Posted on 01/28/2007 2:28:47 PM PST by freespirited
President Bush's ex-spokesman invoked the Fifth Amendment when asked in front of a grand jury about the illegal outing of spy Valerie Plame, prosecutors revealed this week. Former White House spokesman Ari Fleischer sought and received immunity from prosecution for unmasking the secret agent.
Armed with this immunity, Fleischer is now expected to testify Monday in the perjury trial of Lewis (Scooter) Libby.
Fleischer is expected to tell the court that Libby, formerly Vice President Cheney's top adviser, told him on July 7, 2003, that "he had some information that was hush-hush," said special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald.
What was hush-hush was that Bush critic and former ambassador Joseph Wilson was married to Plame, a CIA operations officer. Wilson had infuriated Cheney by debunking the White House claim that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had tried to buy uranium in Niger for a nuclear bomb.
Fleischer cited his Fifth Amendment rights in 2004 before a federal grand jury and was "reluctantly" given immunity, Fitzgerald said in court Thursday.
"I didn't want to give him immunity," Fitzgerald said.
Libby is fighting perjury charges for telling a grand jury he first learned about Plame on July 10, 2003, from journalist Tim Russert. That is three days after Libby allegedly told Fleischer about Plame.
Fitzgerald told the jury in opening arguments that Fleischer also helped spread the news about the spy.
"Ari Fleischer had conversations with reporters about Wilson's wife that he should not have had," Fitzgerald said.
Libby's lawyer Ted Wells said Fleischer told NBC's David Gregory and others about Plame during a stroll while on a presidential trip to Africa.
Wells told jurors Thursday that "Fleischer may have issues of credibility because of a deal that was cut."
Speaking of dealing in commodities, this whole affair brings us back to square one and Mary McCarthy. One of her previous [6] employerswas [7] Beri, SA. Possibly by coincidence Beri provides a [8] Mineral Extraction Risk Assessment service for up to 145 countries that are expected to show rapid growth in oil, gas, and mineral extraction capacity. If one had advance access to economic intelligence and had fostered close business ties over the years with uranium producers, huge financial gains would be possible. Could the Wilson-McCarthy-Africa connection may indicate another [9] instance of US intelligence and Foreign Service personnel taking advantage of regulatory loopholes and lax security in third world countries for personal gain?
"Funny, I did not know they have shown anything about the so-called outing was illegal."
Or that she was a spy.
Because it supports their agenda--to "prove" that the administration is a cesspool of corruption.
The whole thing is a mess....IMO it tarnishes Fitzpatrick and the Wilsons.....everyone else is just a side issue.
Fitzgerald makes it **sound** illegal by saying that her job status was "classified." Ooooooooh. I doubt there is much at the CIA that isn't classified.
Whatever the law might be about leaking classified info (as opposed to the identity of a covert agent, which Valerie was not), the reality is that it goes on all the time. If there has been a single prosecution, I confess that I missed it.
Libby will forever be on trial for outing Valerie Plame so long as he's going to court.
It's a real disservice to the reading public.
If he's compelled to testify, what can he do other than tell the truth? I don't see anything that indicates he's doing something other than that.
It's hard to feel sympathy for the perps though...Nifong included because he's a similar scoundrel.
WOW!!!
"DEBUNKING" ???
Another gaping inaccuracy.
Freakin Chaney was infuriated because of an OBVIOUS UNDECLARED BIAS!!!! charading as a top level State Dept.(?) mission. (I can't recall what agency sent Wilson)
The author goes on to tell even more lies here :
What was hush-hush was that Bush critic and former ambassador Joseph Wilson was married to Plame, a CIA operations officer. Wilson had infuriated Cheney by debunking the White House claim that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had tried to buy uranium in Niger for a nuclear bomb. "
Wilson never debunked any White House claim- the 911 commission found that Wilson lied to the public in press reports when he claimed he found no evidence Iraq sought to buy uranium in africa - in fact, wilson did bring back evidence of such an effort. So the author lied on this, too.
The author of the article is also lying when he says the White House claimed Iraq sought to buy uranium in Niger. Bush's speech never referred to Niger. Bush said Iraq sought to acquire uranium in AFRICA.
There's alot of countries in Africa- Niger, is but one and it was from Niger that Libya obtained some of the uranium for their nuclear program, in spite of French safeguards. Could be the reason the press gets there panties in a wad is that Iraq sent delegations to various African countries, one in particular of note being Congo. The US also had a lead that Iraq had stored uranium in the country of Benin. That country has a port from which France also ships its uranium from Niger.
Still think this author is telling the truth?
Hopefully not- the author seems to be extracting his information from an article by Kristoff- and Kristoff has a number of issues that gp back a long way- Kristoff has used Karen Kwiatkowski as one of his sources.., Karen's the ex Air Force officer who writes articles for Lyndon LaRouche's magazine and for LlewRockwell.com I believe and who got her info all wrong about the Pentagon Office of Special Plans.
Yes indeed, and Ari told David Gregory. No wonder he wanted immunity.
From the Just One Minute blog: "We are relying on the live-blogging of the Libby trial by the always-astute EmptyWheel, who is covering the opening statement of Libby's attorney, Ted Wells, but we have a potential blockbuster absolutely guaranteed to get exactly zero headlines. Ted Wells drops the news that David Gregory of NBC received a leak about Plame from Ari Fleischer on July 11"
Another gaping inaccuracy. Joe Wilson thoroughly debunked the claim. Joe Wilson scoured the hotel bar, and not a single bar tender knew antyhing about Iraqis trying to get uranium. What more do you want??? Every MSM told us so.
Great catch- thanks for posting that.
JULY 7, 2003 : (THE CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS aka CAP IS LAUNCHED- See SOROS, SHADOW PARTY) By early 2004, the Shadow Party’s infrastructure had assumed a coherent shape, under Soros’ guidance. At its heart lay seven ostensibly “independent” non-profit groups which constitute the network’s administrative core. Let us call them the Seven Sisters. In chronological order, based upon their launch dates, they are: 1. MoveOn.org : Launched September 22, 1998 , 2. Center for American Progress (CAP) : Launched July 7, 2003 ... ------ "The Shadow Party: Part II," By David Horowitz and Richard Poe FrontPageMagazine.com October 7, 2004
JUNE 7, 2003 : (NY TIMES JUDITH MILLER & WILLIAM J BROAD STORY ABOUT MOBILE WEAPONS LAB TRAILERS - MORE 'ANONYMOUS SOURCES' TRY TO DOWNPLAY THE DISCOVERY) ----------------- "Some Analysts of Iraq Trailers Reject Germ Use," By JUDITH MILLER and WILLIAM J. BROAD, New York Times, 06-07-03
Moveon.org is the group with whom Joe Wilson and his wife Valerie are connected.
Judith Miller as we know is another individual involved in this Plame leak case.
There's no sourced information here on which to form either a negative or positive opinion of Ari.
ROFL!! Excellent!!!
As of July 6, 2003 Armitage and Powell stuill hadn't contacted the White House about Armitage's big mouth...
Sandy Burgler, speaking of something "worthy" of a grand jury followed by a trial.
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