Libby to Fitzgerald: If You Won't Name the CIA Leaker, I Will

National Review Online ^ | March 20, 2006 | Byron York

[kellynla]

"I think Fitzgerald may be guilty of prosecutorial misconduct."
good luck with that...LOL


all these clowns in D.C. are taking advantage of the American taxpayers and until we have term limits we'll continue to get screwed...

[smoothsailing]

For my money,Byron York is one of the best young conservative writers around today.He has done a great service with his many articles examining the "ins and outs" of the Plame/Wilson/Fitzmas scam.

Thanks for posting and providing additional history in posts #4 nd #22.

[dblshot]

Two quick points: One if Documents are found that Saddam was in fact trying to replace his yellow cake uranium that was under UN Inspectors seal, will Wilson be tarred as a liar and would that matter to Fitzgerald? And second how can anyone defend himself against lying if he is not able to discuss what he lied about?

[Ohioan from Florida]

Bookmark for later reading.

[Just mythoughts]

Gee wonder what the FBI learned in that investigation Rockefeller requested on March 14, 2002, regarding "fake documents", right after the Wilson's late February 2002, Niger yellowcake affair.

Tear down that wall and who knows what might come tumbling down.

[Wristpin]

Looks to me that the only ones who broke the law in this whole kerfluffle are Wilson and Plame.

[Wristpin]

"Gee wonder what the FBI learned in that investigation Rockefeller requested on March 14, 2002, regarding "fake documents", right after the Wilson's late February 2002, Niger yellowcake affair."

During the house Intelligence investigation, he cited that ongoing investigation to stymie any discussion of the matter from the public record. The Dems are a criminal, treasonous organization.

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks for the ping. Please ping the rest of the list.

There is another event unfolding each day that will probably cremate Plame, Wilson and the NY Slimes which pushed Wilson's lies and spins.

That is what is in the 48,000 boxes of material we seized in Iraq. The entire rat game of Saddam was innocent because there were no connections with al Qaeda and WMDS is being decimated each day.

Fitzy's nice comfortable bedding down between Plame and Wilson on a bed provided by the NY Slimes will be a career destroyer for him. It couldn't happen to a more deserving POS.

[InterceptPoint]

Fitzgerald may have backed himself into a corner. Throughout the pre-trial motions in the case, he has argued, over and over, that it doesn't matter who leaked Valerie Wilson's identity, or why. It doesn't matter if Wilson was covert. It doesn't matter if the leak did any damage. In other words, the CIA leak is not relevant to the CIA leak case.

I cannot believe that any honest jury in this great country would send Libby to jail given the incredible position Fitzgerald has taken on the leak of Valerie Wilson's identity, the supposed crime that turned out to be a non-crime that he was paid to investigate.

[george wythe]

I gather the following facts from the article:

Mr. Wilson was lying about the Niger affair.

Mrs. Wilson's employment was not classified; in fact, half of Washington already knew about it before Libby mentioned her name to reporters.

Mr. Libby's sin is trying to be candid about his recollection of the events. If he had used the Hillary-Clinton line "I don't recall," Mr. Libby would have escaped this legal battle.

Mr. Fitzgerald knows he has a weak case, and he keeps changing the underlying 'facts' of the original indictment.

[Just mythoughts]

"During the house Intelligence investigation, he cited that ongoing investigation to stymie any discussion of the matter from the public record. The Dems are a criminal, treasonous organization."


If there is anyone in WDC who knows how liberals play the game, it ought to be Libby and his lawyers. So we shall see what gets revealed and what gets a 70 year seal upon it.

Now Republican in Congress seem to always be playing catch up and reactionary when they should be in the lead. They should make it their daily practice to approach everything they do as worst case scenario the liberal way. (IMO)

[Wristpin]

Agree, they are bunker cowering milquetoasts.

[rlmorel]

Arrgggghhhh! "He said "irregardless"! Aggghhhhhhhh!"

[Mike Darancette]

Libby is being accused of saying that Russert tole him about Plame and Russert says no. This is a matter of "he said he said". To support Russert's denial Fitz has to prove that Russert could not have known about Plame at the time in question.

If evidence comes up that any reporter(s) knew of Plame at that time Fitz's case is shredded.

[Cboldt]

Exactly, the charge is Libby didn't get his story straight about conversations with journalists some months prior.

No it's not. The charge is that Libby mislead investigators and the grand jury on the point of whether or not Libby knew that Plame worked at CIA. The charge is that Libby DID know, but lead investigators to think he didn't know (for sure) that Plame worked at the CIA.

Summary of and Link to Indictment

[Cboldt]

Mr. Libby had no intent to lie because he did not believe that Ms. Wilson's employment status was classified.

LOL. I find that assertion to be laughable. The President says "This is a serious leak and the leaker will be punished," and Libby says "IF she wasn't covert, I had no motive to lie."

Fitzgerald says that there is no evidence that Libby knew or thought Plame was covert, FWIW - that is, Libby and Fitz actually AGREE on this point.

Second, Mr. Libby was not part of a conspiracy to harm Mr. Wilson by disclosing his wife's CIA affiliation and thus had no reason to cover up such involvement.

Methinks he protests too particularly here. There is no charge of an attempt to damage Wilson's credibility, hence no conspiracy to provide cover for.

[Wristpin]

"If evidence comes up that any reporter(s) knew of Plame at that time Fitz's case is shredded"

Prior to the Novak article, the Wilsons had an unnamed reporter over to the house during the 4th of July. A serious tradecraft error if she was in fact covert.

[Cboldt]

And second how can anyone defend himself against lying if he is not able to discuss what he lied about?

They can't. That's why it's important to understand what the alleged lie is, in the first place. Did Libby know for a fact that Plame worked at the CIA? Was he lying when he withheld that information form investigators, or was he "preoccupied" with matters more weighty (it has to be deliberate to be a lie).

Any probing of Plame's status (other than "worked at CIA"), any probing of Wilson't trip, etc. is at best tangential to what the alleged lie is. Did Libby know that Plame worked at the CIA?

[Wristpin]

"This is a serious leak and the leaker will be punished,"

I don't recall the President ever saying that. He said "leaks are serious" , "if someone broke the law they will no longer work in my administration".

I believe that he personally pushed for the investigation in order to give the appearance of transparency. It backfired when Fitz ran amuck.

[NeonKnight]

ping for later reading