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Libby's Lawyers Seek Papers on Plame's CIA Employment
Washington Post ^ | 2/1/06 | Carol D. Leonnig

Posted on 02/01/2006 8:25:40 AM PST by frankjr

Attorneys for Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff urged a court yesterday to force a prosecutor to turn over CIA records indicating whether former CIA operative Valerie Plame's employment was classified, saying the answer is not yet clear.

The defense team for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby also asked that the court require Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald to turn over any informal assessments conducted by the CIA to determine whether the leak of Plame's identity in July 2003 damaged national security or agency operations.

Defense lawyers argued in court papers that it is crucial to determine whether Plame was not an undercover operative at the time Libby was discussing her with members of the media, and whether little or no damage was done to national security when her identity was publicly disclosed.

If either is true, the defense argued, it will "challenge the prosecution's contention that Mr. Libby has reason to lie to the FBI and the grand jury about his conversations with reporters in July 2003."

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: cialead; cialeak; deskjockey; plame
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Bob Woodward has already said the CIA did an informal damage assessment and no damage was done. I believe the CIA has said there has been no formal damage assessment...which begs the question that if Plame was so covert then wouldn't the CIA rush to do a thorough assessment????

Oh, they probably want her employment records to verify she was a desk jockey.

1 posted on 02/01/2006 8:25:42 AM PST by frankjr
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To: Mo1; Howlin; ravingnutter

Ping


2 posted on 02/01/2006 8:46:29 AM PST by Peach
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To: Sam Hill; kcvl; Mo1; Miss Marple

Hello!

So far he wants the White House notes, the media's notes, and now this.

Ain't we got fun?


3 posted on 02/01/2006 8:48:32 AM PST by Howlin (Why don't you just report the news, instead of what might be the news? - Donald Rumsfeld 1/25/2006)
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To: frankjr
Good news.

There can no excuse for holding those records back.Scooter has a right to defend himself and Plames status is central to the case,IMO.

Fitzhooey should co-operate if justice means anything to him.

Bring it on!

4 posted on 02/01/2006 8:49:38 AM PST by smoothsailing
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To: frankjr
Image hosted by Photobucket.com hey Fitz... can you say, D-I-S-C-L-O-S-U-R-E??? i knew that you could!!!
5 posted on 02/01/2006 8:59:21 AM PST by Chode (American Hedonist ©®)
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To: Howlin
Ain't we got fun?

Yep!

6 posted on 02/01/2006 9:04:08 AM PST by Mo1 (Republicans protect Americans from Terrorists.. Democrats protect Terrorists from Americans)
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To: smoothsailing

Fitzgerald will claim that Plame's status was not pertinent to Libby's alleged perjury (which they'll say is a standalone matter), and protest the records acquisition.

Libby's attorneys will then assert that if Fitzgerald knew of Plame's actual status only weeks after being appointed - which he would have without question - then there would have been no need to continue his investigation.


7 posted on 02/01/2006 9:07:40 AM PST by angkor
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To: frankjr

Do you think that this will drag on until W pardons Scooter when he leaves the Oval Office?

Then we will see the wailing and the gnashing of progressive tooths!


8 posted on 02/01/2006 9:10:47 AM PST by montomike
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To: frankjr

It's interesting that nowhere in the indictment does the Special Prosecutor even claim that Libby knew Plame's employment was classified. If he didn't what's his motive to deliberately lie about discussing her with reporters?


9 posted on 02/01/2006 9:22:59 AM PST by the Real fifi
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To: smoothsailing

Absolutely. And don't forget Fitz's famous news conference, where he repeated over and over again that Her employment was "classified information," even though he brought no charges against Libby having to do with the leaking of classified information.


10 posted on 02/01/2006 9:23:29 AM PST by blau993 (Labs for love; .357 for Security.)
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To: the Real fifi

That's what I can't figure out. It's like Fitz is saying that Libby "thought" (rightly or wrongly) Plame was classified and so actual status does not matter. I don't understand what Fitz would be claiming the motive is otherwise besides releasing classified info. But then Fitz never charges anyone with releasing classified info. How is Fitz going to show Libby thought she was classified? And the 'throwing dirt in the umpire's eyes does not seem to be a good reason not to have an answer.

Even if her job was classified, should it have been? It is easy to classify every person and every job to be safe. One job I had, they discouraged us from putting 'classifed' on every document for fear it would render the status meaningless for all documents.


