'SCOOTER' Libby TRIAL Could Be A High-Profile BLOODLETTING

ABC NEWS ^ | ABC NEWS

[rface]

Former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage originally leaked Plame's identity. Armitage says the leak was inadvertent, and he is not being prosecuted.......Federal prosecutors are trying to show that Libby lied to investigators about conversations he had with reporters regarding Plame. Libby has denied lying and says he has a faulty memory........

Former Cheney Chief of Staff on Trial for Allegedly Lying to a Grand Jury, Not Outing CIA Agent:

.Jan. 16, 2007 — Jury selection begins today in the trial of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney.

Libby is charged with perjury and obstruction of justice in the leaking of the identity of a former CIA operative.

Libby is on trial for allegedly lying to a grand jury about the source of a leak that outed former CIA operative Valerie Plame. Plame's identity was leaked to the media after her husband, former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson, was critical of the Bush administration's handling of the war in Iraq.

Libby has been called a master of discretion, and the trial promises to be a high-profile bloodletting.

[ snip ]

Among those on the star-studded witness list are former White House press secretary Ari Fleisher and NBC "Meet the Press" host Tim Russert.

[ snip ]

Said Lanny Davis, former special counsel to President Clinton, "I can imagine [White House press secretary] Tony Snow behind closed doors saying, 'Oh my God, of all the things we have to face is a trial when we are facing all of this stuff in Iraq. This couldn't have happened at a worse time,'"

[ snip ]

Libby's trial is an unwelcome distraction for the administration at a critical juncture.

[dfwgator]

This is the "Seinfeld" of Scandals, a Scandal about...nothing.

[popdonnelly]

A bloodletting, eh? Like Julius Caesar's assassination. And the MSM with the knives under their togas.

[tobyhill]

All Libby has to do is show Armitage spoke to any reporter who in turn spoke to Russert and he walks because it's a he said, he said. Contents is not important because Armitage already said he spoke Plames name. Libby holds the trump card against Plame and Wilson because they can't ask any national security questions or reasons for Iraq but Libby's lawyers can ask them who all they spoke to about their claim. It will be a Merry Fitzmas and with any luck Wilson will continue to lie and get charged with perjury when he lies to the jury.

[jiggyboy]

Nah Duke will never get to trial. (But in my fantasy world the defense attorneys would have not allowed Nifong to drop the rape charges just so they would be able to get the lying whore on the witness stand for the legal version of "machine gun practice, 50c/hr".)

[subterfuge]

Typical wishful thinking by ABC.

They just HAD to include a comment from Lanny-the-Moron-Davis where he imagines what Tony Snow says. Absurd.

[dead]

Lanny Davis imagining thoughts in Tony Snow's head... why isn't this in breaking news?

[popdonnelly]

Can you imagine if all the Clinton toadies were put on trial for lying? The court docket would be clogged for years.

[SengirV]

Shhh, don't look too closely and just go with the flow.

[Obadiah]

Where is Sandy Berger's trial? Where is the media attention for Sandy Berger's CRIMES?

[khnyny]

[Meanwhile Fitzgerald lied to the public and congress by continuing the investigation long after the facts were known so he could trump up some phoney charges and continue to bill the government millions of dollars.]

Yep. Fitzgerald is just like Nifong...drunk with power and stupidity. These DA's aren't really pursuing justice. What a sham.

[Enterprise]

The entire federal budget is not enough to satisy the MSM if it means going after Republicans. I will be shocked if any of them even hint at the cost.

[Thrownatbirth]

with any luck Wilson will continue to lie and get charged with perjury when he lies to the jury.

I hope any "bloodletting" is from Wilson's vital arteries. He and his wife can be ruined financially if he lies again. If he doesn't, he has to admit to all his previous lies. Either way, it'll be great watching the destruction of the fun couple from Santa Fe.

[Paco]

Fitzmas? Don't you mean Festivus? It's Festivus for the rest of us!!!

[Alberta's Child]

My sense is that Wilson is going to end up being a very important witness in this case -- if not in the trial itself, then in a subsequent appeal.

One of the basic requirements for a perjury conviction is that it must relate to a trial or hearing on a substantive matter, and the perjured statements must be relevant to the case in question. Libby's basic defense is two-fold:

1. The matter is not substantive, since the questions Libby was asked involved a matter so inconsequential that he could easily have forgotten details over time; and

2. The matter is neither substantive nor relevant, since the prosecutor had no business conducting the investigation in the first place (because he wouldn't have been able to file criminal charges even if every accusation against various people in the "leak" case were true).

The testimony of Wilson is important because it ties directly to Point #2. Libby's defense team will probably go to great lengths to point out that the original CIA request for an independent prosecutor was complete bullsh!t -- on the grounds that the CIA couldn't even make a minimal case that any information revealed about Valerie Plame involved a specific violation of a specific Federal statute. This would mean that Fitzgerald's actions in this case are the equivalent of a prosecutor pursuing a murder case even after the alleged "victim" of the murder shows up in court alive and well.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

5th Amendment may let em skate. Depends on the judge.

[sam_paine]

"I thought that you could not refuse to testify if subpoenaed" It's actually still a matter of choice. You can go, be sworn in and claim the 5th, or just sit there and say nothing.

It absolutely IS NOT a 'matter of choice.' You MAY NOT just sit by and say nothing -unless- it is incriminating to YOURSELF.

If you witness a crime, and you know that the defendent DID NOT commit the crime, then you can be compelled to testify as a witness for the defendant. You MAY NOT just choose to shut up, or else you will go to jail for contempt of court.

[Leatherneck_MT]

Try to make me talk and I'll just sit there and stare at you.

It is a Choice, whether you care to believe so or not.

As I said, there are Consequences in doing so. I guess you missed that part.

[mcshot]

..."Can't Gonzales take a break from his Internet porn obsession to focus on this madness?"


I've been wondering what this guy has been doing. Seems to be taking "low profile" to greater depths.

[sam_paine]

I guess you missed that part.

No. I didn't miss that part.

If your semantics of "choice" means that murdering someone during a robbery with a handgun is "a choice," the same as owning one and killing a burglar/rapist during an assault is "a choice."

Surefine. It's just 'consequences,' whatever.

One is proscribed by law, and one is permitted by law.

If you accept the Fifth Amendment, then you have to accept the Sixth, as well.

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense.

[Lancey Howard]

'SCOOTER' Libby TRIAL Could Be A High-Profile BLOODLETTING

It better be.