Posted on 01/24/2007 3:35:13 AM PST by MadIvan
Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff claimed yesterday that he was set up by the White House over the CIA leak scandal to protect Karl Rove, President Bush’s senior adviser.
Opening his defence at his perjury trial, lawyers for Lewis “Scooter” Libby produced a memo written by Mr Cheney, the Vice-President, showing his chief of staff’s concerns that he was being sacrificed to save Mr Rove from criminal indictment.
Mr Libby is accused of lying to FBI agents about conversations he had with journalists about Valerie Plame, a CIA agent. She is the wife of Joseph Wilson, a prominent critic of the Iraq war. When her name appeared in the press in 2003, her husband claimed that she was an undercover agent and had been deliberately “outed” by the White House as retribution for his claims that the Bush Administration twisted prewar intelligence. A leak investigation followed.
Mr Libby’s lawyers claimed yesterday that White House officials rallied around Mr Rove but stopped short of protecting Mr Libby. Having been asked by Mr Cheney to rebut Mr Wilson’s criticisms, Mr Libby felt betrayed and sought out his boss.
“They’re trying to set me up. They want me to be the sacrificial lamb,” the attorney Theodore Wells said, recalling Mr Libby’s end of the conversation. “I will not be sacrificed so Karl Rove can be protected.” Mr Rove was one of two sources for the offending “leak” article by the conservative columnist Robert Novak.
Mr Cheney’s notes from that meeting underscored Mr Libby’s concern, Mr Wells said.
“Not going to protect one staffer and sacrifice the guy that was asked to stick his neck in the meat grinder,” the note said.
By pointing the finger at Mr Rove, whom he referred to as “the lifeblood of the Republican Party,” Mr Wells sought to cast Mr Libby as a scapegoat.
Nobody, including Mr Libby, has been charged with illegally leaking Ms Plame’s name. Mr Libby denies lying to investigators over what he told journalists about Ms Plame.
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
I think Fitz's focus all along has been to "get" Rove or Cheney. Why else has he persisted in this idiocity? Scooter just isn't worth it. At the very least he gets to embarass the WH as Scooter tells his story.
I think Fitz's focus all along has been to "get" Rove or Cheney. Why else has he persisted in this idiocity? Scooter just isn't worth it. At the very least he gets to embarass the WH as Scooter tells his story.
Sorry for the double post.
I am confused. What has perjury got to do with being set up.
Did Libby lie is the purpose of this trial . How did it turn into a trial about Cheney setting him up?
This is more horse crap an it appears Libby is now working with Fitz.
...And that's why this is such a farce! Fitz knew in the first week who "Leaked"(Armitage) her name and did absolutely nothing about it because he knew she was not covert and NO crime of leaking was committed.
Libby is being Nifonged for sure!
This is a get Rove and Cheney charade to embarrass the WH if I've ever seen one.
I think the focus right now is for Fitz to milk the government for everything it is worth. What better to have a client with an unlimited pocketbook paying top dollar and covering all expenses?
I think you've hit it.
This has been Fitz's pattern with all the corruption trials here in Chicago (all convictions btw). He starts small and works up.
That's how he got ex-gov Geo Ryan (RINO-maggot), is now working up to Mayor Daley, and our ijit Gov Blago (Dem-nice hair) along with the Dem controlled Cook County Board.
He even uses that tactic with the mob - starts with a 'button man' and works up the food chain. The Chicago Mob is 'almost' wiped out thanks to Fitz (that's a GOOD thing).
>>Fitz's focus all along has been to "get" Rove or Cheney.
Ah, but there's a big difference between getting Rove and getting Cheney. Especially now with a Dem-controlled legislature.
I think it's all about getting Cheney first, then GWB.
Prosecutor should be charged.
Ever since I learned that Libby was an attorney for Marc Rich I considered him lower than low. Just couldn't understand why he was there.
The classic defense. Shift the blame to others.
Personally I think Libby and James Webb should collaborate on writing a fiction book. The bizarre smut potential would be virtually unlimited.
I don't know if the White House threw him overboard, but I guarantee Freepers will now.
When you got the facts, argue the facts,
When you got the law, argue the law,
When you got neither, pound the table.
I think both sides are playing politics with a jury of (likely) liberal Democrats. Fitzy's like "hate him, he's a Bushie" and Libby's lawyers are like "this guy is just another victim of the 'Lifeblood of the Republican Party.'"
The most thorough coverage of the Libby trial is at http://www.justoneminute.typepad.com and http://www.strata-sphere.com/blog
The press is garbling what's going on. The cross of Grossman (U.S. State Dept.) shows interesting similarities in his responses (too busy to notice, forgetfulness, etc.) to the prosecutor's basis for charging Libby.
Clarice Feldman at justoneminute, has dug up players the press is too ill-informed or is deliberately ignoring, who lay down interesting trails that lead to the originators of the plot to bring down a sitting president in time of war.
And along those trails are little signposts marked Russert, Schuster, Mitchell, Kristoff, and less familiar names ensconced in our and other government back alleys and in the dim faculty rooms of a treasonous academia.
But you will not read about it in the press or hear about on tv since they were, wittingly or not, participants in the attempted coup d'etat.
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