Posted on 09/21/2006 11:15:45 PM PDT by TheEaglehasLanded
Fitzgerald given way out of Libby CIA leak case Judge says he can dismiss case if classified secrets will be revealed Haraz N. Ghanbari / AP file Former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, indicted on perjury and obstruction charges last year in the CIA leak scandal, will have closed hearing to determine if he may use classified material as part of his defense. Judge withholds classified docs from Libby • Closed hearings ordered in Libby CIA leak case • NBC: Libby to invoke memory defense • Ruling a potential break for Libby Most Popular • Most Viewed • Top Rated • Most E-mailed • By Joel Seidman Producer NBC News Updated: 1:36 p.m. CT Sept 21, 2006 WASHINGTON - The judge in the CIA leak case ruled Thursday that if Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald feels that admitting certain classified documents at the upcoming trial of I Lewis "Scooter" Libby can jeopardize national security, Fitzgerald can then move to dismiss the perjury charges against Libby. Judge Reggie Walton cannot automatically allow classified materials to be admitted at trial. He first must go through a series of closed hearings under CIPA regulations. CIPA, the Classified Information Procedures Act, protects and restricts the discovery of classified information in a way that does not impair the defendant's right to a fair trial. It also allows the government to propose a redacted version of a classified document as a substitution for the original, having deleted only non-relevant classified information. In his ruling this morning, the Judge Walton, has given a technical legal victory to Libby's attorneys concerning the admissibility of classified materials they want to present at trial for their defense.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
But of course we know how inept the Republican Party is at putting the Democrats on defense.
President Bush should save everyone the trouble by firing Fitzgerald for wasting everyone's time and money for the last two years.
Inept? The case is gonna be thrown out.
It's the new tone of political dissent.
I guess President Bush does not want
to engage in mukraking.
Clinton spent 8 years poisoning the well
and it lost the Democrats the house and Senate.
Hoping Fitz takes the way out though I looked forward to Libby's lawyers taking this case apart in court. How is Libby ever going to pay his legal expenses?
How can Fitz ever have credibility again after this abusive, unneccessary case? It just stinks.
Or they could take the liberal approach. "How did pursuing Scooter Libby help to feed a hungry child."
It is too bad we don't have a rate button here Dfwgator that was first rate.
The very purpose for liberal special prosecutions is to gather and control the flow of information.
I expect this to continue cause one never knows this might be more about getting into the 'classified' bin.
Is Fitz even cleared to see the 'classified' or will he have to farm that out to one who is 'classified'?
Fitzgerald should be "given a mandatory opportunity" to explain why he continued pursuing WH officials while full well knowing where the actual "leak" occurred of the non-"covert" wife of the worthless glob of slime called Joseph C. Wilson IV.
But let's not destroy Joseph C. Wilson IV just yet until we have solved the nation's energy problem by fully extracting all the available rotational energy from the graves of Joseph C. Wilson, Joseph C. Wilson, Jr., and Joseph C. Wilson III.
I hope this is true. Scooters Libbys life and reputation have been tarnished for no reason at all. If this news is true the RATS, and Joe Wilson wil be deeply saddened by this. ........Oh, and so will Chris Mathews!
If Libby was a terrorist at Gitmo, he could get those documents.
ping !!
It must really suck to be a "progressive" the last few weeks. Viva Chavez and Aramadamadingdong are taking the spotlight away from the regular moonbats, the 'Caine mutany has failed, Walmart is going to have voter education for its 1.3 million employees, Rove is bringing gas prices down, W's numbers are up, and now evil Walmart is doing something about prescription drug prices. Maybe Saint Cindy can make a comeback and "Rip Bush a new one!" BTW, where the hell has She been? Last seen hugging Viva Chavez, then a hysterectomy? I call BS, it was an abortion. Mike Malloy gets canned, the wheels are coming off of Err America, the boycott of ABC really worked to keep the "Truth about 9-11" off the air, oh , did I mention that Fitzmas has been cancelled and that a Federal judge has given "Edmund Fitzgerald" a way to keep from sinking and let Scooter go? Just sucks to be you though.
It HAS been a good month, hasn't it?
You forgot the Bush weather machine stopped several hurricanes.
This stinks. If Fitz withdraws the charges the rat media will accuse Libby of "graymail" - - you know, he shoulda woulda coulda been guilty but he slipped out of his noose through a threat to compromise national security. At the same time they'll paint Fitz as a true patriot for nobly dismissing the charges so as not to jeopardize national security.
The MSM looks awfully silly..I know what the dims and media will do..but we know better.
bookmarked for later
If the government dismisses or loses, Libby's entitled to reimbursement of legal expenses.
I'd rather see Fitz lose than dismiss, and I'm not so sure this isn't a hyping of the judge's decision by MSNBC, whose reporters, Russert and Mitchell, may face some serious squirming on the stand if the case goes to trial.
It would also give Fitz a face-saving way out of the debacle.
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