Libby indicted on obstruction of justice, false statement and perjury charge - RESIGNS

http://drudgereport.com/ ^ | October 28, 2005

[West Coast Conservative]

Libby indicted on obstruction of justice, false statment and perjury charge...

[babygene]

"Sounds like it wasn't done right if documents were later recoverd."

Yes, and the fact that they WERE recovered suggests that there was no sinister effort to get rid of them.

Because it's not that hard...

[elc]

From the indictment:

"At all relevant times from January 1, 2002 through July 2003, Valerie Wilson was employed by the CIA, and her employment status was classified."

So I used name instead of employment status. Is there supposed to be a difference?

[Semper Paratus]

If Libby is convicted of anything his sentence can't be stiffer than 'pantload' Berger's.

[JeffAtlanta]

Yes, and the fact that they WERE recovered suggests that there was no sinister effort to get rid of them.

Agreed...either he asked an imcompetent person to do it or he really wasn't trying to hide anything.

[Clint N. Suhks]

I'm trying to decide...is this worse than Sandy Burglar stealing classified documents?

Nothing about Valery Plame of course.

/sarcasm

[lunarville]

http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/iln/osc/documents/libby_indictment_28102005.pdf

[elc]

Thank you. That's what I was trying to figure out. Because I know people are going to jump all over that part of the indictment.

[DCPatriot]

The implication of the charges seem to be that if there wasn't an investigation there wouldn't have been any crime at all.

< cough >....you mean exactly like William Jefferson Clinton's crime of lying under oath, right?Getting hummers from interns in the Oval Office is no crime, but lying under oath is an impeachable offense.

IMO, don't go there.

[ianschwartz]

Paul Begala Admits Clinton Administration Smeared Ken Starr (VIDEO)

BEGALA: It’s kind of interesting. When I worked for Bill Clinton, he was caught up in the Lewinsky scandal. We had some strategic options. We could have attacked Monica Lewinsky, but we decided not to do that. The refuser [sic] of off shore operations have tried to do that, I thought it was skirt less. We never did that. We focused instead on attacking Ken Starr, we portrayed him as a sex obsessed partisan and it worked. I happened to believe it was true, others may disagree. The White House now though has a similar set of options.

VIDEO HERE: http://thepoliticalteen.net/2005/10/28/begalastarrsmear/

[Incitatus]

Yea, I think there might be more to this. It isn't really surprising that no indictment has been made on the underlying crime if it transpires that key witnesses were being liberal with the truth and thus sheilding the fact that a crime was comitted. It has to proceed one step at a time. What is clear, is that Fitzgerald has no other evidence beyond witness testimony with which to get a conviction for the underlying 'crime'; that's something of a good sign for the WH. So far, he has simply looked at the witness testimony - which is the only thing he's got to go on - and decided there is sufficient grounds for a charge of perjury. He will now endeavor to find out 'what really happened', and from that determine if the underlying crime was committed.

i.e. this is going to go on for a l..o....n...g.........t...i...m..e....

[BikerNYC]

Fitzgerald will blow his career with this indictment.

No. As with many federal prosecutors, he will become a partner in a large New York firm and make a lot of money.

[CharlesWayneCT]

This indictment looks pretty solid, at least the obstruction.

According to the indictment, Libby testified to conversations he had with Russert, Cooper, and Miller. His testimony about each of those conversations was refuted by the people he talked to.

The one thing I see that might be shady here is this: IN each of these statements, there is also a "falsehood" in the statment, namely that LIBBY said he kept telling people he didn't know about Plame being a CIA agent. But the evidence shows from multiple people that LIBBY had been briefed several times about her specifically, and that he had told others.

If you could get over the 1st part, where all the reporters are contradicting his testimony, you might be able to get over the 2nd part thusly:

"I accurately testified that I lied to the reporters about what I knew".

It seems clear that Libby KNEW who Wilson's wife was, that he knew she worked for the CIA. He knew this before his conversations with reporters.

[DCPatriot]

What do you think of Jeb? Think he would have a good chance running?

Terrible suggestion. The country is undergoing severe Bush Fatique. Condi Rice would be great, however.

[sheikdetailfeather]

If you tell me something and so does another person, and I tell a GJ that it was you who told me and you deny it, but there was a pc. of paper showing the other person told me, DID I LIE OR DO I JUST HAVE A MEMORY BANK PROBLEM?

[w1andsodidwe]

plea bargin admit to the lying chare and do a Martha Stewart.

Well everyone here seemed to think that it was OK to do basically the same thing to Martha Stewart. At the time, I thought that was wrong. No evidence on the underlying charges but get you on lying to the grand jury. I guess from now on everyone should just take the fifth (if you can do that before a grand jury).

[Frank_Discussion]

Am I understanding right:

Libby lied to the press, but told the truth to the court. Where's purjury here?

[brazzaville]

Good morning.
"Fitzgerald's office was very suspect in the leaks..."

There is just something wrong about an office investigating leaks leaking like this one has.

There is also something very wrong with playing political gotcha and trying to damage the Administration during a time of war.

Michael Frazier

[Obadiah]

The ONLY reason it "worked" is because the partisan MSM dutifly carried the Clinton message. Note too how the media are treating this current episode with glee! They are in a Watergate frenzy as they have a REPUBLICAN in their crosshairs!!!! Yippee.