Trial in Error

Washington Post ^ | 17 Feb 07 | Victoria Toensing

[rellimpank]

Could someone please explain to me why Scooter Libby is the only person on trial in the Valerie Plame leak investigation?

Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald charged Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff with perjury on the theory that Libby had a nefarious reason for lying to a grand jury about what he told reporters regarding CIA officer Plame: He was trying to cover up a White House conspiracy to retaliate against Plame's husband, Joseph C. Wilson IV. Wilson had infuriated Vice President Cheney by accusing the Bush administration of lying about intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq war.

[Jazzman1]

I would have clicked and read on further but it was the WashcomPOST and I knew I'd be wasting my time reading LIBERAL clap-trap.

[rellimpank]

---then you obviously don't know who Victoria Toensing is --

--this article happens to be the best indictment of the entire Libby witchhunt/fiasco I've seen---

[moonhawk]

WAPO may be liberal..

Victoria Toensing is anything but.

[Freee-dame]

bump

[Chuck54]

You need to click and read. Good article by Victoria Toesnsing.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Sadly, the trial has little to do with logic, justice or any recorded crime.

[roses of sharon]

In reading the live blogs for the testimony, I watched to see if Fitzfong had any evidence of obstruction, ect, I was surprised he did not.

He obviously used no discretion, and indicted on a he said/she said case because he knows with a DC jury he can convict out of shear hatred and politics.

He had better watch out, paybacks will be severe.

[rellimpank]

---my suspicion is that regardless of the outcome of the Libby fiasco, Fitzgerald will be awarded handsomely by the next Clinton administration---

[roses of sharon]

Let him have his job working for the liberals, his name is dirt, and he looks ridiculous to serious people. He has ruined his crime fighting reputation for a cool writeup in People mag.

[mkjessup]

"Fitzfong"

Excellent. That says it all.

[1rudeboy]

Taking a look at the author, it might not be such a waste of your time.

[roses of sharon]

LOL, courtesy of Rush!

[STARWISE]

Scooter PING~~!


"This investigation has enough questionable motives and shadowy half-truths and flawed recollections to fill a court docket for months. So here are my own personal bills of indictment:

* * *

THIS GRAND JURY CHARGES PATRICK J. FITZERALD with ignoring the fact that there was no basis for a criminal investigation from the day he was appointed, with handling some witnesses with kid gloves and banging on others with a mallet, with engaging in past contretemps with certain individuals that might have influenced his pursuit of their liberty, and with misleading the public in a news conference because . . . well, just because. To wit:

· On Dec. 30, 2003, the day Fitzgerald was appointed special counsel, he should have known (all he had to do was ask the CIA) that Plame was not covert, knowledge that should have stopped the investigation right there. The law prohibiting disclosure of a covert agent's identity requires that the person have a foreign assignment at the time or have had one within five years of the disclosure, that the government be taking affirmative steps to conceal the government relationship, and for the discloser to have actual knowledge of the covert status.

From FBI interviews conducted after Oct. 1, 2003, Fitzgerald also knew that then-Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage had identified Plame as a CIA officer to columnist Robert D. Novak, who first published Plame's name on July 14, 2003.

· In January 2001, Libby was the lawyer for millionaire financier Marc Rich, whom President Bill Clinton pardoned shortly before leaving office. Fitzgerald, who was then an assistant U.S. attorney in the southern district of New York, and U.S. Attorney James Comey spearheaded the criminal investigation of that pardon."

rest at link

[Laverne]

This is a great article, spot on. I wish the defense could enter it into the evidence chain, just like the judge allowed Fitzy to enter press articles. If Libby is convicted, there will be an appeal, and I would hope that Judge Reggie Walton would step down. These charges should have been dismissed the day they were filed. Fitzy is nothing more than another Niphong.

[Txsleuth]

Thanks, I love Victoria Toensing...she is one of the smartest women lawyers on TV...she has moved into first place since BKO died on 9/11.

[Dolphy]

...with handling some witnesses with kid gloves and banging on others with a mallet

This about sums it up. And it undermines any description of Fitzgerald as an evenhanded, politically neutral seeker of truth and justice.

[sportutegrl]

Does anyone know where the trial is now? I understand that the defense has rested. Does this mean that the jury is deliberating? When can we expect a verdict?

[Enterprise]

Victoria Toensing is one of the good guys.

[Suzy Quzy]

Payback is a BITCH! Helping that SOB Marc Rich get off was WRONG!! Is there ANY lawyer that would not take a case?? Are they just WHORES? Well,, Libby did a WHORISH thing by helping Marc Rich get off.