The Unknown Candidate: Plamegate: Fitz's Rove-ing Eye

Thursday, April 20, 2006

Plamegate: Fitz's Rove-ing Eye

Coincidence? -- Jason Leopold reports:

"Just as the news broke Wednesday about Scott McClellan resigning as White House press secretary and Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove shedding some of his policy duties, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald met with the grand jury hearing evidence in the CIA leak case and introduced additional evidence against Rove, attorneys and other US officials close to the investigation said.

The grand jury session in federal court in Washington, DC, sources close to the case said, was the first time this year that Fitzgerald told the jurors that he would soon present them with a list of criminal charges he intends to file against Rove in hopes of having the grand jury return a multi-count indictment against Rove.

In an interview Wednesday, Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, confirmed that Rove remains a "subject" of Fitzgerald's two-year-old probe."

State Department Memo: '16 Words' Were False
On January 12, 2003, the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) "expressed concerns to the CIA that the documents pertaining to the Iraq-Niger deal were forgeries," the memo dated July 7, 2003, says.
Libby Filing: A Denial and a Mystery
Defense attorneys for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby said in a court filing late Wednesday that the former chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney doesn't remember a conversation he had with a State Department official in June 2003 in which the official told Libby that Valerie Plame Wilson worked for the CIA. Libby's court filing of late Thursday evening, however, does little to refute the government's charges against him.
A Bad Leak
President Bush says he declassified portions of the prewar intelligence assessment on Iraq because he "wanted people to see the truth" about Iraq's weapons programs, and to understand why he kept accusing Saddam Hussein of stockpiling weapons that turned out not to exist. According to the New York Times, his would be a noble sentiment if it actually bore any relationship to Mr. Bush's actions in this case, or his overall record.
Cheney Authorized Leak Of CIA Report, Libby Says
Vice President Dick Cheney directed his then-chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, on July 12, 2003 to leak to the media portions of a then-highly classified CIA report that Cheney hoped would undermine the credibility of former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson, a critic of the Bush administration's Iraq policy, according to Libby's grand jury testimony in the CIA leak case and sources who have read the classified report.
[...]
There is a growing body of information showing that at the time Plame was outed the vice president was deeply involved in the effort to undermine her husband.
Judge in CIA Leak Case Threatens Gag Order
The federal judge presiding over the pending trial of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby threatened ... to impose a gag order barring statements or disclosures to the news media by Libby's defense team or by the special prosecutor investigating alleged wrongdoing by the former White House official.
Firedoglake -� Libby Case Update: A Correction and A New Filing

Firedoglake - Good Point, Harry
Harry Reid has a thing or two to say to a President (and Vice President) who "won’t comment on an ongoing investigation" (except when they want to leak to the media through "Senior Administration Officials") and calls on them to release the transcripts of their Fitzgerald interviews.
The Raw Story | Prosecutor, Libby make new filings in CIA leak case

White House Made False Statements on Iraq WMD: Lacking Biolabs, Trailers Carried Case for War
On May 29, 2003, 50 days after the fall of Baghdad, President Bush declared, "We have found the weapons of mass destruction." The claim, repeated by top administration officials for months afterward, was hailed at the time as a vindication of the decision to go to war. But even as Bush spoke, US intelligence officials possessed powerful evidence that it was not true.
David Corn: After the Libby Indictment
The CIA leak scandal has revealed the Bush crew's dishonesty and hypocrisy. But don't expect the Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald or Bush to ever explain what really happened.
A 'Concerted Effort' to Discredit Bush Critic

Bush Authorized Secrets' Release, Libby Testified

Waxman Has Questions For Bush on CIA Leak Case
...[I]n a letter to President Bush, Rep. Waxman asks for a full accounting of the President's and Vice President's actions in authorizing leaks of classified intelligence about Iraq, while at the same time concealing the President's knowledge of serious doubts about Iraq's pursuit of nuclear weapons.
Evidence Suggests White House Conspiracy
Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald stated in a court filing late Wednesday in the CIA leak case that his investigators have obtained evidence during the course of the two-year-old probe that proves several White House officials conspired to discredit former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, a critic of the administration's prewar Iraq intelligence.
Jason Leopold: Bush and Cheney Discussed Plame Prior to Leak
In early June 2003, Vice President Dick Cheney met with President Bush and told him that CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson was the wife of Iraq war critic Joseph Wilson and that she was responsible for sending him on a fact-finding mission to Niger to check out reports about Iraq's attempt to purchase uranium from the African country, according to current and former White House officials and attorneys.
White House Does Not Dispute Bush Leak Allegation
The White House on Friday chose not to challenge a prosecutor's disclosure that President George W. Bush authorized top official Lewis "Scooter" Libby to disclose intelligence on Iraq in 2003, as Libby alleges.
Can Cheney Really Declassify at Will?