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Am I close to the lilliputian prosecutorial character of Fitzie? No, its more serious than that, but not by much. Scooter Libby told the grand jury he had no idea who Valerie Plame was until Tim Russert brought her up to him on the 10th. Ari just testified that Scooter Libby, on the seventh, three days before the Russert Conversation, that Scooter told him about Valerie Plame by name, and even listed the department of the CIA she worked in. That is not an error in memory. Libby lied. He didn't break the law by outing her. He lied to the grand jury. There is no way you can be telling Ari about Valerie Plame and her department in the CIA and forget about it, then "remember" that Tim Russert told you about it 3 days later. He lied. Same thing Clinton did. I will be intellectually honest here and say that he needs to be convicted on this. If the president wants to pardon him fine, but Libby lied about a crucial fact in this non-case when he was under oath. It was wrong. Fitzgerald could have decided not to prosecute, but what kind of message does that send? He was investigating if a crime took place, and to know that he needed the facts of what happened, and Libby tried to snow job him. Remember, at the time Libby testified, it was thought that the reporters were going to get away with refusing to testify. So he decided to lie about what he knew, blame it on somebody who wouldn't testify to contradict him. If I was the prosecutor I would be pissed for him wasting my time. There would have been zero charges here if Scooter told the truth.

There would have been zero charges here if Scooter told the truth.

And he might have saved his ass if he had gone back before the grand jury and admitted that he may have been incorrect. Like Rove did. You have till the end of the grand jury to ammend your comments. I guess the fact that he lied to the FBI too was the killer.

Fitzgerald could have decided not to prosecute, but what kind of message does that send?

Gee, would it have sent a worse message than giving immunity to the guy(s) actually responsible for the crime he was tasked to investigate? Would it have sent a worse message than the pass Wilson has been given, despite the multiple protocols broken in his trip, or Corn or any of the others involved? I support following the letter of the law, but that means all of the letters and Fitzgerald is suspect.

Remember, at the time Libby testified, it was thought that the reporters were going to get away with refusing to testify. So he decided to lie about what he knew, blame it on somebody who wouldn't testify to contradict him

Yes, but what about all the WH people he should have known would/could contradict him as well? Why would he risk that? If he is that bumbling... no wonder things have not been going so well at the WH in the PR dept.

Like someone else said, it may be difficult to convince all of the jurors that his "error" was intentional beyond a reasonable doubt.