussed by the actions they took or the public pronouncements they made. Others, particularly Tenet, Powell, and Armitage, are given special attention and their "thoughts" as events unfolded are described in detail. Tenet and Powell got far more attention than Donald Rumsfeld in the book Bush at War. I believe this was because unlike Rumsfeld, Tenet and Powell gave detailed interviews to Woodward.

It is not inconceivable to me that one of them let this piece of information out in the course of an interview, and that it wasn't considered important, especially if the information came from the head of the CIA, George Tenet.

Woodward has a long history of CIA contacts, and my money is on Tenet as the source.

[IamConservative]

I knew.

I knew. Perhaps a show of hands! :) Theatre of the absurd. Politics has become one extended election cycle with only a few months of productivity every 2 years.

[Timeout]

Are you challenging me to a bet?

LOL!

It could just as well be Tenet. But the irony would be more delicious if it turns out to be the MediaCrats' favorite general!

And thanks for the reminder about the interviews for Woodward's book. I'd forgotten how evident it was that Powell and, maybe, Tenet had played major roles and provided him with an incredible amount of access.

[Sender]

This whole Plame game is merely TWR...talking while Republican. What a steaming pantload.

[Cboldt]

Have we not already established that it was NOT a crime to be talking about her?

That's a really funny (puzzling, thought provoking) aspect of this whole affair. That is where the discussion inevtibaly ends up, that is what the core question really is, and still there is no "official" answer.

There is plenty of reasoned analysis that concludes the "outing" statute wasn't violated, but that very question has not been answered by any court, the GJ, or the Independent Counsel's office.

The WH says to this very day that the investigation is a serious one - which creates a very strong impression that an illegal outing may have in fact occurred. Fitz strongly insinuates that Plame was classified, etc., which reinforces the false impression. The media is all to happy and all too stupid to separate the false testimony aspects from the outing. And the media is a real hoot, arguing in open court that there was no outing crime, but stoking the "there was an outing" fire in their daily publications.

[Cboldt]

Libby is being charged with lying for saying he learned about Plame from reporters.

Not exactly.

http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/iln/osc/documents/libby_indictment_28102005.pdf

[Miss Marple]

The reason I lean towards Tenet (although it could just as easily be Ppowell or Armitage) is that Woodward has a long history of CIA reporting, and it seems to me that if he heard this information about Wilson's wife from the Director of the CIA himself, he would not think it was a security breech.

[Cboldt]

I bet the people in his office are scrambling to make everything fit. But to make everything fit might require a complete rewrite.

Nothing in Woodward's testimony changes the Libby indictment.

Woodward's full text statement ...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/plame/woodward.plameCIA.pdf

[nikos1121]

Yeah, Woodward used sodium pentathol to get it out of him during his, Casey's, hospital semi comatose state.

[Edit35]

..Woodward has enough sense in his old age to figure out who..

Woodward is just jealous that other reporters are in the limelight.

I fully believe that Woodward simply imagined this "conversation" taking place, and decided to jump into the fray to make himself appear part relevant.

I mean, c'mon. Woodward would have certainly written about this juicy little tidbit in a column back in 2003, and he CERTAINLY would have come foreward before this. This claim of a confidentiality agreement is BOGUS. All administration officials have negated any unspoken confidentiality agreement, if they even had one in the first place, which I highly doubt.

The only ones hiding info in this sordid scenario is the reporters, in my humble opinion. Reporters are sneaky a-holes, and I should know. I am a reporter.

[OldFriend]

Which explains why he was so adamant that the story was 'out there' when he was on Larry King panel.

Didn't he push the proof out on the desk but was ignored and over talked?

[Dog]

Be still my heart ....look who Woodward said he told.

I found this in the Washington Post article from today.

Downie said he could not explain why Woodward said he provided a tip about Wilson's wife to Walter Pincus, a Post reporter writing about the subject, but did not pursue the matter when the CIA leak investigation began. He said Woodward has often worked under ground rules while doing research for his books that prevent him from naming sources or even using the information they provide until much later.

Woodward's statement said he testified: "I told Walter Pincus, a reporter at The Post, without naming my source, that I understood Wilson's wife worked at the CIA as a WMD analyst."

Pincus said he does not recall Woodward telling him that. In an interview, Pincus said he cannot imagine he would have forgotten such a conversation around the same time he was writing about Wilson.

Pincus testified before the Grand Jury....I wonder if he might be looking at a perjury charge.

[js1138]

Here it is in text format

STATEMENT OF BOB WOODWARD REGARDING DEPOSITION ON NOVEMBER 1.4, 2005

On Monday, November 14, I testified under oath in a sworn deposition to Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald for more than two hours about small portions of interviews I conducted with three current or former Bush administration officials that relate to the investigation of the public disclosure of the identity of undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame.