11 posted on 02/01/2006 9:37:45 AM PST by frankjr
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To: angkor
Exactly! Game,Set,Match!
12 posted on 02/01/2006 9:43:27 AM PST by smoothsailing
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To: frankjr

I think even Harlow didn't think she was classified when he confirmed her employment to Novak.

I assumed when Dow Jones sought the redacted pp in the Miller opinion (remember Tatel's opinion about balancing calssified stuff?) we'd see some evidence that she her employment was classified(and what a curious circumlocution that is). But, aparently nothing like that was in the redacted pp.

And, yes, even if she were--for which we've seen no evidence--she might have been in error; Fitz has indicated she no longer is; and as I said earlier he never claimed Libby knew she was classified.


13 posted on 02/01/2006 10:07:07 AM PST by the Real fifi
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To: the Real fifi
It's interesting that nowhere in the indictment does the Special Prosecutor even claim that Libby knew Plame's employment was classified. If he didn't what's his motive to deliberately lie about discussing her with reporters?

Political intrigue, and/or job preservtion.

On the political angle, if the story comes out that the "Bush WH" was leaking to manipulate public perception aghainst Wilson, it plays against the WH.

On the job preservation angle, the WH has a reputation for trying to be "tight," and if he was leaking, then perhaps the conduct is outside the boundary of "acceptable."

There could also be a "get the media in trouble, just for fun" angle. Libby's testimony to investigators would, if believed, cast blame on leaking solely to reporters.

14 posted on 02/01/2006 10:11:40 AM PST by Cboldt
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To: frankjr
How is Fitz going to show Libby thought she was classified?

He doesn't have to. He has to show that Libby knew Plame's status "for a fact," because Libby called the CIA and asked - and then that Libby consciously withheld from investigators that he knew Plame's status "for a fact," having called the CIA and inquired.

Exactly what her status is isn't pertinent to the question of whether or not his answers to investigators were deliberate misdirection.

15 posted on 02/01/2006 10:14:36 AM PST by Cboldt
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To: Cboldt

"Exactly what her status is isn't pertinent to the question of whether or not his answers to investigators were deliberate misdirection."

I agree. I just don't know what motive would be if he did not believe she was classifed.


16 posted on 02/01/2006 10:21:28 AM PST by frankjr
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To: frankjr; the Real fifi; blau993

Libby's attorney's are first going to establish whether Plame was or was not subject to the Intelligence Identities Protection Act.

When they discover that she was not, Fitzgerald's entire case will fall apart, since there was no basis for his ongoing investigation.

It's like accusing someone of robbing a 7-11 when no such crime occurred, yet continuing an investigation into that non-robbery regardless of the facts.

Eventually one alleged "suspect" asserts he stopped at a 7-11 near his home during the non-crime. Later that same "suspect" says he stopped at the very 7-11 where no crime was actually committed.

He's obviously confused about which 7-11 he visited, so the prosecutor decides to charge him with perjury for those two conflicting statements.


17 posted on 02/01/2006 10:27:17 AM PST by angkor
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To: Cboldt; the Real fifi; frankjr

Fitgerald's repeated use of the word "classified" is and was a red herring.

The Identies Act requires that Plame have been "covert" (not "classified") in order for there to have been a crime. And for the Act to be violated, Libby or anyone else would have to have *known* she was "covert", and furthermore must have obtained that information from other classified sources.

This is a pretty high bar, but it's really because the Act is intended to protect foreign covert agents from the kind of outing that Phil Agee (a former CIA agent) had been doing in the 70's. Agee used his classified status to "out" literally hundreds of covert agents.

Also there are tens of thousands of people in the DC area with "classified" jobs and positions, but they are in no way "covert" or protected by the Act. It's not prudent to do so, but if a government employee states that they work at NSA or the FBI or the Pentagon and that their work is classified, no crime has been committed. If Joe Schmoe tells a reporter that his neighbor John Smith has a classified job at the State Department, Joe Schmoe has committed no crime whatsoever.


18 posted on 02/01/2006 10:41:11 AM PST by angkor
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To: frankjr; Cboldt

"Exactly what her status is isn't pertinent to the question of whether or not his answers to investigators were deliberate misdirection."

But it is pertinent to the question of exctly what Fitzgerald was investigating.

A sting to entrap people in a non-crime?

That's novel.


19 posted on 02/01/2006 10:43:36 AM PST by angkor
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To: Cboldt

It certainly would diminish his motive to do so.


20 posted on 02/01/2006 10:44:09 AM PST by the Real fifi
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