Journalists Said to Figure in Strategy in Leak Case

NYTIMES ^ | 11/15/05 | ERIC LICHTBLAU

[bybybill]

Be careful when you want to open a mystery box, says the old lawyer, you might get bit

[gov_bean_ counter]

This could start going badly for Fitz very quickly. Already Woodward is contradicting Pinkus' testimony.

[gov_bean_ counter]

The prosecutor's timeline of events said to be in question.

[Waco]

Start a pool on how many reporters come up afflicted with ADD and/or Alzhiemers???

[nopardons]

bttt

[BigBobber]

This is going to be good.

[piasa]

ping

[DB]

If Woodward isn't lying, which would seem very likely, Fitz's time line is shot to hell. Saying it was "in question" would be a serious understatement.

[indianrightwinger]

Lookie Lookie.....the MSM/LSM war on the Administration comes back to haunt them. Wow! Bush's strategery is working. :-)

[Fedora]

Thanks!

[Lancey Howard]

(( ping ))

[Lancey Howard]

(( ping ))

[Lancey Howard]

In interviews, lawyers close to the case made clear that the defense team plans to pursue aggressively access to reporters' notes beyond the material cited in the indictment and plans to go to the trial judge, Reggie B. Walton of United States District Court, to compel disclosure as one of their first steps.

I smell a dismissal of the charges coming, and pretty quickly.

[Patriot from Philly]

So we have a perjurer at the WAPO. Who is it, Pincus AKA Wilson's friend, or Woodward.

Outstanding journalistic judgment by the Post to have he alleged perjurer Pincus cover the story for two years.

[geezerwheezer]

Were I Libby's attorney, I would have a real blast asking each of the MSM reporters who they talked to the day this all supposedly happened, and I would ask them the full extent of their conversations that same day. The reasoning would be as follows: Who the heck can remember a conversation verbatim, two years later. The charges are bogus, as was the so-called "investigation. Ain't no-one on a jury that can even remember what they had for dinner two weeks ago, much less who they spoke with.

[js1138]

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.

[airborne]

How about finding 20 or so people who knew about Valerie's CIA job? Have them testify - one after another,

It shouldn't be hard to find that many.

[mware]

LOL

Paging Larry O'Donnell, paging Larry O'Donnell.

[mware]

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.

Me thinks that Fitzgerald should be indicting Mister Pincus.