Posted on 07/22/2005 8:53:27 PM PDT by jjwalker
Special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald has been reviewing over the past several months discrepancies and gaps in witness testimony in his investigation of the unmasking of CIA operative Valerie Plame, according to lawyers in the case and witness statements.
Fitzgerald has spent considerable time since the summer of 2004 looking at possible conflicts between what White House senior adviser Karl Rove and vice presidential staff chief I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby told a grand jury and investigators, and the accounts of reporters who talked with the two men, according to various sources in the case. (snip) Lawyers involved in the case said there are now indications that Fitzgerald either did not initially know or suspect that Rove was Cooper's primary source for the reporter's information about Plame. (snip) Two lawyers involved in the case say that although Fitzgerald used phone logs to determine some contacts between officials and reporters, they believe there is no phone record of Cooper's now-famous call to Rove in the days before Novak's column appeared in July 2003. That is because Cooper called the White House switchboard and was reconnected to Rove's office, sources said. (snip) The sources said Fitzgerald looked surprised in the August 2004 deposition when Cooper said it was he who brought up Wilson's wife with Libby, and that Libby responded, "Yeah, I heard that, too."
The prosecutor pressed Cooper to then explain how he knew about Wilson's wife in the first place, and Cooper said he would not answer the question because it did not involve Libby, the sources said. (continued)
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
They're trying to pull a "Martha Stewart" on Rove. They can't get him for any original "crime", so they'll nail him for lying to a federal investigator or Grand Jury. In both cases, Martha and Rove, they would have walked if they just told the truth (or consulted a lawyer before talking).
Cooper appears to be lying, Russert appears to be parsing words Clintonian style and the Lamestream Media appears to be ready to eat spoiled crow.
Funny you should mention her; just as I hit "Post," she crossed my mind. Maybe he's not doing all the talking; maybe big mouth Mandy is. I imagine she has quite a Rolodex.
You are completely befuddled. Rove has told the truth.
You need to get your facts straight.
OK, but still it seems that Cooper was able to avoid jail by cooperating with Fitzgerald on Rove and Libby. what I do not understand, is if indeed Fitzgerald is trying to widen the scope of this beyond Rove & Libby, why doesn't he press Cooper to identify all his sources? the precedent of jailing Miller is there for non-cooperation.
This is why I am having my doubts about Fitzgerald, what he really is after.
OK lets see -you are a troll... bye bye
I believe that I heard that Cooper used the famous Clinton defence, I don't recall, when he was asked about his original source. There is nothing that a prosecutor can say to that, if you don't remember, you don't remember.
I confess, I'm surprised and disappointed that the focus appears to be on Libby and Rove and that it's looking like Fitzgerald is focusing on the idiotic Plame and her blasted name.
It makes no sense if he could establish early on that she was not undercover---and/or that even if she were that the other elements of the statute were not even close to being violated by anything Rove or Libby did.
The good guys have a right to defend themselves and it makes me sick to think he is really looking into that aspect.
We shall see.
Welcome to Free Republic.
Looks like you've been banned or suspended. BOOOOOO HOOO.
We need to keep in mind that neither Rove nor Libby nor anyone else in the admin had any reason to believe that revealing Plame's role in the Niger trip would ever lead to this huge brouhaha, and that their recollections of how and from whom they learned this info might indeed be fuzzy. Plame's identity was known to many, and was probably circulating through personal gossip, through reporters, and through official or semi-official channels, all of them forming a huge feedback loop. I really don't think Fitzgerald is going to try to turn any inconsistencies in who-told-who-first into a perjury rap, especially if there is no underlying crime to begin with.
Never forget that Cooper is married to one of Hillary's creatures, Mandy Grunwald
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