Verdict in Libby Trial in....reading at noon. (Guilty On 4 of 5 Charges)

MSNBC

[Dog]

Breaking on MSNBC

[PhatHead]

'm sure other things he is saying could be helpful on appeal, but the bit about wondering where Rove was came straight from the Well's defense.

Well, the prosecution would certainly argue that in opposing an appeal, but I think the defense would be more likely to link the "where's Rove?" question to the prosecution's closing argument.

[cookcounty]

"the factual error is right there in the referral - she wasn't undercover. once that was established, the case was over."

Yet Fitz today (outside the courtroom) stated that in the referral her position was "classified."

Is Fitz lying? Did he lie in his closing argument?

Please walk me through the establishing of the fact that she was not undercover.

[conservative in nyc]

Fitz had ZERO evidence to back up any lying, unlike with Stewart who tampered with phone logs.

It was a he said she said, it was faulty, confused, and erred memories of everyone who testified.

Unfortunately for Libby, Fitzgerald had enough evidence to get a jury to convict Libby on 4 of 5 counts. And it's harder for a jury to see this as a he said, she said when she (the reporters and other prosecution witnesses) testify, but he (Libby) doesn't. She said and he didn't. I think the defense made a big mistake not putting Libby on the stand.

Fitz had discretion, like all Pros, he did not use it because this was political, and he knew he could get a political jury in DC.

Perjury is perjury. If DC juries are so political, did Libby's lawyers even try to get the case moved outside of the Beltway? If not, why not? I honestly don't know the answer to that question - or if they even could have asked in a federal case.

[kcvl]

Following the trial, juror Denis Collins, a former Washington Post writer, told reporters there was a "tremendous amount of sympathy" for Libby and that most of the jury thought, "He was the fall guy."

Collins described, "The belief of the jury was that he was tasked by the Vice President to go and talk with reporters."

[Dave S]

have little patience for bald faced liars, that's true.

So you've been looking in that mirror again.

[popdonnelly]

"Schumer PUSHED to have the investigation."

Schumer acting like a Democrat.

[oceanview]

covert and classified are two totally separate things. Fitz always played fast and loose with this, even in the charging documents. He knows she is not covert - everything at CIA is "classified", the guy who cleans the toilets there is "classified".

Fitz just uses this term to confuse the sheeple, they hear the word "classified" and they think its some issue of grave national security. all of the reporters in this case knew she worked for CIA, they heard it from Wilson, how "secure" was that information?

[prairiebreeze]

Nah, just your posts.

[oceanview]

what "fact"? she wasn't covert, that's the fact. is she was covert, someone would have been charged with revealing that. Fitz can't provide evidence that she was covert, because she wasn't. He didn't need to anyway, the GJ was simply a perjury trap for Rove and Libby, it had nothing to do with determining whether a "covert" agent was outed.

[cookcounty]

"On the tape, Armitage told Woodward that that Wilson was calling around, telling people that his CIA wife, Plame, had sent Wilson to Niger."

That's the part NOBODY engages with. Wilson's outing of his own wife. Was Administration outsider Armitage lying about this? At the first established "Outing" of this information (Armitage-->Novak), the testimony is about multiple previous "outings".

[machogirl]

does anyone think that if a liberal columnist published the flame name, would it have gone any farther than the column?

[evad]

His wife must be a wreck. Prayers for both of them.

Scooter would do better to get a decent lawyer.

From the very get-go at the opening remarks, his team tried to portray Scooter as the scape goat for the eeeeevil Bush-Rove-Cheney gang.

Bad tactic then...and they never recovered.

I was so pissed when I heard that, I wanted to convict him...well, not really, but it did piss me off.

[popdonnelly]

Yet Fitz today (outside the courtroom) stated that in the referral her position was "classified."

There's a legal difference between "classified" and "covert". A "covert agent" is defined tightly by a Federal criminal statute. A CIA employee's status can be classified, even though that employee still does not fit the definition of "covert agent".

[saveliberty]

It did happen to the Oklahoma City bombing case. It's hard to know what's truly human error and what is a result of someone deliberately doing something wrong.

Although I have my suspicions in the Libby case.

[Cementjungle]

Please walk me through the establishing of the fact that she was not undercover.

Undercover agents don't put CIA parking permits on their cars.

[popdonnelly]

People also need to engage with the fact that various reporters knew that Wilson had been blabbing around Washington, D.C.

[TheDon]

I wonder, what was the substance of the false statements? How did the prosecution make the case that Libby purposely lied as opposed to simply not remembering correctly?

[cookcounty]

I was just trying to get at this confusion about "classified" and "covert," like 97% of the public, I'm not entirely clear on what the term "classified" means. Is leaking a "classified" identity illegal? Leaking "classified" documents?

[Alberta's Child]

Dr. Archibald "Moonlight" Graham: "Son, if I'd only gotten to be a doctor for five minutes . . . now THAT would have been a tragedy."

[sodpoodle]

Here we are again - beating our chests and beating up each other - there is nothing so defeating as defeat.

Impatient for George Bush to pardon the border guards and Scooter............January 2009?

This is G*dawful.

I just want one small victory - for Pete's sake!