The interviews were mostly confidential background interviews for my 2004 book Plan of Attack about the lead up to the Iraq War, ongoing reporting for The Washington Post and research for a book on Bush's second term to be published in 2006_ The testimony was given under an agreement with Fitzgerald that he would only ask about specific matters directly relating to his investigation.

All three persons provided written statements waiving the previous agreements of confidentiality on the issues being investigated by Fitzgerald. Each confirmed those releases verbally this month, and requested that I testify.

Plame is the wife of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who had been sent by the CIA in February 2002 to Niger to determine if there was any substance to intelligence
reports that Niger had made a deal to sell "yellowcake" or raw uranium to Iraq. Wilson later emerged as an outspoken critic of the Bush administration.

I was first contacted by Fitzgerald's office on Nov. 3 after one of these officials went to Fitzgerald to discuss an interview with me in mid-June 2003 during which the
person told me Wilson's wife worked for the CIA on weapons of mass destruction as a WMD analyst.

I have not been released to disclose the source's name publicly.

Fitzgerald asked for my impression about the context in which Mrs. Wilson was mentioned. I testified that the reference seemed to me to be casual and off-hand, and that it did not appear to me to be either classified or sensitive. I testified that according to my understanding an analyst in the CIA is not normally an undercover position.

I testified that after the mid-June 2003 interview, I told Walter Pincus, a reporter at The Post, without naming my source, that I understood Wilson's wife worked at the CIA as a WMD analyst. Pincus does not recall that I passed this information on.

Fitzgerald asked if I had discussed Wilson's wife with any other government officials before Robert Novak's column on July 14, 2003. I testified that I had no recollection of doing so.

He asked if I had possibly planned to ask questions about what I had learned about Wilson's wife with any other government official.

I testified that on June 20, 2003 I interviewed a second administration official for my book Plan of Attack, and that one of the lists of questions I believe I brought to the interview included on a single line the phrase "Joe Wilson's wife." I testified that I have no recollection of asking about her, and that the tape-recorded interview contains no indication that the subject arose.

I also testified that I had a conversation with a third person on June 23, 2003. The person was I. Lewis "Scooter° Libby, and we talked on the phone. I told him I was sending to him an 18-page list of questions I wanted to ask Vice President Cheney. On page 5 of that list there was a question about "yellowcake" and the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate regarding Iraq's weapons programs. I testified that I believed I had both the 18-page question list and the question list from the June 20 interview with the phrase "Joe Wilson's wife" on my desk during this discussion. I testified that I have no recollection that Wilson or his wife was discussed, and I have no notes of the conversation.

Though neither Wilson nor Wilson's wife's name had surfaced publicly at this point, Pincus had published a story the day before, Sunday, June 22, about the Iraq intelligence before the war_ I testified that I had read the story, which referred to the CIA mission by "a former senior American diplomat to visit Niger." Although his name was not used in the story, I knew that referred to Wilson.

I testified that on June 27, 2003 I met with Libby at 5:10 p.m. in his office adjacent to the White House. I took the 18-page list of questions with the page 5 reference to "yellowcake" to this interview and I believe I also had the other question list from June 20, which had the "Joe Wilson's wife" reference.

I have four pages of typed notes from this interview, and I testified that there is no reference in them to Wilson or his wife. A portion of the typed notes shows that Libby discussed the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction, mentioned "yellowcake" and said there was an "effort by the Iraqis to get it from Africa. It goes back to February '02." This was the time of Wilson's trip to Niger.

When asked by Fitzgerald if it was possible I told Libby I knew Wilson's wife worked for the CIA and was involved in his assignment, I testified that it was possible I asked a question about Wilson or his wife, but that I had no recollection of doing so. My notes do not include all the questions I asked, but I testified that if Libby had said anything on the subject, I would have recorded it in my notes.

My testimony was given in a sworn deposition at the law office of Howard Shapiro of the firm of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr instead of appearing under subpoena before a grand jury.

I testified after consulting with The Post's executive and managing editors, the publisher, and our lawyers. We determined that I could testify based on the specific releases obtained from these three people. I answered all of Fitzgerald's questions during my testimony without breaking promises to sources or infringing on conversations I had on unrelated matters for books or news reporting--past, present or future.

It was the first times in 35 years as a reporter that I have been asked to provide information to a grand jury.

[js1138]

Here's your pdf in text format

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1522897/posts?page=176#176

[js1138]

Here it is in text

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1522897/posts?page=176#176

[Dog]

I agree...but it undermines Fitzgerald......what else did he miss?

A defense lawyer would have a field day with this bit of info.

[bonfire]

"Why am I finding this entire thing incredibly boring?"


Because it is. Much to do about nothing. Since all of D.C. and every darn reporter knew she was CIA; sounds like somebody WANTED this info to get into the papers. yawwwwwwwwwn